How do you backup your website via FTP automatically?

May 18, 2005 11:03 AM

Is there any FTP software that will compare the files on the server to the ones stored locally, and only download new or updated / changed files? (I'd prefer a program that does this as opposed to some sort of script or other hackery)

What I would like to do is store a local copy of my website by downloading it through FTP. However, since the web site in question is dynamically driven, users are always adding content, and old files are always changing, new ones are added, etc. Plus I don't want to waste bandwidth just redownloading files that I already have downloaded. I just need a program that will keep the files in sync between the server and the local computer.

posted by banished to computers & internet (11 comments total)

wget can do this.
posted by mosch at 11:08 AM on May 18, 2005

This is what rsync is for.
posted by gleuschk at 11:10 AM on May 18, 2005

FTP Voyager does it for me. Syncs up or down. Of course the version I have is 7, and it now appears to be on 12. But it was fairly cheap ($49) when I bought it.
posted by patrickje at 11:12 AM on May 18, 2005

what gleuschk said. if you're using windows, it's available in cygwin (in the Net package), but not installed by default.
posted by andrew cooke at 11:23 AM on May 18, 2005

rsync, rsync, rsync, if your host supports it. Not only will it only download changed files, but it will only download the parts of the files that have changed, saving even more bandwidth and precious time.
posted by grouse at 11:36 AM on May 18, 2005

Step-by-step instructions for installing and using cygwin and rsync. I was sure there was a windows .exe version, but can't find it right off.
posted by gleuschk at 11:39 AM on May 18, 2005

Please do not use the instructions gleuschk linked to. (Sorry, gleuschk.) Why? First, making random copies of cygwin1.dll causes countless problems. Secondly, those instructions install an rsync server on your Windows box, which is probably not what you want.

Go to cygwin.com and follow the "Install Cygwin now" link. It's a very easy to use installer, makes sure cygwin1.dll is put in the right place and all that. Just make sure you install the rsync package.
posted by grouse at 12:03 PM on May 18, 2005

Oops, sorry. grouse is right.
posted by gleuschk at 12:06 PM on May 18, 2005

Transmit for OS X has a Synchronize function, which used to be useful, but I've found it to be extremely erratic in the lastest version (I can run it twice within minutes and get majorly different results).
posted by o2b at 2:13 PM on May 18, 2005

At work, I use Handy Backup. (Windows). Works out of the box. Doesn't need any mad haxxor skillz, allows backup and synchronisation. Files can be copied between FTP and Networked folder. Synchronisation can be handled by you, or done on a scheduled basis. Sits happily in your system tray. I really can't reccomend this software enough.

And this is about the tenth time I've shilled this software on ask.
posted by seanyboy at 2:37 PM on May 18, 2005

Sits happily in your system tray.

I have Handy Backup and this is one of the things I hate about it. I should really be able to schedule backups and forget about them without having some agent taking up megabytes of RAM for no reason. OTOH, it is a lot easier than setting up rsync. OTOH, Handy Backup is not free. But it's cheap.
posted by grouse at 2:14 AM on June 18, 2005