AASync

Perfect little tool for huge file sets around my internal network. Very fast and I have confidence that I'll be alerted if there are any problems with my downloads.

Good for a demo

I've been quietly relying on AASync for the last few years. It does it's simple task of backing up files flawlessly, without the need for any intervention and it does this with the minimum of fuss. I'm responsible for I.T in a small but very busy advertising agency, we have a Mac Server and a PC server. I use AASync on the Mac to mirror the various volumes I have on the server to usb drives. I have multiple syncs set up that run throughout the night and I rotate drives on a daily basis. Every morning I come in, AASync has worked, I swap the drives. It's been like that for years. The ONLY issue I've had was a strange error message on a recently added 26Gb of data added to the server. I contacted Robert and he replied practically instantly. He pointed out the my version was 3 years old and I should upgrade. A free upgrade I might add, not many software companies still provide free upgrades to software years out of date. Upgrading also fixed the problem. AASync is an absolute breeze to set up, unless you're mentally challenged, or under 10 years old you should have no problems setting up the sync. I have to use Acronis and Symantec BackUp Exec on the PC, both of which are clunky, confusing, bloated and not user friendly, the complete opposite to AASync. If I could rate it higher I would. If you need a backup on a Mac and don't get this, then you're an idiot.

This is a fantastic app for encrypted backup to ftp.

Sync seems to be misleading - regarding the FAQ there is no possibility for a two-way sync! Missing 2-way-sync is a real show stopper.

Surprised that there are no recent reviews, so I wanted to say I've been happily using this for the last four years to keep offsite backups of my most important files. AASync connects and syncs/backups automatically via SFTP to a backup folder on my ISP. While I have been using this program, the developer has been responsive and has regularly improved the program. I start a backup every night at 11:58 PM and by 7:00 AM the next day it has usually uploaded all the new files I have made in the course of the previous day. The interface looks simple, but I know that much work has gone into the code to make it work with different servers. I do suggest you rename your Mac's files to be 'Internet friendly' names, or at least unix/linux friendly, for example, "Make Names Web Friendly" is what I use on legacy files, but mostly I try to name new files in a Web-friendly way when I create them: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/makenameswebfriendly.html I use this alongside Time Machine and SuperDuper! If you have >100GB of files, be prepared to run this for a month to make your first backup over a typicaly DSL link. You can abort the overnight backup when you start work in the morning, then let it start again by schedule at midnight.

This may very well be a good sync utility, but setting it up for more than one folder was poorly designed enough to have me giving up before even trying it. I have an FTP volume to back up to, and for every folder you want to back up, you have to re-enter the FTP host, username, password, and directory. It does suggest dragging a folder from "any" FTP client as a shortcut, but this doesn't work, at least not with Transmit. You also have to set up backup details for each folder; the time, method of backup, etc. Again, some may want this control, and it's fine for one folder, but if you have multiple folders and just want to set up a back-up routine, this is not the application for you. In any event, the level of design and functionality is not worth the price.

So happy to have finally found a product that backs up without having to mount the server drive. I have accounts with several hosts for small web sites with lots of spare unused gigs, but they won't let me mount them. AASync took two hours to back up my mail file which is quite large (350meg). Some of the time is used to build a local database which then keeps track of any file that changes. So then when my scheduled weekly backup happens, it takes very little time, since it just ftps the files noted as changed in the db. Works like a charm.

Utter Failure. I asked this appl' to backup just my users folder. 7 hours later and NOTHING has been accomplished!

I have it running now. I will amend this review if need be. I suspect that AASync 0.9.2 may be a bit on the slow side. This is yet a beta release it must be noted. It badly needs a progress bar or some indicator of progress or of estimated time remaining. The minimalist monochrome interface is ugly but navigable. Some more options are needed or it will never compete with products like "SuperDuper" 2.0, probably the overall best BackUp utiility out there, or that popular stalwart application: Carbon Copy Cloner.