Unison is a free and platform independent program for synchronizing files between directories on the same or on another computer, for example via the network. The program is available for all common operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X and Unix/Linux.

After starting the program, the two directories are compared and Unison looks at the last modification date of the files. Then the program displays which files can be synchronized. Changes are recognized on both sides and the application shows whether there are any conflicts, for example if there are changes in both folders. These conflicts can be handeled individually by the user. The changed files can be backed up, so that you do not accidentally overwrite important files.

Features

• The changed and overwritten files can be stored with a backup function
• Comparison of servers, computers or other external hard disks possible
• When you synchronize a Server, you can also use a secure connection via SSH
• By using the RSYNC algorithm, only changed blocks of files can be transferred. This saves bandwidth.
• Can handle program crashes and network failures without damaging the files involved
• Unison requires no administrator rights

Problems

• Unison can only compare two directories at the same time. If you want to compare more than two directories or automate the synchronization, you can use the program Synkron that supports these functions.
• If two different file systems (for instance NTFS and FAT32) should be compared, it can lead to problems. Especially, if there are any file attributes, which do not occur on both sides or if permissions are set differently. Also, the upper and lower case writings can cause problems, since for example file.txt and FILE.txt are treated as the same file on FAT32, but they are different files under a ext3 file system.

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