bestsync.us

Jean-Pierre,

I'm currently using BestSync to sync two computers (2-way sync) through an FTP server:

Computer1 <-> FTP Server <-> Computer2

I'm considering switching from an FTP server to WebDAV:

Computer1 <-> WebDAV <-> Computer2

I have some questions about BestSync, FTP, and WebDAV:

1) How does the robustness of BestSync/FTP compare to BestSync/WebDAV? Does BestSync/WebDAV work at least as well as BestSync/FTP as far as error-free syncs, file time-stamping, NTFS file permissions/properties, and over sync robustness?

2) How does the speed of BestSync/FTP compare to BestSync/WebDAV? FYI, with BestSync/FTP I'm currently using 10 threads / concurrent file copies on each task. Is BestSync/FTP faster or slower than BestSync/WebDAV?

3) I'm considering setting up WebDAV on a Windows 7 Pro x64 machine using the WebDAV built-in to the native IIS (for example see this URL: http://tinyurl.com/bchlsx6). Will BestSync work well with Windows 7 native WebDAV? Or, do you recommend some other WebDAV host software?

4) In general, are there any downsides to switching from BestSync/FTP to BestSync/WebDAV?

Regards,

Jeff

Here are the answers of your questions about FTP vs WebDAV:

1) How does the robustness of BestSync/FTP compare to BestSync/WebDAV? Does BestSync/WebDAV work at least as well as BestSync/FTP as far as error-free syncs, file time-stamping, NTFS file permissions/properties, and over sync robustness?
>BestSync/FTP and BestSync/WebDAV should have the same robustness.
WEbDAV is more firewall friendly than FTP. WebDAV uses only one HTTP port, but FTP protocol uses 1 control port and a n extra data port, furthermore, each download/upload transfer may use a different data port.
But BestSync FTP feature has been tested with many FTP servers, and supports all the commands (MFMT, MDTM, Site UTIME) for copying last modified time-stamp to the uploaded file. But many WebDAV servers (include "Windows 7 native WebDAV") do not support command for copying last modified time-stamp to the uploaded file and list the last-modified time of files in one command, this makes WebDAV not efficient for synchronizing among PCs.

2) How does the speed of BestSync/FTP compare to BestSync/WebDAV? FYI, with BestSync/FTP I'm currently using 10 threads / concurrent file copies on each task. Is BestSync/FTP faster or slower than BestSync/WebDAV?
>BestSync WebDAV supports multiple threads and concurrent file upload/download also, its speed is fast, may be faster than FTP. Because WebDAV need not to create an extra data transfer thread, this saves the CPU consumption and resource usage.

3) I'm considering setting up WebDAV on a Windows 7 Pro x64 machine using the WebDAV built-in to the native IIS (for example see this URL: http://tinyurl.com/bchlsx6). Will BestSync work well with Windows 7 native WebDAV? Or, do you recommend some other WebDAV host software?
>I do not recommend to use IIS WebDAV, because it does not support PROPPATCH command to copy the last-modified time to the upload file, and its PROPFIND command does not contains customized meta-data when list files. May be Apache server is more flexible than IIS WebDAV.

4) In general, are there any downsides to switching from BestSync/FTP to BestSync/WebDAV?
> If you selected a suitable WebDAV server, WebDAV should should has merit over FTP.