We have just released ByteSync version 2022.2.3.

It is the result of several months of work and marks an important step in the development of the solution. We have integrated key new features for synchronization and refined many of the core processes of ByteSync.

You can find out more about the main new features below.

The ByteSync Open Beta continues with this release.

Synchronization Rules

Until ByteSync version 2022.1, only Targeted Actions were used to create Synchronization Actions.
Targeted Actions apply to items that are selected when they are created. They allow you to define precisely how each element is synchronized, but their management can be tedious when the number of elements to be synchronized is large.

The Synchronization Rules appear with version 2022.2. They are global and thus allow to manage actions much faster. They are composed of conditions and actions: their actions apply to each of the elements that respect their conditions.

For example, a Synchronization Rule can have :

• For condition: If the content of file B is different from the content of file A
• For action: Synchronize content from A to B

This rule will then apply to any file existing on A whose content differs from B or which does not exist on B. It will result in synchronizing the content of file A to B.

Synchronization Rules and Targeted Actions are complementary. The Synchronization Rules allow to define the global behavior while the Targeted Actions allow to fine tune the atomic behavior of the Data Synchronization.

Binding by Name

Usually, backup software works by grouping data according to their relative path.
For example, if the source is the directory D:\Source and the destination is the directory E:\Destination, then :

• The files D:\Source\Dir1\Fichier1.txt and D:\Destination\Dir1\Fichier1.txt are grouped together because they have the same relative path : \Dir1\Fichier1.txt
• The files D:\Source\Fichier1.txt and D:\Destination\Dir1\Fichier1.txt are considered different because they do not have the same relative path (but they have the same name).

However, for various reasons, it may happen that the files have not been arranged in the same way in the source and in the destination. In this case, it can be interesting to group data by name, rather than by relative path.

ByteSync now offers this possibility with the Binding parameter which can have two values: Relative path and Name. Combined with case management and path separators, the Binding parameter allows data to be intelligently grouped according to the needs of synchronization.

Files and directories as data sources

One of the special features of ByteSync is the ability to synchronize multiple data sources:

• With a Cloud Session, which has 2 to 5 connected clients, each participant can select an infinite number of data sources.
• With a Local, single-client session, the participant can select up to 5 data sources.

This multiple source management capability offers many possibilities in the implementation of synchronization.

Until version 2022.1, it was only possible to select directories as data sources. With version 2022.2 it is also possible to select files.

Let’s take an example. Let’s suppose that 15 very large files are stored in different directories on machine A and that we want to synchronize them on 2 remote machines B and C. All we need to do is :

• Create a Cloud Session and connect machines A, B and C to it.
• Select the 15 files on machine A.
• Select the directories on machines B and C that are supposed to contain the file images.
• Use the Name Binding mode (see above) so that the directory hierarchy is not taken into account.

During the Data Inventory, ByteSync will then identify which files are properly synchronized and which ones need to be synchronized.

Directory synchronization

It is now possible to synchronize directories.

Until then, actions could only be defined on files. Some File Synchronization Actions resulted in the creation of parent directories, but it was not possible to specifically request the creation or deletion of a directory during Data Synchronization.

From now on, the Data Type parameter can be used to specify which types of items are inventoried and synchronized: Files, Directories, or Files and Directories.

Linux and DMG packages for macOS

To make it easier to deploy ByteSync on Linux and macOS, we now provide :

• Packages in .deb and .rpm format, as well as an archive in .tar.gz format for Linux.
• A .dmg package for macOS.

The installer and the portable version are still available for Windows.