Apr 09, 2018
I'm not sure if I even understand the reasons why people want to sync two folders on the same NAS, but since I've seen this topic pop up multiple times, I tried to find a (relatively) simple solution to this problem and I found one that doesn't need too much tweaking and works pretty well.
So you want to sync two local folders but the regular apps don't allow the source and destination to be on the same machine. Then "think outside of the box" and make the source APPEAR to be a different machine from the destination even though it is the same! :wink:
I solved this by installing WebDAV Server on my NAS (well, actually it was already installed, but those of you who haven't should do so).
Then I used Cloud Sync (you should also install that if you haven't already) to sync one folder with another one on "localhost". For those of you not familiar with networking thingies, "localhost" is a fixed DNS name that will always resolve to the machine itself.
So here's the step-by-step things you need to do to sync two folders on the same machine. For this example I named my shared folders "test1" and "test2"...
Install WebDAV Server
Install Cloud Sync
Start Cloud Sync and create a new task using the [+] icon
Select WebDAV as your "Cloud Provider"
Use "locahost" as the Server address and enter your login credentials. Remember to add the port-number you used for WebDAV after the Server address, for example "localhost:5005"
Give this task some name (I simply used "Localhost") and select one folder for the "Local path" and the other for "Remote path". In my screenshot you'll see "test1" and "test2", which are both shares on my NAS, but you could also select folders within shares if you wish.
Choose a sync direction. "Bidirectional" will make sure both folders are always the same, no matter in which folder you change things. "Download remote changes only" will cause changes in the "Remote path" to be synced to the "Local path" but not the other way around. "Upload local changes only" will cause changes in the "Local path" to be send to the "Remote path" but not the other way around.
That's all there is to it!
The nice bonus feature of using Cloud Sync like this is that you can also set a schedule for syncing. If you don't, any changes will be synced immediately, but if you do you can set the timeframe when syncing should occur, for example only during the night when you are not using your NAS.
Hope this is working the way you want it to.
