S3 Browser includes a Folder Sync Tool that allows you to upload or download only new and changed files, significantly optimizing bandwidth usage and saving time when performing backups to Amazon S3.
The tool currently supports one-way synchronization (also known as mirroring). You can define the Source and Destination, which can be either a local folder or a bucket/folder on Amazon S3.
The smallest unit of synchronization is a file. If any part of a file changes in the source folder, the entire file will be transferred to the destination folder.
S3 Browser compares files based on size and modification date. Alternatively, you can use file hash comparison, which is slower but detects file changes even if the modification date is incorrect.
Saved Sync Jobs can also be listed and started from the command line. See the run-sync-job command for unattended synchronization scenarios.
Working with the Folder Sync Tool
To open the Folder Sync Tool
Click Tools -> Folder Sync Tool...
Click Tools -> Folder Sync Tool
The Folder Sync Tool window will open.
Folder Sync Tool window
To configure a new Sync Job
1. Click the button 1 to select the source folder and the button 2 to select the destination folder.
The Select Folder Type dialog will open:
Select Folder Type dialog
2. Select the folder type by clicking the corresponding button.
You will see the Browse for Folder dialog for selecting an Amazon S3 Folder:
Amazon S3 folder selection dialog
Or the system Select Folder dialog for a Local Folder:
Windows folder selection dialog
3. Once you have defined the source and destination folders, click the Analyze button to compare the folders.
Click Analyze to compare the folders
S3 Browser will compare the selected folders. During analysis, Sync Exclusion Rules are applied before synchronization actions are prepared. When the comparison is completed, you can review new, changed, deleted, and excluded items, then click the Synchronize button to apply the selected actions.
Review comparison results and click Synchronize
To work with comparison results
Use the result switches to review New, Changed, Deleted, Excluded, or All items. For excluded files and folders, the Reason column shows which rule excluded the item.
You can right-click a result item to open it, open the containing folder, create an exclusion rule from the selected item, or delete selected items from the source, the destination, or both sides.
Delete selected items from source, destination, or both sides
After items are deleted from the comparison results, S3 Browser refreshes the current view and recalculates the pending synchronization actions.
Create an exclusion rule from a comparison result
The Exclude from Sync submenu offers common presets, such as excluding the selected file, files with the same extension, files in the current folder, or files matching size and date conditions. Choose Custom Rule... to define the rule manually. You can also right-click the File column header to sort results by file name or by file extension.
4. S3 Browser will queue the tasks.
Folder synchronization is in progress
Sync Job Options
Each Sync Job has a set of options that define its behavior. To configure Sync Job options, click the corresponding link located on the toolbar.
Sync Job options link
The Sync Job Options dialog will open:
Sync Job Options dialog
You can choose which types of modifications to include in synchronization:
Include only new files - Only new files will be synchronized; changed files will be ignored.
Include only changed files - Only changed files will be synchronized; new files will be ignored.
Include both new and changed files - Both new and changed files will be synchronized.
Propagate deletions - If this option is enabled, files deleted from the source folder will also be deleted from the destination folder.
Use hashes to compare files - S3 Browser will analyze file contents by calculating hashes for local files and comparing them to hashes stored in remote file metadata (remote files are not downloaded). This method is slower than comparing by modification date but offers the highest accuracy in detecting file changes.
Use metadata cache file - If this option is enabled, S3 Browser saves object metadata to a metadata cache file in order to reduce HEAD requests and speed up subsequent synchronizations. If this option is disabled, metadata cache file will not be created or updated.
Keep metadata cache locally - If this option is enabled, S3 Browser stores the metadata cache file in the configured temporary folder instead of uploading it to the S3 bucket.
Sync Exclusion Rules
Sync Exclusion Rules let you skip files and folders that should not be included in synchronization. Excluded items are still visible in the comparison results, so you can review what was skipped and why.
To open Sync Exclusion Rules
Click the Exclusion Rules... link on the Folder Sync Tool toolbar.
Sync Exclusion Rules link
The Sync Exclusion Rules dialog will open:
Sync Exclusion Rules dialog
Rules and conditions
Each rule can contain one or more conditions. Use All conditions when every condition must match, or Any condition when matching a single condition is enough. Rules are evaluated independently: if any enabled rule matches an item, that item is excluded.
Click Add to create a new rule, or Edit to change the selected rule.
Add or edit an exclusion rule
A condition can check one of the following file properties:
File/folder name - matches only the item name, for example *.png.
Relative path - matches the path relative to the sync root, for example Photos/**.
File size - compares the file size.
Last modified - compares the modification date and time.
Item type - matches files or folders.
For File/folder name and Relative path, wildcards are supported. Use * inside one folder level and ** across folder levels. The Matches any operator accepts several wildcard patterns separated with semicolons, for example *.png;*.jpg;*.gif.
Add or edit an exclusion rule condition
Example: exclude small image files
To exclude PNG, JPG, and GIF files smaller than 10 KB in any Images folder, create a rule with All conditions and add these conditions:
Item type - Equals - File
File size - Less than - 10 KB
Relative path - Matches any - Images/**;**/Images/**
File/folder name - Matches any - *.png;*.jpg;*.gif
Use Images/** to match a folder named Images directly under the sync root, and **/Images/** to match Images folders deeper in the tree.
Additional rule operations
Right-click the rules list to duplicate rules, move selected rules up or down, and import or export rules. The same commands are also available from the More menu.
Additional Sync Exclusion Rules operations
Managing Sync Jobs
To add a new Sync Job
Click the Add new job button located next to the last job header:
How to add a new sync job
A new Sync Job will be added:
New Sync Job added
To rename a Sync Job
Right-click the tab header of the Sync Job you want to rename and choose Rename Job... from the context menu.
How to rename a Sync Job
The Rename Sync Job dialog will open:
Rename Sync Job dialog
Enter a new name for the Sync Job and click OK.
To delete a Sync Job
Right-click the tab header of the Sync Job you want to delete and choose Delete Job... from the context menu.
How to delete a Sync Job
A confirmation dialog will appear:
Delete Sync Job Confirmation dialog
Click Yes to delete the Sync Job, or No to cancel.
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