Mirror or sync both ways?
Before you start, decide which side is right:
| You want | Choose | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The server to match your Mac | Mirror to the server's side | Copies what's new or changed; can delete what exists only on the server |
| Your Mac to match the server | Mirror to your Mac's side | The same, the other way |
| Both sides to keep each other's changes | Sync both ways | Copies changes in both directions, so each side gets what the other has |
Mirroring is the right choice for deploying a site or keeping a backup. Syncing both ways suits a folder that changes in two places, such as a shared WebDAV folder.
Sync a folder step by step
- Open a tab with ⌘T and show your Mac's folder in one pane: pick This Mac from the pane's source menu.
- Press ⌘\ for a second pane and connect it to the server, with ⇧⌘K or a bookmark from ⌘K.
- Open the matching folder on the server.
- Press ⌥F5. AnyBucket compares the two panes and lists every file, row by row.
- Pick the direction: mirror either way or sync both ways.
- Read the rows. Each one shows its action, such as copying a file across or deleting one that only exists on the target.
- Change any row's action you disagree with, then start the sync.
The copies run through the transfer queue, and a notification tells you when the sync has finished.
Check every row before it moves
Nothing changes until you start the sync. Until then, the list is a plan you can edit: every copy and every delete has its own row. That makes mirroring safe to use on folders you care about. If a delete looks wrong, change that row and leave the rest as they are.
Sync two servers
Compare & Sync works on whatever the two panes show, so it isn't limited to your Mac and one server. Mirror a staging server to production, keep an S3 bucket and a Backblaze B2 bucket the same, or check that a migration from an old FTP host to a new SFTP server is complete. Files that need copying between two different servers stream through a small spool on your Mac; on the same server, copies run on the server itself.
Without an app
For SSH servers, rsync in Terminal can mirror a folder, and --dry-run shows what it would do first. It doesn't reach S3, WebDAV or FTP, and its preview is a text list you can't edit. If you're happy with rsync, AnyBucket uses the same ~/.ssh setup for SFTP, so the two work side by side.
Tips for a clean sync
- Start with a mirror when one side is clearly right, such as a build folder you're about to publish.
- Compare again before you sync after a long pause, so the plan reflects what's on both sides now.
- Watch the queue: the Transfers window (⌥⌘T) and the menu bar show progress, and anything that fails waits under Needs attention with its error.
- Conflicts on a plain copy are handled separately: see conflicts for replace if newer, keep both and resume.
