There are several alternatives to RSYNC for file transfer. Below are some of them:
1. SCP (Secure Copy): SCP is a file transfer protocol that comes pre-installed with the most Linux distributions. It is used for securely transmitting files between systems over a network. It uses SSH for data transfer. Even though it is slower than RSYNC and does not compress the data during transfer (a feature that RSYNC has), it is highly secure and easy to use. An example of SCP usage is “scp source\_file user@dest:/path”, which transfers the source file to a remote destination. Refer to Linux Handbook for more about SCP (source: https://linuxhandbook.com/scp-command-examples/).
1. FTP/SFTP (File Transfer Protocol/SSH File Transfer Protocol): These are standard network protocols used for the transfer of computer files between a client and server on a network. While FTP is not secure as the data transferred can be easily intercepted, SFTP utilizes SSH, which encrypts the data being transferred, thus providing a high level of security. Refer to Microsoft Docs for more info (source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/networking/basics-file-transfer-protocol).
1. Rclone: Rclone is a command-line program that provides features for syncing, copying, and browsing files across a large number of storage services, including numerous cloud storage offerings. Its syntax is more straightforward than RSYNC’s, and it has a more interactive GUI option available. It is particularly well-suited for transferring large amounts of data. Case study: In 2020, Nikkei, a major financial newspaper in Japan, used Rclone in migrating one of their legacy systems to Google Cloud Storage (source: https://rclone.org/posts/nikkei/).
1. Unison: Unison is a file sync tool that allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other. It works on many platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. An interesting fact is that Unison was developed and is maintained by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania (source: https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/index.html).
1. BitTorrent Sync: This protocol offers a solution for file synchronization between systems. However, unlike other alternatives, it operates on a peer-to-peer basis, meaning that it uses a distributed network of “peers” to share resources. It is especially useful for large-scale transfers (source: https://www.getsync.com/).
Each of these alternatives has its own pros and cons, and one must choose based on their specific needs and use cases.
