How can I synchronize the contents of a folder on my Macintosh or Linux PC with a folder on the network file server?
Start up a terminal session and issue the command
rsync -e ssh -avz local_folder user@afpserver:remote_folder --rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync
(all one one line, please). This would recursively transfer all files from the directory local_folder on your Mac or PC into the remote_folder of the account named user on the network file server afpserver.
The files are transferred in “archive” mode, which ensures that symbolic links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships etc are preserved in the transfer. Additionally, compression will be used to reduce the size of data portions of the transfer.
Required: SSH daemon configured and running on the network server. (I.e., doesn’t work with our Windows servers!) Workaround: The target folder can be on a mounted volume, however then permission mapping applies and not all special file types like symbolic links or devices can be copied. Have a look at the rsync man page.
How can I back up the data of my PowerBook or Linux laptop from abroad?
The traditional way
With a connection to the Internet, use the rsync utility as described above. A nice feature of rsync is that it does incremental copies, copying only the differences between the local version and the network version of a file.
If you use the name holmes1.cpfs.mpg.de to access the file server, the example above works worldwide. This is an excellent way to keep a copy of the data on your laptop in a safe place, wherever you are.
The modern way
Use the cloud! The Max Planck Society runs its own cloud service on https://owncloud.gwdg.de/. Just get an account at https://www.gwdg.de (self service) and start using it.