As we mentioned earlier in the year, the makers of BitTorrent have been busy developing a new application BitTorrent Sync that syncs folders between multiple devices, but unlike Dropbox and the competition, it works totally independent of third party hosting. Originally it was only available by invitation, but now they have publicly released the alpha test which can be downloaded at BitTorrent Labs.
Setting up BitTorrent Sync is very simple - Just add a folder to sync to its shared folder list and generate a secret key for it. To set it up on a second device, just create a new folder, add it to its shared folder list and paste/type in the secret key created by the original device. There is no need to create a user account or purchase a subscription no matter how big the folder is. Unlike most other cloud syncing utilities, no third party has access to any shared files as the data is encrypted with the AES cypher using a 256-bit key based on the generated 32-character secret.
At present, the alpha release handles multiple folders and for each shared folder, it provides a unique secret for syncing, another secret for read-only access (e.g. to backup device), a one-time secret for syncing or read-only access and the options of using a tracker server, DHT network and predefined hosts. Its other features include limiting upload/download rates, notifying download completions, starting with Windows, ignoring specific files/folders (including wildcard support), setting the listening port and using NAT UPnP to map the port automatically.
Future plans include adding support for versioning and creating a mobile version of the app for phones and tablets. A workaround for versioning would be to place a shared folder on a device that uses its own file/folder history, such as an NTFS volume with the "Previous Versions" feature enabled in Windows 7.
As BitTorrent Sync does not store shared data in a cloud, it requires at least one other device with the shared folder online for syncing to take place. However, the user is not limited to running BitTorrent Sync in Windows as it also supports Linux and Mac (10.6 or newer) as well as many Linux based hardware devices such as a Linux based NAS, router, satellite receiver, etc. with sufficient storage capacity. The more users a folder is shared with, the quicker BitTorrent Sync works and unlike most cloud providers, it can also sync folders between devices on a private network without Internet access.
