Is there a native Windows tool like rsync for local incremental sync (not cloud)?
I'm not looking for OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud or Syncthing. I'm already familiar with concepts like Delta Sync, Incremental Sync, and Block-Level sync. I'm looking for a native Windows tool that performs efficient local incremental…
I'm not looking for OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud or Syncthing. I'm already familiar with concepts like Delta Sync, Incremental Sync, and Block-Level sync. I'm looking for a native Windows tool that performs efficient local incremental synchronization between disks, similar to rsync's behavior.I'm specifically asking about local disk-to-disk synchronization on Windows, not cloud synchronization. I know about: Robocopy FreeFileSync rclone rsync via WSL/Cygwin/MSYS2 But is there a native Windows implementation that supports block-level or delta synchronization? Or does everyone just use WSL nowadays? EDIT: I just realized that Windows actually used to include Briefcase, a built-in local file synchronization feature. It supported two-way file synchronization and conflict reconciliation. It was eventually deprecated and removed as Microsoft's focus shifted toward cloud synchronization. I'm surprised there still hasn't been a modern native successor. I'm totally fine with commercial software. Price matters more to me than whether it's open source.
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That's a really interesting point. So Windows already provides the underlying infrastructure (VSS), but there still doesn't seem to be a widely-used native file synchronization tool that exposes rsync-style block-level synchronization to end users. Thanks so much! This is probably the best answer I've received so far. I hadn't realized Windows already provides this kind of low-level infrastructure through VSS. It definitely lowers the barrier for anyone interested in developing an rsync-like application.
Thanks! That's really useful information. I don't mind commercial software, but this discussion actually makes me interested in trying to build a native and free alternative someday, once I have enough experience. :)
The problem is block level replication. The way windows implemented it makes it annoying. Doing it on vms is much easier. What it sounds like you want is block level with journaling capabilities so you can have point in time snapshots. I know vss offers this but honestly never delved into ot beyond backup offerings
Throw it at Opus. Vibe code something up! No experience needed!
Haha, fair enough. 😄 I guess I was hoping for a native Windows equivalent with the same delta algorithm and a modern GUI.
Thanks! That seems to match what I'm seeing as well. Robocopy is still the standard recommendation for native Windows today, but I was surprised that there still doesn't seem to be a true native rsync equivalent.
Many thanks for your detailed reply! You clarified many different aspects that I hadn't considered before. To be honest, I personally value delta encoding much more than most people probably do. For me, features like rsync's efficient delta transfer or Dropbox's block-level sync can be a deciding factor when choosing a storage/sync solution. I understand that for local disk-to-disk copies, the bottleneck is often I/O rather than the diff algorithm. But for large files over networks, limited bandwidth, or expensive cloud storage, transferring only changed parts can make a huge practical difference. So I agree it's not the answer to every backup problem, but it is still one of the features I care about most.
Yes, still a thing. I googled it and it still exists.
OK, it is the most widely-used software.
I googled it also, because I used to use it extensively in batch files. A better worded question is "Why aren't people using it still?" I use Linux, so...
None of the tools mentioned for block level. Volume shadow copy services is how windows does block level copy. Most backup software like veeam backup works by using this to make point in time images.
There sure is! Its called...... drumroll Rsync. But- robocopy is the closest built-in thing to it.
Back in the day I think XCOPY did a terrible job. Then ROBOCOPY came along and mostly got it right. These days I don’t need to do Windows but if I did I’d look for a native port of rsync.
The honest answer: there's no native Windows tool that does true rsync-style rolling-checksum delta for local disk-to-disk. That algorithm exists to save network bandwidth; for a local copy the bottleneck is disk I/O, not the diff, so nobody bothered porting it natively. What gets you close natively: FastCopy (free, no WSL). Its diff mode skips unchanged files by size+timestamp and it's the fastest Windows copier I've measured, saturating NVMe where Explorer stalls at ~160MB/s single-stream. Robocopy /MIR /MT:16 /J (unbuffered I/O for big files). Not block-level, but the multithreaded whole-file re-copy is fast enough locally that delta rarely matters. For true block-level you're into VSS territory: Veeam Agent Free or built-in wbadmin do point-in-time block images via Volume Shadow Copy. That's backup, not two-way sync, but it's the only native block-level path Windows exposes. If you genuinely need rolling-checksum delta locally, the WSL rsync you ruled out is honestly the pragmatic pick, it runs against /mnt/c fine. Briefcase never got a successor because cloud sync ate the use case.
Robocopy
Is ntbackup.exe still a thing?
you could just use rsync, it doesn't specifically need to be a remote machine: rsync -av /source/directory/ /destination/directory/
Robocopy /mir is what i would turn to historically, although it's been a while.
FreeFileSync doesn't do block-level even though people assume it does. GoodSync is the commercial pick that actually has delta sync. I spent a while trying WSL rsync before just paying for it.
I belive rsync now exists on windows just like ssh. I think they ported a ton of Linux tools to power shell.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/robocopy