Syncophant
A file sync tool built for massive media. Move 700GB+ of footage between camera media and backup drives with flat memory, honest verification, and a live cyberpunk fractal watching your back.
Everything in the box
Core Sync Engine
- One-way sync (A→B or B←A) — copy new and updated files in a single direction
- Bidirectional sync (A↔B) — sync both ways, newer files win conflicts
- Drag & drop or click to select source and destination folders
- Preview mode — see exactly what will be copied before executing
- Hidden file control — separate toggles for showing and syncing dotfiles
- iCloud placeholder detection — detects cloud-only files and offers to download them before sync
Large File Performance
- POSIX I/O with a fixed 4MB buffer — constant memory usage regardless of file size (handles 500GB+ files without breaking a sweat)
- Serial transfer — optimized for sequential I/O on network volumes and external drives
- Partial file resume — interrupted transfers pick up from the last clean 4MB boundary
- fsync on close — flushes writes to disk, critical for network volumes like Blackmagic Media Docks
Verification
- Quick Check — instant file name + size comparison across both directories
- Full Verify — streaming SHA-256 hash comparison, byte-by-byte, constant memory even on massive files
- Live visual feedback — files turn green (pass) or red (fail) in the file list as they're checked
Live Monitoring
- Real-time transfer stats — current file, bytes written, speed, total moved, elapsed time, ETA
- File system watcher — file lists auto-refresh when folders change on disk
- Files go green as they copy — visual confirmation of each completed file during sync
Why it's great
Syncophant was built for massive media files — designed around syncing 700GB+ BRAW footage between camera media and backup drives, where most sync tools crash, run out of memory, or choke on network volumes.
Zero memory growth. No matter how large the file, memory stays flat. No FileHandle autorelease pool accumulation, no Data allocations in the copy loop — just a fixed 4MB buffer doing honest work.
Honest verification. Quick Check for fast sanity checks, full SHA-256 for when you need to be certain before formatting a card.
A UI that earns its place. A cyberpunk interface with a raymarched Mandelbox fractal for a background — a live 3D fractal that rotates based on sync direction, tints cyan or magenta, and eases between states. It runs at half resolution for performance and slows to a crawl when idle.
Transparent operation. Preview what will happen, watch it happen file by file, and verify it happened correctly.
Move the footage. Trust the copy. Then format the card.