BitTorrent Sync uses a local connection
So I have been using Box Sync for almost a year now to keep a folder synced between my laptop and my desktop. It worked pretty well until a few months ago the desktop version of the app wouldn't stay logged in. Oh it would try to log in again, but there is a bug in their program that takes focus from whatever application currently has focus. This means if I am typing something everything just stops because Box Sync is listening to the keyboard and mouse not what I was doing. If this sounds nefarious it isn't that big of a deal, I doubt they are stealing my information. If they wanted to do that they could without taking focus away from the current app.
Anyway, I decided to give BitTorrent Sync a try again. I have experimented with it and really liked it, but Box would keep my files online as well and I liked that. I installed it and started syncing the folder again.
I noticed something interesting on my desktop. The network connection was being maxed out. I have an ethernet network with a local speed of 100 Mbps, but my Internet connection is only 10 Mbps down and up to 45 Mbps up. Very fast, especially up, but not fast enough to saturate my local connection.
I looked at my laptop and saw the same thing, a saturated network connection (it also uses Ethernet when at my desk, WiFi when I am anywhere else). My laptop was more specific that my desktop, it reported that the down link was saturated at 100 Mbps.
What does this mean? It means that the two instances of BitTorrent Sync found each other on the local network and connected through my router directly instead of through the Internet. My data was staying local, not being sent out over the Internet for someone else to maybe look at. I don't really care if the do see this folder, it is just some artwork I am working on. But it still nice to know, it makes me trust BitTorrent Sync more.
Anyway, I decided to give BitTorrent Sync a try again. I have experimented with it and really liked it, but Box would keep my files online as well and I liked that. I installed it and started syncing the folder again.
I noticed something interesting on my desktop. The network connection was being maxed out. I have an ethernet network with a local speed of 100 Mbps, but my Internet connection is only 10 Mbps down and up to 45 Mbps up. Very fast, especially up, but not fast enough to saturate my local connection.
I looked at my laptop and saw the same thing, a saturated network connection (it also uses Ethernet when at my desk, WiFi when I am anywhere else). My laptop was more specific that my desktop, it reported that the down link was saturated at 100 Mbps.
What does this mean? It means that the two instances of BitTorrent Sync found each other on the local network and connected through my router directly instead of through the Internet. My data was staying local, not being sent out over the Internet for someone else to maybe look at. I don't really care if the do see this folder, it is just some artwork I am working on. But it still nice to know, it makes me trust BitTorrent Sync more.
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