+1 for Unison. It will do everything you need it to, and is easy to use. You can setup your ~/.unison/*.prf files to have multiple roots on the same machine (one per removable drive in your case). Just pick the one you want to use when you sync. It does a better job of intelligently syncing and handling any resulting conflicts than anything else out there, bar none. It handles deletions fine (as does, btw, rsync). Here's a sample default.prf for your scenario:

root = /home/yourusername
root = /media/usbhdd

path = Documents
path = Music
path = Pictures

First post!

I'm IT Director for a nonprofit 501(c)3 with $6M budget and 250 people scattered around the world, plus probably that many more heavily involved volunteers.

We tried SugarCRM and it works well for CRM, but isn't non-profit specific, so it doesn't "speak the language". That made it very complicated for non-techies and non-sales people to use.

GoldMine was a small disaster that I pulled the plug on before it became a large disaster.

Raiser's Edge does everything, but is way out of our price range. It is also a pure Microsoft solution, which would be a bummer for our Mac & Linux folks.

We currently are using eTapestry. It does a fine job and is web-based, but it was bought by BlackBaud (Raiser's Edge) who have a long history of buying competitors and killing them off. And while far cheaper than Raiser's Edge, it isn't exactly cheap.

So we're currently in beta for rolling out CiviCRM. CiviCRM is a LAMP/Drupal web-based application. Installation is a little bit of a pain, mainly because the repos have all upgraded to PHP 5.3, but it still wants PHP 5.2. If you have LAMP skills, do it yourself, or if not then just pay one of the plethora of CiviCRM consultants to do it for you; it'll still be loads cheaper than Raiser's Edge.

Once it's installed, it's a dream. Easy to customize. Easy to do data entry, either onesie-twosie, or mass entry. I was able to import a CDF from eTap quickly and easily. Great searching, great duplicate checking. It supports every payment gateway imaginable. And all the little rough edges are smoothed away. This is a product which clearly is well-designed and well-built.

Stop throwing away your money, and just try it. But don't short-change yourself with a cheap little shared hosting job. Colo a box in a datacenter someplace to run this.

CiviCRM is smart enough to catch the obvious double-entries and prompt, "Hey, there's this dude over here with a similar name and address already. Do you want to create a brand new record, or just merge changes with the existing one?"

Civi's query builder is pretty smooth, as long as you are trying to do ANDs. It will only do relatively simple ORs. But it's got a simple, a complex, and a "Hey, I want to write the SQL myself" mode.

We're in the process of moving to CiviCRM. Setup was somewhat harder than it should have been, mainly because it wants PHP 5.2, not 5.3, which most of the repos have already switched to. But after installation, it has been smooth sailing. And it's clearly capable of doing the job for us. It is REALLY well thought out for non-profit CRM or "partnership management". All the rough edges are smoothed away, too.

$6M budget, 250 personnel all over the world.

I tried SugarCRM. It can do the job, but for non-profits it is a rough fit because the verbage isn't what the users are expecting. Right functionality, wrong language.

Yeah, the money's why I took an 80% pay cut to work for a 501(c)3. And am loving it!

I agree with #3, though, as long as you include LAMP/Drupal/CiviCRM as a "off-the-shelf" product.