Workflow local/remote & auto-sync

I've setup a webserver (Lighttpd/PHP) in our local network as a production environment. The websites are stored in /var/www and accessible via http://www.<sitename>.dev from within the local network. All the files are checkouts from Subversion repositories (Working Copies).

Using Expandrive I've mountend the /var/www directory as a network drive in Windows (Z:\). I'm using TortoiseSVN for SVN management (Commit, Update, etc).

When working on a website I modify the files on my Z:\ drive. Save, then switch to the browser and hit F5. Switch back, edit, save, and refresh to view the results. Etc, etc.

This workflow has a few disadvantages:

• Large projects can be very slow in WebIDE and TortoiseSVN (major issue in some cases)
  
• The .svn Subversion meta information is store on the central webserver though it is useless for a webserver (minor issue)
  

The advantages are:

• Easy setup, preview of modifications is immediate
  
• Central place to backup the files under development wich are not committed to SVN yet

WebIDE favors a local working copy that will be published to the webserver upon run. But it requires an extra user action: publish after every edit, then wait a second and refresh the browser. Although it's just one button, it stops me from quickly switching between IDE and browser. And that's a very important requirement when you're making a lot of small changes that must be previewed after every edit, no matter how small those changes are.

Is there a way to setup auto-sync that constantly 'publishes' my files to the webserver to avoid hitting the publish button yourself?

If someone has an idea for a better workflow, I'm all ears