File Synchronization software

Topic

New Reply

I would appreciate some feedback on what file synchronization software lounge members use. I run Windows 7. I would especially like to know about any freeware portable software that is used, if there is any.

Thank you,
Dick

Reply | Quote

Replies

I use Syncback Free from 2brightsparks; long time now, better part of a decade now at least. Never considered portable version; seems like that would be counter productive since I set up a few synchronization profiles and run them at intervals using task manager; be a pain in the butt to set them up every time I wanted to run it.

Reply | Quote

For many years, I have been using the free Karen’s Replicator. Although no longer supported, it works well on Windows 7, both 32 and 64 bit. Simple, but effective…

Chris

Reply | Quote

As well as Syncback SE I also use Allway Sync Pro, but its free version is very limited.

I think it’s worth paying a few £s, $s, €s for important software like this.

(By the way, I abandoned Microsoft’s SyncToy quite rapidly, after a network glitch caused it to think that the target disk was empty, and it proceeded happily deleting everything from the source disk, to make them both match…)

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

Reply | Quote

Another vote for SyncBack! I’ve updated to SE, then to Pro, but the free version is good for many uses. I use mine portably without incident, although I don’t use timed runs – I always run it manually.

Reply | Quote

I’ve used SyncToy for a number of years. It’s free. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

Reply | Quote

Here are two more ideas:

1. Free Commander (do a search for download site) which is a great Windows file manager as well can do file synchronization on a folder by folder basis. This is a free program.

2. Second Copy (http://www.secondcopy.com) is great for file backups and will do synchronization automatically if you want. I have used this program for years as a backup manager. Cost is reasonable and you can evaluate it for 30 days.

Reply | Quote

Funny story about SecondCopy. I’m sure it’s been corrected by now but way way waaay back when, I got a hold of a trial copy of 2ndCopy and I was probably messing with the computer date but I saw that I had cut the trial period by a couple weeks. So being curious, I set the computer date ahead about 10 years and installed Second Copy trial.

Sure enough when I set the computer back to the present date and started Second copy… You have 4267 days left to evaluate this software, or some ridiculous number like that. I never did use it but it was on some of the old systems I upgraded and it was still showing like 1300 days left in the trial period!

Reply | Quote

I use FreeFileSync (free) as my primary backup program to my Network Attached Storage unit. It is very flexible and you can create definition files to automate the backup of several folders.

Also, I second the recommendation for FreeCommander. It has an excellent Folder Sync function and is one of the best (free) file managers ever released.
The currently released version is 2009.02b (if you have a 64 bit OS look over the release notes about extended context menus).
The author is working on a newer version called FreeCommanderXE. Although still in Beta development, I use it as my primary file manager and it has an improved Folder Sync function.

Reply | Quote

I would appreciate some feedback on what file synchronization software lounge members use. I run Windows 7. I would especially like to know about any freeware portable software that is used, if there is any.

Thank you,
Dick

It’s a little obscure, just what you want to do. Could you explain that in more detail?

The Doctor

Reply | Quote

Doctor:
I’m “a little” compulsive about taking images, which I do daily, of my system partition and my data partition. I was thinking of experimenting with a synchronization program for my data – to see if that would either cut down on the time to image my data and/or provide another layer of protection for my data (by having both an image and a synched copy.
Dick

Reply | Quote

Doctor:
I’m “a little” compulsive about taking images, which I do daily, of my system partition and my data partition. I was thinking of experimenting with a synchronization program for my data – to see if that would either cut down on the time to image my data and/or provide another layer of protection for my data (by having both an image and a synched copy.
Dick

I DO love time saving devices. So I do my daily data backups with a little batch file I wrote, using XCOPY.
Even though I back up about a dozen locations on my hard drive, on any one day, I’m only backing up either NEW files or old files that have been modified so my backup only takes a few seconds, after clicking on the desktop shortcut. It don’t get any faster or simpler than that.

Thanks for your explanation, above.

Happy 2014!
The Doctor

Reply | Quote

The best free portable synching software that I have found is here:
http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/

It can be used interactively or to build macros that you can run on demand or via a schedule.

I use this daily and take a new image sporadically or when a major change takes place.

Reply | Quote

And to you also Dr. Who. I would appreciate the chance to look at your XCOPY batch file. Is it accessible anywhere?
Thanks,
Dick

Reply | Quote