Recently, I was tasked by my father to find a synchronization software because we recently upgraded to Windows 7 on the family’s desktop computer. Since his current favourite is no longer in development or seems to work under Windows 7, the choice was either to use a batch file, which my father was not too pleased in using, or to find an alternative for it. And while there are always paid alternatives for syncing files across a network, seeing as we are not very well off, the choice was clear to find a free, open source choice. And to be honest, until now, I have never had a need to look up or find the alternatives for it, since we were expecting to use the XP desktop for a long time to come until we lucked into a Windows 7 license from a family friend. Today I’m going to cover some synchronization tools you could use under Windows . In all my examples and screenshots I’ve taken, C: is the main drive of my laptop, and A: is the mapped drive of my Linux server.
FullSync (6.2 Mb)
FullSync, despite what the comments say, seems to work fine under Windows 7 in my testing, and is extremely easy to set up. You can set up profiles to sync in both directions, to provide a one way exact copy, a backup copy of one folder, or just provide a differential sync. You can also schedule these profiles to run at a certain time, so you don’t have to worry about it. FullSync feels a bit sluggish as well, I found, but that might just be because my laptop isn’t that powerful. It also has the problem of the dual directional sync profile not working as it should have, copying an empty file to the mapped A: drive on my laptop. It works for Windows and Linux by the looks of it, but I didn’t test it under Linux. While my dad decided that FullSync was a great application, he instead decided for the second application that I found.
FreeFileSync (6.3 mb)
FreeFileSync can be installed on Windows, 32bit or 64bit, and works perfectly under Windows 7. It has an option to do real time syncing, while wouldn’t be useful on a slower computer, would no doubt be a great handy option as well. It can detect other files inside the folders, unlike FullSync, so it can also back up subfolders too. I am actually very much impressed with how easy it is to set up FreeFileSync, especially with it’s easy to use and easy to adapt to interface. My dad tried FreeFileSync out and loved it for how powerful it has been with Windows 7, and an added bonus is that it is also cross platform… that’s right, it works for Windows and for Linux. It also seems to be much faster then not only Windows Copy service, but FullSync as well. Personally, FreeFileSync is the present winner of the two, thanks to a great amount of features and the speed in copying, as well as any errors being presented are extremely informative.
However, since everyone’s needs are different, both tools are useful and it is up to the end user to decide which one might be considered better then the other. And now onto what we’ve been waiting for: the winner of the PREVX key. The winner of the PREVX key on the blog is: Christy Sunny. Congratulations, your one year key is on it’s way to you now.
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been using syncback, the interface is less elegant than freefilesync, but it’s a lot faster in my experience, and very reliable.
Why no mention of PureSync. Its a gr8 prog.
I’m using for long time the Sync Expert – syncexp.com/ – and he it is the best soft for me.
@Steve Collins, actually, I didn’t think of it. That’s the only reason.
Synchredible is another good one. Free for private use.
I use “Allway Sync”
and trust me it… better than the 2 mentioned above
I’m not sure about all the features the above programs have but I use Dropbox to synch across my two computers and iPhone. Users start with 2GBs free and can obtain up to 8GBs.
Any reason why “Synch Toy (MS) doesn’t get a mention. I use it and it does all I need it to!
I enjoy MS’s SyncToy
@Richard, interesting to see the vendor of a Sync software writing on this blog. Welcome. I’ll take a look at the freeware… we have no money put aside in the computer budget for an upgrade, but thanks for the write-in.
Good articles, Paul, thanks.
Consider also SyncBack for BOTH synchronization and backup. It comes in 3 flavors: one free and two shareware. 100,000′s of users of the freeware.
Disclosure — I’m the vendor.
@Unknown Ninja, I hope yours was legal. Mine was. He bought the family pack then gave me a key for my dad.
Hey Paul, I also “lucked into” a Windows 7 license from a “friend” ;)
I use Syncback Freeware too. It’s really powerful
Test it from:
2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html
B.R.
it looks amazing. i’ll try this one. thanks for sharing
@F3Speech, it’s an idea… but I don’t have much I could recommend off the top of my head. That’s the only thing: I don’t download and install everything, I only look for the solution to a problem I’m or someone else is having. That’s all.
@Jeff G, just started using it last night, it seems to be effective in syncing. I do like running the batch files though… I thought that would have done well enough but he needs a front end interface.
@ragudgr8, pretty small. Does it work well? I went looking on SourceForge for sync apps.
@darsh, um… that works with mobile phones, not so much between two computers.
@Mario, you could run a batch file command to do that.
Hello Raymond,
looked on FreeFileSync site and could not find anything about syncing files and or folders between a desktop/laptop and an USB stick or pen drive? The desktop and the laptop can NOT be on a network and I’m using a pen drive to update files or copy new ones from one to another and vice-versa.
tks
mario
My Favorite is SyncBack its just 1.8Mb.
I use SyncBack and that is free too.
As per my knowledge this two things can be used as reference
and as far as Active Sync is concerned this thing does work
microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/activesync-download.mspx
microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/device-center-download.mspx
–
darsh
Also, if you are using any pro version of windows (XP, vista or win7) you can use the built in support for offline files. Maybe you must mess a bit with the samba conf (especially with win7). But it works flawles.
I have been using FreeFileSync for a while and like it very much. It also enables you make batch files which are even easier to use than the graphical interface. The only downside to my mind is that when the software is upgraded, it never seems to recognise old sync commands and you have to set them up again. But since this is so quick to do and the software is absolutely free, I’m not complaining.
Paul maybe you should put together a short directory of recommended software linking to the relivent review/blog post… I find myself more and more thinking “Hey I saw something like I need on Raymonds Blog, google site:raymond.cc etc”
I guess the down side is people might think you start to list items because companies are paying/sponsoring you…
Either way, another nice util highlighted; thank you.
Allway synk is another good choice, as the difference between free and paid version is just a matter of daily transfer limit, that you will never exceed.
I’ve been using Beyond Compare which works great and does quite a bit more than sync as well.
ill give that a try
I used to use Freefilesync and It’s easy to setup even for a fresh user.Like its UI a lot.
great been looking for one myself, just hasn’t had the time.ty
I am using Microsoft Live Sync, and so far it working very good.
FreeFileSync is a great program.