Automatic folder synchronization in Windows 10. A program for synchronizing data (files and folders) via the Internet

Folder and file synchronization programs help you keep updated copies of files and folders in different locations. These may be different computers, network drives, USB drives or online storage. While synchronization utilities can be used as simple remedy to create backup copies (so-called one-way synchronization), their real purpose is to maintain identical sets of files and folders in several places.

An example would be maintaining current versions the same files on several of your computers that you use at different times (two-way synchronization). Folder synchronization utilities keep track of which files you have created, changed, or deleted. And, accordingly, they make these changes in other places.

Criteria for evaluating synchronization utilities:

A good synchronization utility should be able to do most of the following.

• Supports two-way file synchronization.
• Must be able to copy any folder or file, even if it is in this moment time are used by other programs.
• Correct handling of conflicts. An example of a conflict would be changing the same file in two different synchronization locations.
• Keeping records of file deletions.
• Detection of the fact of file renaming.
• Support for filters and rules for fine tuning synchronization areas. An example would be to exclude certain file extensions from the synchronization process.
• Preview of all changes being made with the ability for the user to override any actions.
• Task scheduler and the ability to automatically detect and start synchronization when a synchronization location becomes available (for example, you inserted a flash drive).
• Maintain synchronization as on local machine, and on the network (for example, network folders).

There are many contenders in this class of programs, but only a couple of them meet most of the criteria.

Review of free programs for synchronizing files and folders

FreeFileSync file and folder synchronization program is the best choice

Allway Sync

		Large set of filters and rules. FTP support.
		Monthly copying limit is 40,000 files. No copies locked files.

Automatic synchronization Windows folders allows you to organize and maintain 2 identical directories. The files are copied to a neighboring computer via local network or to another company office in a safe way SFTP protocol(SSH) . When you add or change data in one folder, all changes will be reflected in the other.

So, we assume that you have a main working directory at home or at work, located on a local or network machine, and there is a need to automatically copy (mirror, deliver) files from it to another location: to a flash drive, external hard disk (hard drive), via local network, on remote server via FTP or to the Yandex.Disk cloud.

Folder synchronization is the process of periodically mirroring (mapping) source files to a destination. The source data and the destination directory will always be exactly the same in both quantity and size of data.

This task is easily accomplished by a small, but very convenient program for synchronizing folders and files Exiland Backup, which allows you to create 4 types of backups, one of which is the ability to mirror data in Windows.

Sync files on local network and via FTP(synchronize) is only a small part of the capabilities of Exiland Backup. You can see the full list of features on the version comparison page. In this article we will not dwell on them, but will only consider how to set up mirroring between computers. This function will be of help to both system administrators and home users.

Exiland Backup - a simple solution for synchronizing files and folders

The simple Exiland Backup utility allows you to automatically perform one-way synchronization of folders on a schedule (no more than once per minute). Quickly and thoroughly compares the contents of the source data with the target folder and brings them into compliance. This is especially convenient for periodically delivering files from one branch of an organization to another via FTP. Several directories can be specified as the source directory.

ATTENTION. When adding, changing or deleting source files, all changes are also reflected in the destination directory. If you delete data from the source, it will automatically be deleted from the destination. If you don't need to delete files from the destination folder, select the appropriate option.

Exiland Backup provides various settings"smart" synchronization of folders on the local network, on one computer, in the cloud. For example, a program can copy both all data and selectively according to a given mask, attributes and specified subfolders.

TO additional features can be attributed such as:

• Maintain a detailed log showing which files were added, updated and deleted.
• Possibility of sending the log by e-mail or notification to mobile phone in the form of SMS.
• Flexible setup schedules.
• Starts copying automatically when Windows startup, when connecting a flash drive or other removable device.
• Running a job from command line(command line).

Step-by-step setup wizard

So, let's look at an example of how to configure Exiland Backup for mirroring.
Suppose we need every 3 minutes from 8:00 to 21:00 synchronize "C:\Documents" with all subfolders with local computer, where the program is installed, on remote machine"NAS-Server" to the shared folder "\\NAS-server\Backups\Documents".

Launch the backup program. In the upper left corner of the main program window, click the create a new task button - a step-by-step wizard will appear.

Step 1: Job Name

Enter any name for the task, for example “Mirror of working documents” and click “Next”.

Step 2: Type Reserve copy

Specify the type – “Synchronization” and click “Next”.

Step 3: Initial Data

Specify which source data you want to mirror. This can be the path to directories on a computer, flash drive, server or cloud.

To do this, click “Add -> Local/network folders and files...”, specify the path to “C:\Documents” on your PC and click OK, after which a window for selecting folder options will appear.

Here you can leave everything as default and immediately click OK.

Step 4: Destination Folder to Sync

Select the path to the final destination directory, in in this case"\\NAS-server\Backups\Documents", and also specify the login/password to enter network folder, if access to it is limited.

If you need to mirror data to remote computer via FTP, then select FTP when setting up the destination folder.

There can only be one final directory!

Step 5: Schedule the task

To specify the schedule for running the task, click the "Edit" button and in the window that appears, specify the schedule type "Daily", then select the time. Click "Edit" to the right of the "Time" field, then click the "Add" button, select "Periodically" and specify "Every 3 minutes" with a specified interval: from when and until what time to repeat synchronization (in our example from 8:00 to 21:00). Ready. Click OK several times until all previously appeared windows are closed.

Step 6: Notification

Leave everything as default and click “Done”.

The task has been created!
For a customization proposal additional parameters For now, answer “No.” Later you can always return to the settings and change them.

The program has an intuitive, well-thought-out interface and is recommended for synchronizing files between Windows servers, between different computers, as well as between branches or divisions of an organization via SFTP (SSH).

Except paid versions Standard and Professional, there is also a free one, Free, which you can download to evaluate its capabilities on your files. If the program is suitable for solving your problems, you can purchase a Standard or Professional license and become a full registered user with all the benefits of the paid Standard and Professional versions, which are much more functional and include priority technical support, Personal Area and a number of other advantages.

March 31 is International Backup Day. Apparently because April 1 is the day of those who don’t do it. If in the office the backup problem usually solves System Administrator, then for those who work at home, you need to solve it yourself. Perfect for backing up and synchronizing data free program FreeFileSync.

Organizing backups

When organizing a backup, there are two aspects to consider. The first is that the more backups there are, the higher the likelihood of data leakage from them. Second, the farther the copy is stored geographically from the original, the greater the chance of its safety. A good option is to make backups to a remote computer via VPN connection, then they are not afraid of either flood or fire. But not everyone has this opportunity, so let’s consider backup and synchronization to an external HDD.

Do not forget about the relevance of copies, for which periodic synchronization should be carried out. You can, of course, copy the entire amount of data anew each time, but this is only suitable if there is only a small amount of data. For large volumes this will cause unnecessary wear and tear hard drive and, in general, a waste of time. Synchronization is much faster than full copy, but it is very important to configure it correctly. Otherwise, you may lose both the copy and the original data! Before using synchronization, be sure to test it on unnecessary files and folders!

Setting up synchronization in FreeFileSync

After installation, launch the program and select folders for synchronization. On the left will be the original folder, and on the right - backup copy on an external hard drive.

Then, go to the file comparison settings and select options. By default, files are compared by date and size. On the "Filter" tab, you can configure the folders and files that you want to exclude from synchronization.

On the “Synchronization” tab we configure the synchronization mode. There are 4 modes in total:

• Both ways - changes are tracked on both sides of synchronization.
• Mirror - only changes on the left side are taken into account, that is, files and folders that do not exist on the left will be deleted during synchronization.
• Update - files are copied from left to right, and if new files are found on the right, user intervention is required.
• Selective - you can configure your own rules for processing files.

Setting up scheduled synchronization

FreeFileSync has useful function- this is saving synchronization settings as a batch file. To create this file, click the “save as batch job” button. If necessary, you can enable recording of synchronization logs.

When you run this file, synchronization is performed in hidden mode, without starting GUI. Therefore, Windows can be configured to run this file on a schedule. To do this, open the panel Windows management and find there the item “Task execution schedule”. As an example, let's configure synchronization to start when the computer is turned on. We create a task for all users. In this case, a password must be set on the computer.

We specify “On startup” as the trigger. It's also worth setting a delay so that everything works correctly.

To sync files with other computers and devices in Windows 8.1, there is Windows Mobility Center, which is linked to the Sync Center. It is in Windows Mobility Center that you can manage any devices and link your Account with another computer or Windows server. Devices include both smartphones and tablets. If you manage your device through ActiveSync, then synchronization is usually established through Microsoft Exchange.

Sync Center allows you to manage your synchronized devices. The device you want to synchronize with your computer may already be connected, but using Sync Center you can also save an offline version of your files for working on the go.

The Sync Settings page allows you to view your current sync relationships and any conflicts that may arise.

In order to check if everything is in order, you can view the current synchronization status with devices.

To sync files with another Windows 8.1 device, click " Settings new connection synchronization" Please note that the other device must be connected to your computer. When you select synchronization in the Sync Center, buttons for setting a synchronization schedule appear at the top of the list.

You can click on them and manage your sync options.

If you use Sync Center to save offline copies of files on Windows server, to control synchronization parameters, press the button " Manage Offline Files».

In the Offline Files dialog, you can control the current sync status, including the ability to specify how many are available to sync disk space on your computer. To do this, use the " Disk usage" The more available disk space, the more files you can sync with your computer and store locally.

This dialog box also allows you to ensure that offline files are automatically encrypted. This option is very useful if you keep offline versions of files on your laptop.

Setting up and using work folders.

If your company uses the Work Folders feature, managing the system for saving offline versions of files for the user is much simpler and easier. Working folders are located in the control panel. To get started, click the " Set up working folders" and you will be asked to enter your work address Email or URL working folder on the company server.

After the first synchronization of files and folders, the working folders panel displays changes in the progress of the current synchronization of files from the server. This panel can be used for both general management file synchronization, as well as specific uses, such as which files should be synced over a mobile broadband connection. This is where working folders are disabled.

Synced work folders appear in the " My PC» file explorer where they can easily be opened and viewed.

The directory is read using the get-childitem command. To take into account subfolders, the -recurse option is added to it, and to distinguish files from folders, the PSIsContainer() function is used. If it returns True, then the element is a folder, otherwise it is a regular file:

$source = ¨c:files¨

$srcfolder = get-childitem $source -recurse | where-object($_.psiscontainer)

$srcfiles = get-childitem $source -recurse | where-object(!$_.pciscontainer)

To solve our an easy task you will need four lists: the first two contain source files and folders, and the remaining two are the resulting files and folders. The synchronization process comes down to iterating through these lists and copying files from one folder to another.

The first loop checks whether the source directories exist in the backup folder, and if they do not already exist, they are created using the new-item command.

foreach ($folder in $srcfolders)

$srcpath = $source -replace ¨\¨,¨\¨ -replace ¨:¨,¨:¨

$dstpath = $folder.fullname -replace $srcpath,$destination

if ($dstpath -ne ¨¨) (

if (! (test-path $dstpath))

¨Creating the ‘$dstpath’ folder.¨

new-item $dstpath -type directory | out-null

A very similar cycle is performed when comparing the resulting and source list of folders, thereby creating the exact structure of subfolders. Two other cycles process files: the first copies updated objects from the source to the resulting folder, the second - those not in the source directory - from the final one. You can find out whether a file has been updated by its hash code. Note that since files are opened in read-only mode, they are not blocked from being used by other programs. However, according to the rules good manners Once the hash code has been calculated, the file must be closed using the Close() function:

$md5 = new-object system.security.cryptography.md5cryptoserviceprovider

$fs = new-object system.io.filestream ($file,$mode,$access)

$hash = $md5.computehash ($fs) # file hash code

$fs.close()

Rub over new file his old copy makes no sense, so let's add commands to compare modification dates. When moving files back that are missing from the original folder, no checks are required; simply execute the copy-item instruction. The entire script is given in the listing - it is given the paths to the source and destination folders (don't forget to add closing slashes, for example c:filessource), and then it does all the work independently and only displays information on the screen about what exactly is happening. Note that even if you have not previously created the final folder, the script will create it independently:

if (! (test-path $destination))

new-item $destination -type directory -force | out-null

So, this script will help copy photos, tables, text documents etc., without wasting time on manual file-by-file comparison. To use it, you can create a simple BAT file on the Desktop, specifying a command like powershell.backup.ps1 c:filesrc d:backup (the path to the script usually needs to be provided in its entirety). In the future, it is easy to synchronize folders by clicking on this batch file. Let us remind you that the Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command, executed on behalf of the “Administrator,” allows the execution of unsigned scripts.

Keep copies important files in a completely unprotected form is perhaps not entirely true from a security point of view. Windows system 7, despite Microsoft's best efforts, remains vulnerable to viruses, worms and other malware. To documents that are constantly lying, in fact, in open access, they get there without any problems. Fortunately, in operating system A very useful tool has appeared - virtual disks that are mounted and disconnected on the fly. They are also suitable for backing up any important files that can be accessed limited number users.

A virtual disk is presented in the system as a VHD (Virtual HardDisk) file, which has a complete structure and content similar to those of a hard disk. It is created using the computer management utility built into Windows 7, which is launched through the compmgmt.msc module. In the window of this program, you need to click on the “Disk Management” line and select the “Action Create virtual disk” command from the menu. For new virtual disk the size is set and then the volume is formatted. At the last stage, you can assign a drive letter or link the VHD file to an NTFS folder.

The last method is interesting in that copying is allowed in specific folder no matter where the virtual volume is located. By unmounting a virtual volume in a computer management utility, you can be sure that the last copy Neither viruses nor curious users will reach important documents. The virtual volume itself, i.e. the file with the VHD extension, can be copied to backup media. Additional measure security - virtual volume encryption available with using BitLocker users of the maximum and business versions of Windows 7. When connecting such a protected volume (and it can be used on other PCs, even where BitLocker is not installed), Windows will ask you to provide a login and password.