A program for synchronizing folders on different drives. Free automatic folder synchronization

File synchronization is the process by which two or more folders contain . When you add, delete or change a file in one folder, during synchronization it will be added, deleted or changed in all other folders.

In other words, the file synchronization mechanism is designed to work with data from different workstations synchronously, without using removable media– flash cards or disks.

The actual result of file synchronization is that the same version of a file with the most recent date it was created or modified is synchronized across all synced folders.

How to synchronize files and folders?

The essence of file synchronization comes down to registration on one of the so-called cloud services, allowing you to synchronize files, and then move user data to the server of such a service.

Currently, there is a rapid development of cloud services, which, in the fight for users, provide a variety of Additional services. On average, services offer up to 10 GB of free cloud space for file synchronization. This volume is quite enough to store the most important information.

The most popular services data storage options are Dropbox, SkyDrive, Yandex Disk, SugarSync, Cloud Mail.ru and Google Drive.
In order to synchronize all devices, you need to install on each of them special program, which can be downloaded from one of the services. This program will create a user folder in which all documents will be stored. They will be uploaded to a special storage on the Internet, from which they will be available to the user anywhere in the world.

Using synchronization, you can ensure the identity of files on different devices, which are connected to the same cloud service. For example, if information changes in one of the files on the server, this file will automatically be updated on all computers connected to the synchronization service.

Benefits of data synchronization

The main benefit of synchronization is data protection. Even if the computer breaks down or the flash card is lost, the documents will be kept safe on the server.

Synchronization also opens up new opportunities for easy file sharing between users. To do this you need to send a link to required document, after which it will be available to another user.

Another key benefit of data synchronization is the ability to work with the same information across devices without having to worry about constantly moving it around.

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 By secure protocol SFTP (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 final 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.

About two years ago I gave birth to a project - small program a client that can be installed on any device and simply synchronizes files.
For example, you could specify that documents would be synchronized between your home and work computers. Music and books between the home computer and phone. Backup between home computer, work computer and server. This program could also control the subsequent distribution of any file on the system. That is, you, as the owner, could always find out the history of the file: copying to a flash drive, to another computer, by email, etc.

Then I almost already received funding, but the investment fund with which I worked at the last moment demanded a serious share in the business. And I decided that the game wasn’t worth the candle. And then somehow there was no time for that.

Yes, you say, there is cloud storage and why is it needed when there is Yandex.Disk, Dropbox and a bunch of cloud file storage services. Well, it’s just not always acceptable and convenient. Minuses:
1. You trust your files to a third party without any guarantees. (I’m not paranoid, but you wouldn’t leave your intimate data in such a storage facility)
2. To access them you need the Internet. And this in Russia is still not always possible with the required speed.

A holy place is never empty and the BitTorrent company released something similar, but in a stripped down form. Their program simply syncs files between different platforms and systems as soon as they went online or found themselves within the same subnet. Unfortunately, you cannot flexibly configure synchronization rules, but there is an excellent client that is administered through either a native interface (WIndows, MAC OS X, Android, iOS) or a web interface (*NIX).

I no longer go to my mobile phone for photos, documents and music, and I don’t go to the server to get a rarely updated backup.
IN home computer there are several folders:
Telephone
Server
General
Auto

To put something on my phone, I just copy required file to the "Phone" folder. It will appear on my phone in a few seconds
To exchange documents with the guys at work, I put them in the general folder. And after a few seconds, this file will appear for all the people I need - locally and not in the cloud.

In the car, as a media center it stands Google Nexus, via 3G looks at the Internet. On my home computer I put navigation maps and music into the Auto folder. Everything is automatically folded into the car. I take interesting moments from the Auto/recorder folder filmed videos recorder (the device in the car is always online).
Saves a lot of time.

We wish BotTorrent success in the development of their wonderful project.
Download.
Available in Google Play Market and Apple AppStor. I think it will appear soon mobile version Windows.

PS
Thanks to Murin Sasha for the tip)

About two years ago I created a project - a small client program that can be installed on any device and simply synchronizes files.
For example, you could specify that documents would be synchronized between your home and work computers. Music and books between the home computer and phone. Backup between home computer, work computer and server. This program could also control the subsequent distribution of any file on the system. That is, you, as the owner, could always find out the history of the file: copying to a flash drive, to another computer, by email, etc.

Then I almost already received funding, but the investment fund with which I worked at the last moment demanded a serious share in the business. And I decided that the game wasn’t worth the candle. And then somehow there was no time for that.

Yes, you say, there are cloud storages and why is it needed when there is Yandex.Disk, Dropbox and a bunch of cloud file storage services. Well, it’s just not always acceptable and convenient. Minuses:
1. You trust your files to a third party without any guarantees. (I’m not paranoid, but you wouldn’t leave your intimate data in such a storage facility)
2. To access them you need the Internet. And this in Russia is still not always possible with the required speed.

A holy place is never empty and the BitTorrent company released something similar, but in a stripped down form. Their program simply synchronizes files between different platforms and systems as soon as they go online or are within the same subnet. Unfortunately, you cannot flexibly configure synchronization rules, but there is an excellent client that is administered through either a native interface (WIndows, MAC OS X, Android, iOS) or a web interface (*NIX).

I no longer go to my mobile phone for photos, documents and music, and I don’t go to the server to get a rarely updated backup.
There are several folders on your home computer:
Telephone
Server
General
Auto

To put something on my phone, I simply copy the desired file to the “Phone” folder. It will appear on my phone in a few seconds
To exchange documents with the guys at work, I put them in the general folder. And after a few seconds, this file will appear for all the people I need - locally and not in the cloud.

In the car, there is a Google Nexus as a media center, looking at the Internet via 3G. On my home computer I put navigation maps and music into the Auto folder. Everything is automatically folded into the car. From the Auto/recorder folder I take interesting moments captured by the video recorder (the device in the car is always online).
Saves a lot of time.

We wish BotTorrent success in the development of their wonderful project.
Download.
Available on Google Play Market and Apple AppStor. I think it will soon appear for the mobile version of Windows.

PS
Thanks to Murin Sasha for the tip)

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. The free FreeFileSync program is perfect for backing up and synchronizing data.

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 parameters in the form 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.