Sun 25 Feb 2007
Ever wade through thousands of files and folders trying to figure out what you’ve backed up and what needs to be updated in your backups? Do you manage multiple desktops, laptops, and other portable devices but want one backup location?
My search for backup utilities a few years ago turned up Microsoft’s SyncToy, available for free download from the Microsoft website. SyncToy is a very simple utility that manages a “left” and “right” folder where you can set the rules about what should be copied or mirrored to between left and right. I first was interested in this sort of utility after receiving a laptop computer from Wake Forest University’s Medical School. It became an integral part of my coursework and research, so backing up that data was crucial to me.
SyncToy allows me to open up my laptop at home, literally click one button, then have the info on my laptop backed up through the wireless network to the RAID 1 (mirroring) array on my home office desktop computer. As a second line of defense for all of my data, I make quarterly SyncToy-managed backups of the RAID array to an external drive. SyncToy makes it all happen.
This program is able to determine what files should be updated or removed on the backup drive, then makes all changes automatically. The folder pair can either synchronize, echo, subscribe, contribute, or combine depending on your preferences. It also allows folders to be network paths (such as \\Machine\Folder).
After using SyncToy for the past few years, I would say that I am very happy with this tool. It is very easy to use, doesn’t suffer from feature creep, and best of all, it’s free. What do you use for backups/synchronization?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Follow-up:
I thought I would come revisit this post because I have recently run into problems with SyncToy. First of all, there is no Vista support. Right now I am sync’ing up 3 PCs, one using Vista. Second, I have noticed that it has trouble with irregular folder/filenames like /.foldername. A lot of the sync data I thought I was saving hasn’t been there all along! Ouch! When I was trying to run the tool recently, I noticed it wouldn’t “echo” deletions to my backup (right folder). This is some sort of bug in the code and I haven’t had a problem with it in the past, but for some reason it stopped working the other day.
I have now switched all backups to Allway Sync. It’s an excellent free backup program that has much better record-keeping and a ton of better options. Check it out.