Backup Folder Sync is a program that has been designed to mirror local backups. It is more of a file syncing software than a program to make backups of a Windows system.

Here is how it works. When you first start the program after installation you are asked to configure a job. The program displays all connected storage locations on the left sidebar of the application window. You select the backup folder with a right-click and exclude folders by holding down the Ctrl key before right-clicking.

You then have to select the destination that should store the backup mirrors. This can be another local drive, a removable drive, network shares or mapped drives. Since the program is primarily being used to mirror existing backups, it makes sense to store those backups on a remote computer or server.

It is possible to test the configuration with a click on Simulate to toggle that option and another on Backup. Backup Folder Sync will test the configuration and display a log with all file operations that would have taken place on a regular backup run.

The log lists all files, their size and location as well as a backup summary in the end. The summary informs the user about new files, files where the source files were newer, older or different and files and folders that were no longer available in the source folders (and thus deleted).

While the program’s main purpose is to mirror backup locations, it can theoretically be used to sync any kind of data. It uses robocopy for data transfers.

The program lacks an option to schedule jobs which is the biggest shortcoming. Windows users who want to automate the mirror creation cannot use the program to do so.

Backup Folder Sync is available for download at the developer website. The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 to be installed on the system.

A file synchronization alternative with scheduler is the open source software Free File Sync.

There was not an easy way until now to synchronize folders that are not placed inside the Dropbox. Some users managed to get this working with symbolic links by moving the folder into the Dropbox and creating a symbolic link to the original location.

This operation has now become easier with the Dropbox Add-on Dropbox Folder Sync.

Dropbox Folder Sync basically automates the process as much as possible. The add-on will move the selected folder into the Dropbox and create a symbolic link to the original folder so that the files can be accessed from there but are also synced in Dropbox.

The program comes with a simple graphical user interface and Windows Explorer integration.

The gui can be used to change the Dropbox folder setting and to select a folder to sync with Dropbox.

More comfortable than the gui is the Windows Explorer integration which can sync a folder with Dropbox by right-clicking it and selecting Sync With Dropbox from the menu.

Dropbox Folder Sync is a program for Windows that requires Dropbox to be installed. It will also install the Junction Utility from Sysinternals which will be used to create the symbolic links. The download is available at the Dropbox website. (via Caschy)

This can be helpful for instance for webmasters or coders who design their websites and projects offline and want to automatically synchronize the updated files to a web server.

A second purpose could be an automated backup of files on a website to another web server or a local computer.

Core Features:

• supports UNIX, Microsoft, IBM and Novell type FTP servers only new or changed files are transferred
• console type application that can be easily executed from various schedulers and batch files
• FTPSync is intended for computer experts – it has no user interface, so users must know how to edit standard Windows INI files. Synchronization can be configured on the fly from batch files or other applications, making it a convenient tools when sync authomation is required.

The configuration of the file synchronization process or backups are configured in standard Windows ini files. It is recommended to take a look at the extensive documentation to configure the program properly.

Three demo configuration options are included in the download. They demonstrate many features and parameters of the program.

An alternative to FTP Sync is the popular software WinSCP which can also be used to automatically synchronize data between local computer systems and servers. Information on how to create a batch file can be found in the winSCP forum.

FTP Sync can be downloaded from the developer’s website. (via Donation Coder)

The configuration of a new job is relatively easy. It begins by selecting the source and target directory. The subdirectories of the selected folders will be displayed in the subdirectory section after pressing on the refresh icon in the middle of the two windows. It is here that the folders for the file sync are selected.

Create Synchronicity supports three different file synchronization methods, namely left to right mirror and incremental or two way incremental.

• Left to right mirror: An exact copy of the files on the left side are copied to the right side. New and modified files are copied over and files that have been deleted are deleted on the right as well.
• Left to right incremental: Uses the same method as the left to right mirror synchronization with the exception that no files are deleted in the target folder.
• Two way incremental: Copies files from left to right and vice verse without deleting any files.

Additional options are provided at the bottom. This includes defining include and exclude filters to only copy the specified files or exclude the specified files. Other options include computing hashes before copying the files, replicating empty directories, use strict file comparison and strict mirror creation which will revert files that were modified on the right.

Create Synchronicity is a comfortable file sync software. The only thing missing seems to be a scheduler configurable in the application. It can however be added to the Windows Task Scheduler quite easily since it supports command line parameters. The file synchronization works with network drives as well and a preview function is build in to display the changes that will be made if the synchronization is executed.

The program can be downloaded from its Sourceforge project website.

An account is required to work with the software program. The account creation requires the selection of an email address and password which are used to authenticate a user and provide access to the stored data. Powerfolder offers four key features to its users:

• File synchronization
• Data Backup
• Collaboration
• Web Access

File Synchronization

File synchronization uses a powerful wizard to guide the user through the process of adding folders to the program that should be synchronized. It is possible to disable the online synchronization option to prevent that data is stored on an online server. This makes it possible to synchronize files directly with computers that are either connected in the local area network or accessible on the Internet.

Several standard folders are selectable from the wizard’s main interface including MyDocuments folders but also folders of Firefox or Thunderbird. Additional folders can be added by using the file browser. PowerFolder will automatically calculate the total size of all selected folders which should give the user a first indication of the length of the synchronization process. The selected files will then be available for synchronization (either online or locally).

It is then possible to use the Sync Previously Setup Folders option in the same wizard from another computer to sync the files that have been selected. Ideal for syncing web browser profiles, emails, contacts, documents and other data that should be available on more than one computer system.

To minimize the update time PowerFolder syncs only changed parts of a file. Since files can be transferred directly between computers you can unleash the full power of your home network or Internet connection. Got unfinished downloads? PowerFolder automatically resumes them after reconnect. Quickly distribute your files with multi source downloads.

Data Backup

The data backup options works similar than the first step of the file synchronization process. The same choice of selecting one of the pre-selected folders or manually selecting folders is available in the wizard. Powerfolder offers to backup the data online or locally. Other computers can then be used to transfer the backed up data so that they are stored on those computers as well. There does not seem to be an option to select individual backup folders though.

Collaboration

It is possible to give access to other people who have a PowerFolder account of their own. Those users can then access the data that was selected by the account owner of the data. That’s an interesting option for collaboration by giving several users access to a specific folder that is containing work related files.

Web Access

Data that is stored on the servers can be accessed from the web interface at the PowerFolder website.

Limitations

The free version of PowerFolder has a limitation of 1 Gigabyte of online and offline storage space, a maximum of three folders that can be synced to five computers. The commercial editions of Powerfolder get rid of most of the limitations. A product comparison is available here.

Verdict

PowerFolder is an easy to use software with a severely limited free edition. The free edition should be enough for users who want to synchronize up to three folders with up to five computer systems. Users who want to synchronize additional folders or files that have a size of more than 1 Gigabyte need to consider switching to a paid account or to another file synchronization and backup software.

Power Folder is available at the developer’s website for all supported operating systems.

Free File Sync is an Open Source file synchronization software that’s above everything else super-easy to use. The main interface is separated into a left and right column. Directories can be added to each column. The two main actions offered by Free File Sync are to compare or synchronize the directories and the files residing in them. A click on the Compare button at the top will generate a directory and file listing for every directory that has been added to the application.

All files and directories are displayed in both columns with a blank row in the opposite column if the file or directory does not exist there. Information about each file including its name, size and modification date are displayed in the table as well. Arrows in the middle indicate the action (e.g. overwrite file in the left column, copy file to the right column) are taken if the Synchronize button is pressed.

Statistics for each column are displayed in the footer listing the number of directories, files and the size of the data conveniently. There are also general statistics about the total number of files and folders that would be created if the user would synchronize the files. Several advanced options are available. The file synchronization program supports file filters and several different ways of comparing and synchronizing files. Files are initially compared by name, size and date which can be changed to a file content comparison instead.

Four different file synchronization options are provided by Free File Sync as well with automatic synchronization of both sides selected by default. This can be changed to mirror files that reside in the left folder to the right folder, copy or update files from the left to the right folder or a two way synchronization which synchronizes both sides simultaneously.

A batch job can be created using the parameters configured before. Batch jobs can be executed by starting the file synchronization software with the file name of the batch job as a parameter. This makes it also possible to add the file patronization as a scheduled task in the Windows Task Scheduler.

Free File Sync is easy to use. It takes only a few minutes the most to compare or synchronize files and another few to create a batch file to sync files regularly with little to no user interaction. The program is available at the Sourceforge website where it is available for 32-bit editions of Windows and Ubuntu.

The concept of ZumoDrive is to move the data to a server on the Internet. The data is accessible like any other local folder on the computer or electronic device which makes it interesting for various things like hosting the music collection online. Local software like iTunes acts like the data would be local content.

The online storage provider ZumoDrive uses an algorithm to sync popular documents with the local device so that the data is available even in situations without Internet connection.

ZumoDrive keeps track of edited files providing access to older versions of the same file. It also makes use of a trashcan that can be used to recover – or permanently delete – files. Both of these options are available when logging into the homepage of the service.

The service is offering 1 Gigabyte of free storage space with the option for paid upgrades. An upgrade to 10 Gigabytes of storage space for example costs $2.99 per month.

ZumoDrive is currently in private beta available for Windows and Macintosh. Versions for Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android plattform will be released soon. You need to enter an invitation code. The following one was provided by Techcrunch and is working at the moment.