If you're looking for an easy way to sync folders across two computers, Microsoft has a solution. SyncToy is a free utility that keeps folders and files synchronized on your computer, between drives on your computer, or across a network. The company has released a beta of SyncToy 2.0, which promises speedier synchronizations, an easier way to include or exclude files from syncing, and smart drive-letter recognition, so if you plug in a USB key today and it's drive F, but is drive G tommorow, SyncToy knows the difference.
I can think of a dozen uses for an app like this. I carry a 2GB flash drive to and from the office, and need to keep the files on it up to date between my work computer and my home computer. I have two iPods and two iTunes libraries on two different computers that I'd like to synchronize. I also have documents on my desktop that I like to back up on my computer downstairs. SyncToy can handle all of those tasks.
When you download the app and run it for the first time, you have to create a folder pair to synchronize. You can create multiple folder pairs to synchronize different folders at different times. The SyncToy 2.0 beta includes the ability to auto-detect when a flash drive or external hard drive has changed drive letters and adds several customization options missing in the previous version. For example, for each folder pair, you can include or exclude certain files or sub-folders, move overwritten files to the recycle bin or just delete them, and even check file contents to make sure the synchronized file has been updated. When you're ready, click the Preview button to see the source and destination folders and the run button to perform the synchronization.
SyncToy is simple, but its power is in its simplicity. It is missing a few useful features like the ability to schedule or automate synchronizations between folders. SyncToy requires Microsoft .NET 2.0 to install, and the installer for SyncToy 2.0 also installs SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition (only a few database components--nothing significant) in order to keep track of your preferences and synchronization metadata. Even though those components are particularly worrisome, it does mean that SyncToy has a larger system footprint than other similar tools.
SyncToy's system requirements are modest; Microsoft recommends you have at least 512MB of RAM and 20MB free disk space to install it. When I ran SyncToy it didn't use anywhere near that amount of memory, and how much RAM the app used depended on how big the synchronization task turned out to be. SyncToy is fast, completely free and works with Windows XP and Vista.
[ via LifeHacker]
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