Synchronization is something that many people use in place of regular backup software, but also to do simpler things such as: to sync files from a flash drive to a folder on your computer, replicate network locations so files are available offline, and even to move files from an old computer to a new computer.
Synchronization and backup software are similar, but still two separate ideas. To synchronize folders will replicate the contents of the two folders so they are alike. Backing up copies the contents of a folder (or partition, or drive..) to another folder (or partition, or drive..)
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There are many more free synchronization programs than there are backup programs. One program that I use, primarily for moving the contents of one computer to another over FTP or Windows Shares, is SyncBackSE.
SyncBackSE is from 2BrightSparks and will allow you to synchronize folders, partitions, or drives as well as do a basic backup or basic restoration. There is a free version (for home use only), and a more up-to-date pay version. SyncBackSE is compatible with Windows 2000 and up (at the time of this article, the highest Windows version supported is Windows 7).
Features of SyncBackSE include:
- Easy and advanced synchronization. The user can specify filters, how exactly to copy, directory comparison options, and more.
- Restoration, if you use the program for backups, is also available.
- The ability to schedule synchronizations.
- Incremental Backups, only replace the files that have changed (according to size, date, or binary comparison).
- Task Priorities, decide how much CPU utilization you want the program to use.
- Multi-Lingual
Disadvantages:
- The free version does not allow encryption.
- Compression does not seem to work very large, due to the limits of ZIP compression. Compression is a feature I would only use on small directories, never and entire drive.
