Free Folder Synchronization Tool from Microsoft

Found this today while searching for a home backup solution. I want something easy to setup, easy to manage, and something that is devoid of proprietary file formats so that I'm not tied to one solution going forward. Basically, I just wanted something to handle raw file copies from one location to the other that I could turn on and walk away from. Well, I think I found one for FREE from an unlikely source - MICROSOFT! Seems that they have a pretty active Professional Photographers community (who knew?) and this grew out of their wants and desires.

What it is:

A very small downloadable utility called SyncToy.

What it does:

It synchronizes folders. But it makes it ridiculously easy and offers a good variety of options on how you want that synchronization to take place. It separates your desired folders into "pairs" - the "left" is your original folder and the "right" is where you want it synchronized. You can have as many "pairs" as you want and you can set the options for them independent of each other.

Your options for synchronization are broken down as:

Synchronize: New and updated files are copied both ways. Renames and deletes on either side are carried out on the other.

Echo: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames and deletes on the left are copied on the right.

Subscribe: Updated files on the right are copied to the left (I am thinking this would be great if you had access to a common file share with other people and wanted local copies of whatever is placed there)

Contribute: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames on the left are repeated on the right. No deletions. (great option to guard against accidental deletions!)

Combine: New and updated files are copied both ways. Nothing happens to renamed or deleted files.

Now remember, you don't have to choose one sync type for all your files! Mix and match for each folder "pair" you define!

It gets even better - to make it a completely brainless solution you can even schedule the syncing of the "pairs" using XP's built in task scheduler.

It currently comes in two flavors - 1.4 and a 2.0 beta.

1.4 here

2.o beta here