Have you ever:

• Wished you could copy someone’s shared folder over to your PC so you can own everything that he shares, and then always copy the latest content that he has?
• Wished that you backup that very important folder into some other PC so that you don’t have to feel very suicidal when your laptop crashes/stolen?
• Wished you could always keep one other copy of some folders in your hard disk in case the hard disk died/you have to reformat your Windows due to some malicious virus?
• Wished that there is an easy way to synchronize your music folder with your housemate’s music folder so whatever you have, he has, and vice versa?

I have at least three of the wishes above. Back then when I was still studying, we live in a hostel with a built-in LAN access. So I occasionally will browse through the resident’s shared folders, and often I would find some nice shows/songs that I would like. However, the task becomes very daunting because I would have to click on every folder they have to see if there is new content.

Microsoft Synctoy 2.0 beta

Microsoft have created a very handy and useful tool, called SyncToy (currently in version 2.0 beta). This guide will show you how to setup some synchronization pairs, and also schedule automatic synchronization (in part 2) so you can always have a fresh backup / update to your content.

Note that I will be using Windows Vista in this example. This guide can also be used as a guidelines for Windows XP, although some steps might be a little different.

After you install Synctoy, launch the software:

Click on the Create New Folder Pair button. A new folder pair wizard will pop up:

The term “Left folder” and “Right folder” might be a little confusing here. I follow only one rule in general when choosing the folders:

• Left Folder: The original content (i.e. if you’re trying to sync a network folder into your hard disk, then choose the folder here. Otherwise if you are trying to make a copy of one folder into another disk/network share then choose the folder here. In short, the original content)
• Right Folder: The location of where do you want the copy/backup is to be.

In this example, I’m going to create a backup copy of the Documents folder in my notebook at the PC at home:

Now click Next, and SyncToy will ask you what kind of Synchronization method do you want to use for this pair.

In general, here’s what each of them means:

• Synchronize: This will copy, rename and delete files both ways and will always keep both folders in sync. Choose this option if you always want an identical copy of your data on both folders. Any changes you make in any of the folders will be reflected to the other one - including delete, renames and creations. Note that you will need to make sure that you have write permission on both folders to be able to use this option effectively
• Echo: Echo will also keep both folders in sync. However this is a one-way update. The folder you chose on the left will be used as reference, and it will be reflected on the right. You can use this option if you just want to keep a copy of read-only network share’s contents up to date. Note that even file deletes & renames will be reflected.
• Contribute: I call this option the “leech” option (considering if you are copying from the network). This is similar to the Echo method above, except that it wouldn’t delete any files. Same filenames will be overwritten, renames will be reflected, but deleted files will not be removed from the copy

In this example, I will use “Synchronize” for my folder pair. Press Next.

Finally, give a descriptive name for your folder pair:

Now press Finish.

Next Step: Performing the Synchronization

Once you’re back in the main window. Click once on the name of the folder pair you just created above, and on the bottom right corner, click “Run“:

Synctoy will then examine both folders and perform the necessary actions:

Once the run is complete, SyncToy will report the amount of changes done in either folder:

There you have it! Next time you want to synchronize your folders again, just open SyncToy and click “Run“. Note that you can also create as much folder pairs as you like. If you have multiple folder pairs, SyncToy will show another button called “Run All“, so you can run all your folder synchronization with one click.

In Part 2, I will show you how to have scheduled Synctoy run so your files will be synchronized in the interval that you want (be it daily, hourly, every 10 mins, etc). Stay tuned!

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