Windows program for syncing large ammouts of data across external hardrives

[mistmonster]

I know someone here must have a recommendation on this. Looked through the utilities thread and didn't see anything..

I'm looking for something that either actively or I can schedule to sync files across more than 2 HDs. That can report conflicts,maybe even duplicates, but I know a lot of programs that do that and just works. (Yes I really don't want to lose that mp3 collection lol)

I'm having no luck with the few I have tried, something always goes wrong. I used to blame the old computer I was using but not having luck on the new one either.. so I thought I'd ask here

[Kryssan]

Free or Commercial?

I use GoodSync to do replications on my Windows systems ( commercial program ), and just good ol' command line rsync on Linux distros.

[mistmonster]

Oh I should have mentioned that.. I don't mind paying for it at all. Thanks for the info

[Ragns]

Have you tried Microsoft SyncToy? http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=15155

[The Stig]

Highly recommend sync toy. I use it at work for my network drives (which is basically external drives anyway).

Very easy to use and to setup.

[Patriarch]

Have you tried Microsoft SyncToy? http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=15155

This very much

[Kryssan]

Have you tried Microsoft SyncToy? http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=15155

YMMV, but I found that SyncToy did not have the required features I needed for my own sync needs. I get away with using rsync on my Linux systems because I don't need to get terribly well defined with what I'm copying over, and I'm only doing one way transfers from my laptops with minimal directory trees to copy to the server or vice / versa. But the basics of rsync ( or SyncToy ) don't allow the level of management I need across my servers and other machines.

SyncToy is a rather basic program ( and these days an aging program ), but if all you need to do is copy / sync some stuff between systems ( UNC paths are supported ) or to an external drive and you like doing such things via GUI or such it'll probably do you just fine. And free is always good. Be advised that given its simple nature there are things it cannot do as well, but their webboards (added a link to them here) are still relatively active if you have a question regarding a problem you run into.



Also, for anyone that's curious here is a link to Wikipedia's table ( link ) on comparing file sync software. I wouldn't necessarily count on it being uptodate but it's an easy quick reference.



Edit:

Actually, going back and reading your post

I'm looking for something that either actively or I can schedule to sync files across more than 2 HDs. That can report conflicts,maybe even duplicates, but I know a lot of programs that do that and just works. (Yes I really don't want to lose that mp3 collection lol)

If this is a requirement, not a desire, SyncToy may not be your choice. SyncToy is a synchronization tool, that keeps two sets of directories that you define up to date with one another. You can use SyncToy to identify what will change before you do a sync, but that's it. You *can* set it up so that anything that gets deleted on a sync is moved to a Recycle Bin so that it can be recovered if you didn't intend on it getting removed though. I don't remember if SyncToy has an option not to sync if the amount of file changes exceeds a certain percentage or some other like-set parameter ( in the event of an automatic / scheduled sync ). I'm not sure if it'll identify duplicates either, it might have a log you could parse for that though?

[Niya]

Had to read a bit into syncing programs because of work a while back and ended up using Synkron. Open source, cross-platform and works like a charm once it's set up. Has TONS of options for what it should (not) do during sync, can keep backup copies of duplicates/overwritten files, has a "try it but don't actually do anything" mode and writes a protocol for every single step.