Everything about Synctoy totally explained
SyncToy is a free
PowerToy designed by
Microsoft that provides an easy to use
graphical user interface that can automate synchronizing files and folders. It is written using Microsoft's
.NET framework. SyncToy 2.0 was rewritten to make use of the
Microsoft Sync Framework.
SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. SyncToy can keep track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.
Features
Users initially need to create a “folder pair” that represents the two folders ("left" and "right" folders) to be compared and synchronized. These folders can be on the local drive, on an external device such as a
flash drive or
camera, or on a
network share from another computer. SyncToy supports
UNC paths. It provides a
Browse option to find the folder or network share, or users can type it in directly. SyncToy offers two safeguards to ensure that the user doesn't lose files permanently when they're deemed unnecessary during a sync. Firstly, a user can preview what is going to happen when the sync takes place, without actually changing anything; secondly, any deleted files are moved to the
Recycle Bin.
SyncToy defines five different types of operations to synchronize two folders:
Synchronize,
Echo,
Subscribe,
Contribute, and
Combine. A
Synchronize operation takes the two folders and makes sure they've the exact same files. To do this, SyncToy may copy files in either direction and may delete or rename files in either folder. The
Echo operation looks for changes (new files, renames, deletes) in the left folder and makes them in the right folder (one-way sync). A
Contribute option is like an
Echo, but it doesn't delete any files on the right folder that may have been deleted on the left folder. With
Subscribe, the two folders are examined to see what files they've in common. If either the left or right side has updated these common files, only those files are synchronized. Any of the other files in the folders are untouched. Finally, the
Combine operation just copies new files in both directions, without deleting anything. SyncToy doesn’t consider a renamed file to be new, so it's possible to have the same file under different names on the left and right folder after they've been combined.
If users obtain unexpected results it may be that copying the address of a folder from Windows Explorer into the boxes for folder pair creation needs to be terminated by a black-slash (), otherwise the final subfolder will be ignored and the operations performed over possibly many more subfolders than intended. The user manual is highly ambiguous in places, and there's much uncertainty about the actual logic applied, so there's no substitute for experiments on copies of folders to ensure intended outcomes. Part of the uncertainty for the novice user derives from the fact that the actual logical description depends upon the status obtained through previous history of use of the SyncToy tool. Three of the five operations ignore files which have not been created or changed since the last operation. This includes ignoring old files which may never have been backed up. The preview before operation feature is useful, but again the information is incomplete and ambiguous.
SyncToy 2.0
SyncToy is being upgraded for a version 2.0 release, and a beta version of this has been made available. It features a redesigned sync engine for better performance and scalability. It also includes better support for unattended synchronization runs, x64 compatibility, support for synchronizing
encrypted files, file and folder exclusion based on both names and file types, renaming folder pairs and detection of drive letter reassignment.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Synctoy'.
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