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General discussion

File Synchronisation (I think)

Mar 6, 2006 3:15PM PST

Currently I'm studying at university in Queensland (Australia) and I need to be able to work on my work at home and uni. So i have a folder for all my uni stuff that i copy onto a USB and take to uni to work on. However because i work on the file at home and uni they change and therefore i need to (every night or so) copy the files off my USB to update my home copy and then copy them back onto USB to update my USB's copy.
So i was wondering if there was any good program out there that can synchronise my files by comparing my home ones and my USB ones and updating only the altered files depending on whether thsy have been changed since last updated.
I hope this makes sense,
Thanks

Discussion is locked

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You're over thinking it
Mar 6, 2006 10:12PM PST

Instead of copying everything back and forth, why not just use the copy on the USB drive that you share between systems?

Might not be a bad idea to make a copy every day for backup purposes, in case something happens, but otherwise you should just be able to use the copy on the USB drive as your main source. No need for extra software to complicate matters.

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mmmm didn't think of that
Mar 7, 2006 6:46AM PST

Interesting idea, I'll give it a go.
I mean if there is a program to do what i want i'd still love to know, but otherwise thats an interesting idea.

Thanks

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File Comparison
Mar 7, 2006 12:27PM PST

I can recommend a program that does part of what you want. It is called WMatch and you will have to do a Google search to find it (I think that someone in this forum mentioned it some months ago). It is very neat and user friendly - you select a folder from one drive for one column and the same folder from a backup source (eg USB flash drive) for the next column. Select 'Refresh'
and the program lists all the files in both columns and highlights in red where files are different (file size, date).
Unfortunately, if it shows differences you will have to manually update to the latest file.
By the way, I am in Melbourne and the town is buzzing in anticipation of the start of the Commonwealth Games next week. However, I am a Queensland fan and just returned from 3 weeks at Noosa.

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I use Syncback3.2
Mar 7, 2006 5:59PM PST

It's a freeware that you can download at download.com. There are a few softwares those do that but this one is (IMO) the easiest and user friendly. I use it to sync files between work computer and 3 notebooks.