Tag: folders

Create Synchronicity: Complete Backup And Synchronization

Create Synchronicity (Version: 5.2.1 tested for this review) is a very capable backup tool, it can synchronize and mirror folder structures. Creating a profile comes first along with choosing source and destination folders. The type of backup or synchronization can then be chosen and file types included or excluded, with regex support, if necessary. ‘Propagate Updates’ will differentiate between files updated and only those added or deleted. The Strict file time comparison check forces Create Synchronicity to check modified dates to the second so as to not miss often updated files.

Right clicking on the profile name brings up options to edit settings, preview the synchronization, do the actual synchronization and also enable scheduling.

There are three synchronization modes or types available, quoting from the developer site they are:

Left to right (Mirror): New and modified files are copied from left to right. Deletions that occurred on the left are replicated (“mirrored”) on the right. In this case, the right folder becomes an exact copy of the left one, except that files updated on the right side are not reverted to their original state (Unless “strict mirror” is selected.).
Left to right (Incremental): New and modified files are copied from left to right, but deletions are not. In this case, the right folder somehow keeps an incremental history of changes that occurred on the left.
Two ways (Incremental): New and modified files are copied from left to right, and from right to left. No deletions occur. This is especially useful if changes occur also in the destination (eg. your documents on a USB stick)

Create Synchronicity has an expert mode (enabled by adding Expert mode:True to mainconfig.ini or pressing Ctrl+Alt+E) that, among others, enables new variables and md5 integrity check on copied files.

Create Synchronicity includes some command line support. It can also sync to network drives either by the user mapping network drives or using UNC (Uniform Naming Convention) paths.

There are also some hidden settings available to for example create compressed (gzip or bzip2) backups.

Every command line and every setting is fully explained on the detailed Help page. Create Synchronicity is open source, available in both portable and installer downloads. It requires Windows 2000 or newer and the .Net Framework 2.0.

February 2, 2012
Freeware Shorts: Directory Monitor

Directory Monitor (Version: 1.0.2.0 as of this post) is a program that keeps an eye on or monitors any number of directories for file additions, changes and deletions. These could be local or directories located on a network. These kinds of programs are very useful because a user can see and know what happens when for example a program is installed or uninstalled. As a more specific example many programs have a habit of creating directories in the My Documents folder and when uninstalling these sometimes cryptically named folders remain. Directory Monitor makes such scenarios more manageable.
Directory Monitor can generate alerts or tool tip balloons when changes occur and can also execute a command when a change happens. .NET Framework required.

May 14, 2011
Freeware Nimi Places Provides A New Way To Organize Your Desktop

Nimi Places is described by its author as

Simple way to organize and keep important folders on desktop

Nimi Places does things a bit differently, in practice or in theory an empty desktop devoid of any icons would use Nimi Places to assign movable or drag-able regions of it to important or often used folders. In other words Nimi Places creates opaque or transparent areas or windows where the contents of a folder will remain or become visible when needed. Nimi Places is, in a way, creating visual and somewhat workable shortcuts to folders while at the same time keeping the desktop clean.
After running the program and left clicking the tray icon one can add places by clicking the + sign and choosing folders to create places for. Nimi Places allows most normal file operation inside these ‘places’. Copy and pasting and renaming file to name two. However it seems none of moving or dragging and dropping work or are buggy, indeed a few of the other operations listed on the Nimi Places page are not available or unworkable in the version I downloaded.
Nimi Places is lightweight and very interesting. At its most basic it does a good job creating a new desktop experience. It is, however missing help or a clear explanation (perhaps there is a pro-version?) and even its “HD streamed video clip” – available on the home page linked at the beginning of this post – shows features that are not available or not possible to do on an XP machine.

June 5, 2010
FreeFileSync Manages Your Folders And Files

FreeFileSync is described by its author as

…is an Open-Source folder comparison and synchronization tool. It is optimized for highest performance and usability without restricted or overloaded UI interfaces

FreeFileSync has a simple yet attractive, with well made icons, interface that synchronizes folders and compares files and folders. The options to compare are based on file size and date and also the file contents. The help button to the right of the big rectangular compare button attempts to explain how the comparison is calculated in both the aforementioned possibilities or features.
The synchronization feature is more detailed and includes the possibility to copy files between folders so that they are identical or to copy files and overwriting any that already exist in the other folder or to even delete files that already exist in the other folder.

FreeFileSync is also capable of saving configurations to be loaded to make future uses even more automated. Batch files can also be saved to ease work for every use with identical folders. Files can also be filtered so that certain file types are not included in the syncing procedures. FreeFileSync is available both for Windows and Linux machines.

July 9, 2009