Synkron is an open source folder sync program developed by Matus Tomlein, it’s cross-platform and easy to operate.

Features

• Easy to install and use.
• Supports multiple syncing.
• Allows to define a blacklist which is used to exclude files and folders based on names and extensions.
• Allows to define multiple filters which are used to specify which( and only which ) types of files you want to synchronize.
• Supports scheduled synchronization.
• Allows to define multiple synchronization tasks, each has a dedicated tab.
• Allows to analysis before sync.
• Allows to detect conflicts between files.
• Portable version available.
• Multi-language supported: English, France, Italian, etc.

Synkron is straightforward and simple, it does not support Volume Shadow Copy, file verification after synchronization, file comparison after analysation and file versioning. But you can check out the freeware which have these features in the related articles section below.

Synkron works on all Win32 platforms, all BSD platforms and all POSIX platforms, such as Windows 7, Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux.

Synkron is a 5.32MB download available from SourceForge.net.

Create Synchronicity is a free, compact, multi-language and open source folder backup and synchronization software for Windows developed by Create ( Clément Pit–Claudel ) who is only a 19 year-old boy student from Paris.

Features

• Downloading and installing Create Synchronicity is a painless process.
• 3 sync modes available:
  • Left to Right( Mirror ): Copy all ( new and modified ) files and folders from source directory to destination directory, and delete the files which do not exist on source folder from destination folder.
  • Left to Right( Incremental ): Copy all ( new and modified ) files and folders from source folder to target folder, no files are deleted.
  • Two ways incremental: Copy all ( new and modified ) files and folders both ways, nothing is deleted.
• Include or exclude files by specifying filename, extension or regular expression.
• Supports schedule backup.
• Allows to preview before backup.
• Well documented.
• Supports multiple backup and sync profiles.
• Allows to start from command line.
• Allows to synchronize to network drives.
• Allows to show the details of the difference between source and target files by using File Comparison and Merge Software.
• Allows to validate the integrity of copied files by comparing the MD5 signatures.
• Supported languages include English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc.

Create Synchronicity works on all 32-bit Windows systems including Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Create Synchronicity is a 257KB download available from SourceForge.net and CNET.com.

Directory Compare is a light, portable and easy operating utility developed by Juan M. Aguirregabiria, it offers you the ability to compare and sync files between two directories with a few clicks.

Features

• Include multiple source and target folders.
• Exclude multiple source and target folders.
• Include/exclude files using wildcards.
• Clear the read only attribute in copies of files from CDs/DVDs.
• Log everything or only errors.
• Allows to compare contents of source file and destination file using external program like KDiff3 and WinMerge.
• Synchronize/mirror/open/open context menu for source or target/delete/eliminate selected files in the result list window.

Directory Compare works on Windows 7, Windows XP and Vista.

Directory Compare is a 1.23MB download available from the developer’s website and Softpedia.

I used to think that Cobian Backup Boletus and FreeFileSync are the best free backup and sync program, now it seems that I am wrong. The world is changing everyday, a commercial software has been released as freeware recently, this makes it become the best free folder synchronization application. I have never thought of replacing SyncBackPro with Cobian Backup Boletus or FreeFileSync, because the later two ones lacks 3 very important features which is available in SyncBackPro, but now things are different.

CopyTo Synchronizer is the one I mentioned above, I have been using SyncBackPro for over 3 years, now I can say that you could use CopyTo Synchronizer as alternative to SyncBackPro or SyncBackSE. The 3 most important features are listed below:

1, Preview

CopyTo Synchronizer allows you preview which files and folders will be copied / replaced, you can uncheck those files that you do not want to backup / sync, or compare them to see the difference.

I often download some 1080p high definition movies from the Web, but I think that it’s not necessary to backup these files to external hard drive, so I can ignore these files before copying files with CopyTo Synchronizer easily.

2, Compare

CopyTo Synchronizer allows you do a binary comparison between two folders and list the different ones. Furthermore, and where it really shines is, you can specify external application for comparing / merging, press Ctrl+O in the preview window, and navigate to the “External Applications” tab, now hit the New button and select an external program, for example, WinMergeU.exe. CopyTo Synchronizer will automatically fill in the command line for you: “C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe” “%1″ “%2″, you can set the menu title to “Compare with WinMerge”.

Now you can right click any item in the preview window and select “Compare with WinMerge” from the context menu, CopyTo Synchronizer will launch WinMerge and compare the source and destination file side by side for you.

WinMerge is the best text comparison tool, it allows you compare / merge text files easily, you can also use it to compare Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF files with the xdocdiff WinMerge Plugin.

3, Versioning

Incremental backup is a very nice feature, but if your files on the local hard drive is incorrectly, it will overwrite you backup files without your notice, and you even can not recover the correct ones with data recovery software, because they’re overwritten, not deleted. CopyTo Synchronizer gives you the ability to versioning your files: if a file is modified in the source folder, the correspond one on the destination folder will be renamed first( for example, from “MyTextFile.txt” to “MyTextFile-12032010-1939-001.txt” ) before the source one is copied to the destination.

Now you have two version of “MyTextFile.txt” in your backup device: “MyTextFile-12032010-1939-001.txt” and “MyTextFile.txt”, you can restore the one on your local hard disk to any version easily. If you have ever used Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) or SVN, you will find that versioning is a very useful and important feature, the beautiful thing is that you do not have to check in / check out files for editing with CopyTo Synchronizer.

You can enable the versioning feature under the Revisions tab in the Project Properties dialog.

4, Other features

• Supports 14 modes: backup, synchronize, backup both ways, copy backup, full backup, different backup, incremental backup, update, restore, file compare, copy, move, move to recycle bin, delete.
• Verify each file after copying.
• Include / Exclude files and folders with filters.
• Exclude system or hidden files/directories.
• Move to recycle bin instead of delete.
• Date filter based on the file’s modified timestamp.
• Compress files to zip archive and protect them with password.
• Supports Unicode filenames.
• Supports customizing the sounds when Finished/Preview/Error/Confirmation.
• Supports integrating with Windows explorer.
• Save / Load customization settings to project file for later use.
• Export log to html file.

CopyTo Synchronizer supports Windows 7 and Windows XP / Vista / 2000.

Download it from CNET.

SyncBack Freeware is a superb sync and backup freeware released by 2brightsparks. It allows you backup or synchronise your important files and folders easily and efficiently.

Feature List

• Easy to use and customize, it’s straightforward, user friendly, flexible, reliable and stable.
• It has two mode: Easy and Expert, so it’s suitable for both novice users and experienced users.
• Supports making safe copies.
• Supports verifying that files are copied correctly.
• Filter supported, it allows you add files/folders to copy or not to copy, include and exclude files/directories.
• Allows you run a simulated run/restore, you can preview which files will be copied without actually run the job.
• Supports different priority.
• Allows you copy files to Network or FTP server.
• Allows you compress the backup files into zip archive.
• Supports schedule backup.

SyncBack Freeware does not support copying locked files, however it supports prompting you that the file is locked and can not be copied. It means that it does not support Volume Shadow Copy, but FreeFileSync and Cobian Backup Boletus has this feature.

SyncBack Freeware works on Windows 7, Windows XP.

Download it from the developer’s website or CNET.

Download the pdf help file.

Product Homepage: http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/.