How to sync two folders using SyncToy

Posted on April 17, 2009 at 5:23 am

SyncToy is a program from Microsoft that lets you synchronize two folders, so that if a change is made in one folder, the changes are synched with the other.  SyncToy lets you create folder pairs on two separate computers.  SyncToy can recognize additions, deletions, changes, and renames on both computers, and then do the right thing to bring the folders back in sync.

You can get SyncToy 2.0 from this MS Download page.

To start creating your folder pairs, open SyncToy and then click “Create New Folder Pair” button:

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Define the left and right folder pair:

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Define a type of synchronization.  You may choose from the 3 choices provided on the tool:

  • Synchronize: New and updated files are copied both ways. Renames and deletes on either side are repeated on the other.
  • Echo: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames and deletes on the left are repeated on the right.
  • Contribute: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames on the left are repeated on the right. No deletions.

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Name the folder pair:

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You are done but you are still yet to activate the sync process.  Click the run button on the lower part of the main screen:

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You should be able to see a confirmation that the run completed successfully:

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If you edit or delete files from any of the folder, you should click the Run button to sync the two folders.  All new changes that SyncToy recognizes are shown on the run window:

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Note that the SyncToy needs the user to run the process every time the user demands a backup.  SyncToy is a good backup tool but you need to make sure that you run it every time you need to save a copy of your data.  I find it a good tool for on-demand backup but not for real-time synchronization requirements.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

» Filed Under Free Software Downloads

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Comments

5 Responses to “How to sync two folders using SyncToy”

  1. Audi said on : February 15th, 2010 at 8:30 am

    Just what I wanted, thank you for the post, however version 2.1 of SyncToy is now available and is compatible with Windows 7!


  2. Brandon said on : March 6th, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    I have searched a long time for something like this that can sync two folders, thank you. Can you set it to auto run?


  3. amin said on : June 7th, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Hi, great tutorial on syncing two folders! Thanks!


  4. GL said on : November 6th, 2010 at 9:26 am

    Thank you very much worked like a charm :)


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