How do synchronise two folders in Windows 7 in real-time?

Question

I want Windows 7 to synchronise two folders in real time.

Basically I want to monitor a folder and synchronise each change (new files, changed files, deleted files) to another drive. It has to be in real time, so it gets synchronised instantly when a change happens. A one-direction synchronisation is enough.

I tried Microsoft's SyncToy, but it does only syncing by hand or scheduled (thus not satisfying the "real-time" requirement).

Can this be achieved with Windows 7 itself? If not, is there a freeware application for this?

Answer 1

Dsynchronize lets you do this. I'm not sure how it works in Windows 7 but it's freeware and standalone so there's no harm in trying.

Answer 2

You could use a NTFS Symbolic Link so that the folders on each drive actually point to the same folder.

Answer 3

There's Synkron which is open source and is cross platform.

Answer 4

If you want to sync a folder to USB and you use Dropbox already, use the DropboxPortableAHK.

This way, I have my Dropbox files synced on any computer, as well as my iPhone using the Dropbox app and my USB drive I use at uni with this portable version.

Answer 5

FreeFileSync is a great free tool that can compare and sync folders.

Answer 6

Since I read your comment ".. the mapped drive (the sync-target) is Linux", then I want to give you a way better approach: You only need ssh-access on the Linux target, it is way faster, and works much better over lower bandwidths and longer latencies.

Use WinSCP's "Keep remote directory up to date" function!

You will need a little tweaking on the transfer options to set up always binary, exclude files (typically svn or git files and similar) etc. Also use the "automatic apply" of transfer options. Also, create a session that has the host, local and remote directories set up. At that point, you only need to open WinSCP, activate the session (which then also automatically applies the transfer options due to e.g. host-matching), and hit the keep-updated button.

Or you could script this using WinSCPs scripting tools!

.. and just btw: If the scenario was Unix-to-Unix, then check out this question.

Answer 7

You can try SyncBack4all, it's real time folder and files sync program.

Answer 8

Watch 4 Folder v2.3 - a small (802kb), portable (no installation) and powerful monitoring tool to monitor folders and files activities.
It is simple to use and to set, it can monitor 15 types of events and trigger different actions in case an event occurs.

http://leelusoft.blogspot.in/2011/10/watch-4-folder-23.html

-Been using it on a server, firing off multiple exes - conversion to PDF using Acrobat, stamping them, sending as attachment to offices around the country through smtp calls... little software does many things!!

Answer 9

I wanted the same. And in principle the Sync Center within Windows7 would provide that but in another fashion: you only have to set a network folder as Always Available Offline. With this you basically have that a local and remote version synchronized, you are working as if you were on the network but actually it manages to have it locally. In other words you only see one copy but having it in two places, but that is the goal of synchronizing. Instead of being transparent that there is a remotely synchronized copy, there is a locally synchronized copy. In any case this covers the basic goal of network failures.

I must say this is the theory because I got stuck since my network drives are managed by Novel and therefore I don't have the option of "Always Available Offline".

Answer 10

BitTorrent Sync is designed with this specific purpose in mind, plus it also works on Mac and Linux.

Sync and Share Sync unlimited files between your own devices, or share a folder with friends and family to automatically sync anything.

Private and Secure File transfers are encrypted. Your information is never stored on a server in the cloud and your data is protected by private keys.

Bigger is Better BitTorrent Sync is specifically designed to handle large files, so feel free to sync original, high quality, uncompressed files.

Answer 11

Sync Center is what you need ;)