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I want Windows 7 to synchronize two folders in real time (maybe running a service that monitors a folder)?

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

I tried Microsofts SyncToy, but it does only syncing by hand or scheduled.

Can this be achieved with Windows 7 itself or does anyone know a freeware application for this?

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5 Answers

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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.

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Thanks! I tried it and it works like a charm, runs flawlessly on Windows 7. – acme Nov 4 '09 at 14:13
I'm running this for nearly a year now. It's working quite well, though it's not syncing correctly if a large number of files is changed within a few moments (e.g. when unzipping or checking out a repository). But as I've not found something better, I'll still stick with it. – acme Sep 17 '10 at 15:16
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You could use a NTFS Symbolic Link so that the folders on each drive actually point to the same folder.

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That's an interesting approach, but I guess it won't work here, the mapped drive (the sync-target) is Linux. – acme Nov 4 '09 at 14:12
You can create a NTFS symbolic link to a Samba path, I have several on my desktop to my Ubuntu file server. – Chris Smith Nov 2 '11 at 18:53
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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.

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

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But it does not support real-time synchronization as far as I can see. – acme Nov 3 '11 at 8:20
@acme But you can implement triggered syncronisation using the event scheduler in windows. – xav0989 Nov 23 '11 at 18:20
Yeah, but it should be instantly be sync'd on file modification (upon save a file should be copied to another directory), not only after recurring intervals. – acme Dec 21 '11 at 14:43
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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.

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