(21)
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File Synchronization is a utility that has the ability to synchronize multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use and quick to do the job.
It was based originally on the File Synchronization tool provided by Apple with the old Mac OS, but has a few improvements and features to help get the job done quickly and efficiently.
File Synchronization synchronizes multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use: choose 2 folders to synchronize then click the Synchronize button and you're done! However, there are
It was based originally on the File Synchronization tool provided by Apple with the old Mac OS, but has a few improvements and features to help get the job done quickly and efficiently.
File Synchronization synchronizes multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use: choose 2 folders to synchronize then click the Synchronize button and you're done! However, there are
What's New
Version 1.6.2:
- In Source-dominant (or Destination-dominant) mode with "Delete orphaned files" option set, a Destination (Source) file that was deleted by the user in Preview because of a conflict (red X) resulted in the original Source (Destination) file being marked for deletion (trash can icon) on synchronization. This potentially caused both files to be deleted
- Corrects a bug where if you were trying to synchronize 2 folders on the same disk and if one of the folder had the beginning of the name of the other folder, there would be errors for some files in that folder and some items wouldn't be copied
- Corrects a bug where if you were trying to synchronize 2 folders on the same disk and if one of the folder had the beginning of the name of the other folder, there would be errors for some files in that folder and some items wouldn't be copied
- Improves the copy of files on remote volumes by letting the system decides what the permissions should be for copied items
- Now synchronizes the pairs set for automatic synchronization at launch in addition to the pairs set for repeated synchronization
- Prevents showing the progress dialog when the app is in background which caused the application icon from jumping in the Dock when the progress dialog was displayed
- Now properly disables menu items when an analysis or a synchronization is in progress
- Includes complete Chinese Simplified localization
- Added Growl support
Version 1.6.2:
- In Source-dominant (or Destination-dominant) mode with "Delete orphaned files" option set, a Destination (Source) file that was deleted by the user in Preview because of a conflict (red X) resulted in the original Source (Destination) file being marked for deletion (trash can icon) on synchronization. This potentially caused both files to be deleted
- Corrects a bug where if you more...
Requirements
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
File Synchronizati... User Discussion (Write a Review)
Overall:
(21)
(21)
Displaying 1-10 of 24
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File Synchronization is a utility that has the ability to synchronize multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use and quick to do the job.
It was based originally on the File Synchronization tool provided by Apple with the old Mac OS, but has a few improvements and features to help get the job done quickly and efficiently.
File Synchronization synchronizes multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use: choose 2 folders to synchronize then click the Synchronize button and you're done! However, there are multiple options when your needs get a little more complicated. The interface is easy to use and the application is quick to do any synchronization that you might need.
3 different synchronization modes to use depending on what you want to achieve:
It was based originally on the File Synchronization tool provided by Apple with the old Mac OS, but has a few improvements and features to help get the job done quickly and efficiently.
File Synchronization synchronizes multiple pairs of folders or files. It has been designed to be easy to use: choose 2 folders to synchronize then click the Synchronize button and you're done! However, there are multiple options when your needs get a little more complicated. The interface is easy to use and the application is quick to do any synchronization that you might need.
3 different synchronization modes to use depending on what you want to achieve:
- Automatic mode: whenever the content of one of the folder you synchronize changes, the synchronization is performed so you can be sure that the 2 folders are always synchronized. You set it once and then forget about it
- Repeat mode: the synchronization is performed at a regular interval that you set in the preferences. Good when you're constantly making changes and don't want the folders to be continuously synchronized
- Manual mode: whenever you want to perform the synchronization, you select the pair in the list and click Synchronize. Ideal if you synchronize a folder that is on a remote volume that might not always be available
- Bidirectional: changes in both folders that are synchronized are duplicated in both folders. Best when changes can occur in each folder that you synchronize
- Unidirectional: changes that occur in one of the folder you synchronize are duplicated in the other folder. If you want to have an exact backup of a folder, that's the synchronization mode to use. You can choose to backup the folder on the left or on the right
- See how many items are going to be copied and deleted and what the sizes of those items to copy and delete are
- Check what is going to happen if the synchronization is performed
- Decide which item is going to replace the other
- Remove some items from the list from being synchronized
- Delete items you don't want to be synchronized
- Select the synchronization mode
- Choose the synchronization direction of that pair
- Set filters to ignore certain items
- Decide what happens with orphaned files and recently modified files
- Ignore warnings when both copies of the same file have been modified since the last synchronization
- Include or not invisible items
- See the status of the last synchronization session and when it was last synchronized
- Local disks
- Remote volumes shared by another Mac on your network or by a Windows computer
- iDisk
- USB flash drive
- Store login information for remote volumes so that they can be automatically mounted the next time they are needed
- Any volume you can access in the Finder can be used
- Can generate a log each time a synchronization is performed
- Error reporting gives you a description of an error so you can fix it
- Hierarchical views show you exactly where an item is in any list. Double-click an item and it will be selected in the Finder
Copyright © 2012 MacUpdate LLC
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insp reviewed on 19 May 2012
- When the clocks change summer/autumn I get 1hr time differences between time stamps on files. I couldn't find any easy way to handle this. The 'ignore time differences of xx minutes' option doesn't appear to do anything. It is going to be very irritating to have to rewrite all my data twice a year.
- I have a Windows partition on the Mac to run software that isn't available on Mac and as a result it creates quite a lot of data to sync to my portable backup drive. Ideally I'd like to exclude the partition from the sync and backup Windows files separately but can't find an easy way to do it. On my old software I could just check boxes against every file or folder to include/exclude items. This was very quick, easy and flexible.
- When I view the 'preview' run I would like to be able to sort the results in different ways so I can easily pick out the items I want to override. This doesn't seem to be possible.
- When I run 'preview', I can sometimes continue to run a 'synchronise' and other times the button is greyed out so I have to run the whole process again from the main 'synchronise' menu button. Irritating.
- When using the app to load my files onto the mac from the backup drive it crashed several times. It seems to run out of memory after a certain volume of data - poor design
- The tracker bar showing progress of preview or synchronise is useless so I can't tell how long it is likely to take to run.
I realise this isn't fully commercial software but it isn't free either so I think it is reasonable to make comparisons to Windows equivalents. This has a long way to go. The only upside (if I try and look positively) is that I haven't yet found anything better for mac.
THerring reviewed on 26 Jan 2012
Tried again - same indications
Ideas?
This could also be a problem that was fixed in the 1.6.2 update where if you are hiding the app and the synchronization finishes while the app was hidden, the progress dialog would not go away.
Finally, it could also be a problem with the media itself. How long have you used the drive and when was the last time you did check it with Disk Utility?
This could also be a problem that was fixed in the 1.6.2 update where if you are hiding the app and the synchronization finishes while the app was hidden, the progress dialog would not go away.
Finally, it could also be a problem with the media itself. How long have you used the drive and when was the last time you did check it with Disk Utility?
bryandavis reviewed on 05 Jan 2012
+1
Thinkingman.com reviewed on 15 Dec 2011
bra-ket reviewed on 18 Nov 2011
I've been using this for a while and I really liked the ease of use but lately I've had issues with the synchronizations- specifically, files not being kept in sync, even though the program insists they are. I'm not talking about little hidden files. I am using it to back up mp3s and the source and target folders are different by GBs (roughly 200GB total in the source folder). I've tried all sorts of things to remedy the situation, but no luck. Finally I had to use another product to fix the glitch. Needless to say it shook my faith in this produce. Neither of the email addresses I found on the developers website work, all the emails are being bounced back so there is no support. You've been warned!
(2010 MBP running OS X 10.6.8, FS ver 1.6.1)
Not sure what your problem is without more information about what kind of disk you are using to backup your mp3. You'd be surprised by the amount of all kind of storage people uses these days, some working fine, others leaving much to be desired. We just try to do our best supporting those too. If you email us with your problem, we can certainly find what's wrong. We have thousands of happy users and you can see some that are pretty happy with the application so if it was so bad to deserve only one star, I think after 9 years, we would know by now :-D
So, email us and we'll see what we can do with your problem.
laurent.daudelin@verizon.net
nemesys.soft@verizon.net
Neither worked (email bounced back). I couldn't find any of the 'plenty of other links' to which you refer. Who knows, maybe they're there. But two bad email addresses just seems weird to me.
I gave this application a rating of one star because it didn't work for me. Backup is a critical application, if it doesn't work, and I can't get support, it gets one star- please don't make it sound like I'm silly to have that opinion. I'll resend my original email to the new address and see if the problem can be straightened out...
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Virtualp reviewed on 24 Jun 2011
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In any case, I'm not knocking File Synchronization, because I haven't tried it (at least, not lately), but I can do what I need to do free with Backuplist+.
I also found that the developer of Backuplist+ (whose name escapes me at the moment - something French, I believe) responded quickly and helpfully when I had a question about how to use the program.
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You have the right to post whatever you want but I think your message is totally useless. You even admit that you never used it or used it a long time ago, why posting a review of another (free) project here? Your time might be more productive doing positive advertising for Backuplist+ in other more meaningful ways than scanning all entries on MacUpdate that proposes an alternative to Backuplist+ and bringing down those projects. Sheeshh!
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That said, my post is not completely useless. The reason to note a free alternative is the same as the purpose of those little icons right above the review area. MacUpdate is a forum for computer users to share information about software used to solve specific problems. If you think your scratch-built engine works better than rsync, that's fine - sell it on those merits. If you think your program works better than other available programs, that's great! For my software needs I have found a free alternative that does everything I need it to do. There are certainly other users with different needs, and I hope that many of them just can't accomplish what they need done without paying you $15 for your program, but those who don't need everything your program presumably provides can do better for free.
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I guess that debating with you is like trying to debate with a rock.
Your comments are still useless.
+27
I find that comparative comments help me determine what software will meet my needs.
Here's hoping your day gets better.
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Vascouno reviewed on 21 Feb 2011
Other complex and complicated and expensive sync apps exist; perhaps some people need them. I don't, and this is perfect for making certain files and folders are in sync. Sync conflicts are handled as I determine.
5 star. Great value and delightfully satisfying.
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Larrymcj reviewed on 07 Oct 2009
SuperDuper just won't let you do it...and when I contacted support, though knowledgeable and friendly, he kept telling me that I should do a clone of the entire drive. I don't want to do that...I want to do what "I" want! A daily clone over USB takes forever and I just don't need it...the only data I need is in these four folders.
ChronoSync is very complex and somewhat tricky to configure, but a very nice program. Unfortunately, it will not let you do what I wanted by just selecting source and target folders...you have to include the entire home folder and then exclude what you don't want...and of course it copies all the hidden files to the target drive as well. Again...all I wanted was the data.
Anyway, I tried File Synchronization 1.4.4 and it's exactly what I need. It's very fast at synching once you make the initial copy and it's simple and easy to use...not to mention that it costs about 2-3 times less than the other two backup programs I mentioned.
It would be perfect if it had a more useful scheduler. Currently, you can have it automatically synchronize at any number of minutes, hours, or days, but you can't configure it to run at a specific time on a specific day of the week, or month, etc. In my case I'd like to to run every four hours between the hours of 8AM and 8PM...can't do it. But I'm sure the developer will be improving on the scheduler...in fact, maybe he'll pop in here and comment :-) Great app!!
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SuperDuper will absolutely allow you to set up a configuration which will only sync your Desktop folder. Or any specific folder(s) that you choose.
+152
I also own File Sync (this app) as well as ChronoSync. FS is nice, but the lack of scheduling was what drove me to ChronoSync.
However for quick manual syncs, FS is a great little app.
Roger Traill rated on 24 May 2012
Riccardo Luigi Varisco rated on 20 Sep 2011
Fred Szabo rated on 14 Jul 2011
Brecht Debaene rated on 08 Jul 2011
Ipdaley rated on 22 Apr 2011
+1
The Fantastic Laura B rated on 04 Apr 2011
Graham Timmins rated on 18 Mar 2011