Synchronise files and folders using Freefilesync

Download FreeFileSync by visiting www.snipca.com/x219. Click the Download Now button and save the file to the Windows Desktop. Double-click the downloaded file to start the installation, agree to the terms of the licence and step through the rest of the setup wizard, accepting the defaults unless you have cause to do otherwise. Launch the program from the Start menu and when the Information dialogue box appears click Yes for the software to check for updates on a weekly basis.

The program interface is divided into two main sections. The left-hand side represents the folders that are going to be copied, while the right-hand side is the destination. Start by adding a folder to be synchronised to the left-hand column. Either click the Browse button above the left-hand pane and select a folder, or drag and drop a folder onto the left-hand pane. Use the same method to choose the folder (or disk) that should be used to store synchronised files by adding it to the right-hand pane. These two locations represent a single synchronisation ‘pair’.

Click the ‘+’ icon that appears towards the top of the right-hand column and the current pair of folders will be added to the synchronisation set. Though you might simply wish to back up the My Documents/Documents folder and nothing more, a synchronisation set can contain as many folder pairs as needed. Once the ‘+’ button has been clicked, Step 2 can be repeated to choose additional folder pairs by adding them to the left and right columns.

Paired folders can be synchronised in a number of different ways. To choose an option, click the green cog icon to the upper right of the screen. The most common method is mirroring: this means files or folders contained in the left-hand folder will be copied to the destination indicated on the right. Any changes to files or file deletions to the left will be reflected to the right. However, any changes made to files stored in the right-hand folder will not be synchronised.

The ‘Synchronization settings’ dialogue box, summoned by the click on the green cog in Step 4, describes the other synchronisation methods. As different methods are selected, the icons to the right of the dialogue box change to give a visual representation of how files will be treated. By selecting the Custom option, it is possible to click each of these icons to cycle through the various options to create a personalised synchronisation profile. To prevent the loss of deleted files, ensure that the Use Recycle Bin option is selected from the ‘Deletion handling’ dropdown menu and then click Apply.

Synchronisation typically involves ensuring that the contents of one folder precisely match that of another, but there may be occasions when it is not necessary to synchronise every file in a particular folder. Click the Filter files tab in the lower left-hand corner of the window and then click the Configure filter link. Use the Include and Exclude boxes to enter filtering criteria, such as opting to ignore files with a particular extension or with filenames that contain particular words, and then click OK. Wildcard symbols can be used here (so, to exclude all files ending with a ‘.tmp’ extension, you could type ‘*.tmp’).

To check which files are going to be copied between folders during the synchronisation process, click the Compare button to the upper left of the screen. The files will be listed to the left of the screen, with an arrow icon displayed to show that they will be copied to the right. In the status bar to the bottom of the screen and in the information panel to the lower right of the screen, information about the number and size of the files involved is displayed.

In most instances there will be no need to make any changes here, but individual files can be ignored by unticking the box next to their entry in the central column. Once happy that everything has been set up as required, click the Synchronize button to the upper right of the screen and a preview window will be displayed. This can be hidden for future synchronisations by ticking the box before continuing. Click Start to continue with synchronisation.

To save having to run through all these steps whenever folders need to be synchronised, a ‘batch file’ can be created. Open the Advanced menu and select Create batch job. Ensure all the required settings have been correctly configured. To prevent messages about empty folders being displayed and halting synchronisation, select Ignore errors from the Error handling dropdown menu. Click Save, enter a suitable name for the batch job and then click Save again, remembering where the file has been saved. In future you can synchronise the folders by double-clicking this saved file.

Another option is to use the Task Scheduler in Windows to automatically run this batch job on a regular basis. To launch Task Scheduler, click Start then point to Accessories followed by System Tools and then click Task Scheduler (or Scheduled Tasks in XP). Now create a new task that runs Freefilesync as often as required. In Vista and Windows 7 click Create Basic Task. Enter a name, click Next and choose when synchronisation should run, select ‘Start a program’ and click Next. Click Browse and select FreeFileSync.exe (in the C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync folder). In the ‘Add arguments’ box, type the location of the batch job created in Step 9 and click Finish. In XP, click the File menu and select New Scheduled Task then New. Double-click the new task, move to the Run field, enter the path to FreeFileSync (C:\ProgramFiles\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe) followed by a space and then the path to a batch job. Use the Schedule tab to choose when and how often the process should run.