Directory Synchronizer

5.0 stars

"Believe The Editor's Review"

August 20, 2009  |   By PJFTL

Version: Directory Synchronizer 0.3

Pros

Very user friendly, easy to use, good instructions and help text, not a lot of extra features to get in the way or needlessly confuse people.

Cons

No batch synchronizing, no exporting capability

Summary

All I needed was to compare folders on my new system to the folders that existed on my old system to make sure I got everything. All I wanted was to see was what was possibly missing. This does 97% of what I was looking for and what I needed. Once you execute it, you click "new" to start the process. Then you choose what folder you want on the left side of the screen and then choose the folder you want on the right side. Don't worry about the sub-folders...it compares them automatically. When you click on "Start Scan" under the "Sync" button, do not sit back and get comfortable. Under the Sync menu you can choose to compare only file dates (default), full file contents, or find missing files only (which is what I chose to make sure I loaded everyting).

Once you choose the option to start the scan, don't get comfortable because it goes at lightening speed. I had a couple thousand files for it to do the comparison on and I don't even think it took 15 seconds to process. When it's done both sides will look identical except for a little red x in the bottom right if a file or folder is missing. The first surprise was that it did a two-way comparison so I could see what was missing out of my old files that was on my new machine and vice versa. The second surprise is that when I located a file I had missed, I highlghted it on the right side and in the middle are two arrows with one pointing toward the left window and another pointing to the right window. I highlighted the missing file in the right window, then clicked on the arrow point to my new system on the left and it immediately copied it and then both files disappeared from the view. I would have been happy with just seeing the results of what was missing but this tool goes above and beyond that.

The only things I would like to see eventually implemented into the tool is the ability to synchronize more than one file at a time and also have the capability to export the results to something like an Excel spreadsheet. However, if neither of these features are implemented it won't stop me from using it. So if those capabilities are lacking why would I rate it 5 stars and not take away at least 1/2 a star because of those two things lacking. I had to look at the grand scheme of things...more specifically what I wanted to get accomplished, the ease of use, the accuracy of the results, and the speed it took in which to execute. When a tool can hit the mark on all of those requirements of mine, it deserves it.

It's obvious that Ants Army Computing who developed this application understands that sometimes the best solutions are the simplest. Anyone who has downloaded a fair amount of programs and utilities to either fix a problem, enhance a task/project, or fill a gap of something that is missing will agree there is a lot out there with a lot of vendor hype in the description. I think they would also agree that the quality of what they download can run the gamut from being very good to just plain crap-ola and after a while you start to become somewhat jaded about whether or not the tool you just downloaded will even work or is so complicated to use you become discouraged and frustrated fairly quickly. This application managed to do what very few have recently...and that was to impress me.

The bottom line is I think you will find that Directory Synchronizer will be like Revo Uninstaller and become one of the main staples of your computing toolkit that you most definitely won't want to leave home without it.

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