FileSync for Mac

3.0 stars

"USUALLY does what it says it will do ..."

December 4, 2011  |   By TumbleweedOnWindows

Version: FileSync 2.2

Pros

I use this to sync a folder on my Mac, with a folder on an SD card. One way sync only, copy files from target to source, delete any files not on source. That's about as simple as you can get, and it usually works fine.

Cons

Once in a while, and for no discernible reason, instead of writing only changed files from source to target, it simply copies everything, in which case it might as well have been a file copy that I did from the finder !

Summary

It works, but I'd prefer something that didn't randomly fail to "see" the files on the destination and thus overwrite them, because (1) that lowers confidence and (2) it can take quite a while. I will continue to use it, I'm currently on 2.02 and see there is a 2.2 so will try that.
(Ps sorry about the user name that dates back many years. No more Windows for me)

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5.0 stars

"Does EXACTLY what I wanted it to do"

October 13, 2011  |   By ZeroRequiem

Version: FileSync 2.2

Pros

-Fast, easy, free
-Create folder syncing in just a few clicks
-Create automatic backups

Cons

-the only downside is I wish I could put it in the menubar so I can have it open without cluttering my desktop.

Summary

As a college student, I was looking to create an identical copy of my college notes folder to the iDisk on mobileme. I created an automator script for it, but that would rewrite the whole folder every time which would take forever to sync to the cloud with gbs of data. This program allowed me to setup up a sync profile that will just backup whatever is different between the two folders which puts my daily backups into the megabyte range. Now I can sync my notes everyday in seconds instead of hours. If you just need a streamlined folder syncing app, with out any bells or whistles this is the perfect app.

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2.0 stars

"Near-useless with file sharing, OK for small local jobs"

September 29, 2011  |   By S_McCandlish

Version: FileSync 2.2

Pros

Simple interface: It's not festooned with innumerable options that no one but the author understands. Once you figure out how it works (READ THE DOCS or you'll be frustrated), it's quick and simple for the limited things it actually can do.

Cons

Won't sync a whole mounted volume, even if actually just a fileshared folder. E.g., if Windows 7 shared music folder has 400 subfolders, you'd have to *manually set up 400 FileSync operations* to mirror it to your Mac's music folder. Problematic!

Summary

Obviously needs further refinement to do anything more than mirror one simple folder to another, or mirror a very sparse shared "volume" (usually just a folder) to local one by manually setting up each subfolder of the volume as an independent synch operation. One simple fix for this glaring and near-fatal problem would be allowing ctrl-click and shift-click to select multiple folders to merge to one target, so you can merge all 400 music folders or whatever FROM (rather than AS) a volume to a target backup folder.

Even for local-only use, READ THE DOCS. This app is very nitpicky about its settings and will fail with nonsensical errors, e.g. about volumes needing to be mounted on the desktop even when they are already mounted, if you don't do it just right. I'm already testing other file/folder synch apps, because this one's functionality is simply far too limited for "power user" operations.

But, if you just want to make sure your Mac's local Documents and Pictures folders are synchronized to an external drive every X number of minutes or hours or days, independent of other backup solutions, this tool WILL do that job and is probably a simpler and easier pick for that sort of task than other sync tools are. That's why I've kept this app, actually, even though looking for others do the more complicated file syncs I need. One obvious use case: You have separate thumb drives for documents relating to separate clients, and you sometimes need to hustle on short notice to a meeting with one of these clients. Use this app to make sure that changes made a few hours ago are already on the right drive and ready to be yanked and pocketed without you having to remember to copy them over. (The obvious caution is that very recently saved changes would not be included, unless your sync interval is very short.)

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4.0 stars

"Does exactly what it says it does."

December 5, 2010  |   By adschaefer

Version: FileSync 2.2

Pros

Great for keeping files synced between one source and another.

Cons

No major cons that I can think of.

Summary

Great little, simple utility for syncing files. No bells or whistles, but who need 'em?

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