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SyncBack Freeware

CNET Editors' review

by: Seth Rosenblatt on May 28, 2008

This straightforward backup utility makes it a snap to safeguard and synchronize your files, and its freeware price just sweetens the deal. Surprisingly flexible for a free program, SyncBack can save your files anywhere: on external hard drives, in ZIP archives, on network drives, on CDs (using UDF), or transfer them via FTP. Recovering from a drive loss is also cinch, with a convenient restore tool that replicates folder trees along with the files in them.

It lets you define multiple scheduled backup jobs so you can just set 'em and forget 'em, allowing users to create specific backup jobs for certain folders or file types. You can control the way files are compared and selected for backup: the program comes with ready-made profiles to make the process as easy as possible. It's hard not to like that SyncBack doesn't use many system resources when working in the background, and backups can be set to export their logs to an HTML file for easy viewing. All in all, it's an excellent choice for home users and small businesses.

 
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Publisher's Description

From 2BrightSparks:

Easily backup, synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP file, networked drive, or removable media. Highly configurable, SyncBack includes: detailed, easy to read log files; email results; simulated backups and restore; file filters; sub-directory selection; copy verification; background backups; auto-close of programs; easy and expert modes; profile groups; compare files, and an extensive context sensitive help file.

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All User Reviews
  • All versions:

    4.2 stars

    out of 356 votes

    • 5 star: 196
    • 4 star: 94
    • 3 star: 24
    • 2 star: 16
    • 1 star: 26
  • Current version:

    3.9 stars

    out of 54 votes

    • 5 star: 22
    • 4 star: 16
    • 3 star: 8
    • 2 star: 4
    • 1 star: 4
  • My rating:

    0 stars

    Write review

Results 1-10 of 54

  • 5.0 stars

    "Useful tool"

    January 24, 2012  |   By e_sarsonas

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Does the job for free.

    Cons

    Cannot backup or sync files with Chinese characters.

    Summary

    Great for a free software.

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Great software: Both for Novice and Expert users !!!"

    January 16, 2012  |   By MishraSunny

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Great piece of software: Both for Novice and Expert users !!!

    Cons

    None so far... I have tested and used the free versions for many yearsnow...

    Summary

    Great piece of software: Both for Novice and Expert users !!!

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  • 3.0 stars

    "New at this but seems to work."

    January 14, 2012  |   By jjkavaky

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Works thus far

    Cons

    Slow so far

    Summary

    OK but slow so far.

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Outstanding...and free!"

    December 26, 2011  |   By bg52

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    It's easy to set up. It does directory syncs & backups. I've been using it for a couple of years. No problems.

    Cons

    I haven't found any...

    Summary

    Download it, and use it. I've been working with computers for many years, and Syncback is a great freeware program!

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Gets the job done."

    December 11, 2011  |   By sel75

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Ease of setup, runs in background. Once setup initially, backups are one click affairs.

    Cons

    Its easy to use, but if you have an elementary knowledge of how backups work, you can take advantage of all its features.

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Simple and clear"

    December 8, 2011  |   By Floki123

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    easy to use, all the options you need are there

    Cons

    none that I noticed

    Summary

    very good

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Great backup tool"

    December 4, 2011  |   By Alfionso

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    easy to set up

    Cons

    harder to roll back files to previous revisions

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  • 3.0 stars

    "Good for advanced users but needs some refining."

    November 16, 2011  |   By victor-bailey

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Free, advanced features.

    Cons

    Not very intuitive for new users. Error code system needs refining.

    Summary

    I have used Syncback for three years now. You can get the job done with it, but there is an initial steep learning curve to get started. Syncback give you a lot of a control options right up front. But all these options can be overwhelming to new users who are just looking for a one button approach to backing up their photo album to their external hard drive.

    My main qualm with synback is the error code system. Synchronizing files seems simple enough, but with the millions of file types, and file and network permissions, there are just so many variables that something is bound to go wrong. And when something does go wrong (which is almost always), sync back give you an error code. Syncback does not tell you what is wrong; it just tells you that something is wrong. The codes it gives you are as useless as the the check engine light on your car. You can try to ask the experts, but they have no more idea of what's wrong then you do.

    I recently tried to back up my entire photo album (150 GB) to an external drive. After the operation was done, syncback issued a log showing that about 500 files could not be synchronized. This is not the first time I have seen this error code either. The error code it gave for all 500 files was "Access Denied" (mostly jpg files). After days of trouble shooting I went looking for help from syncback. Since I was using the free version I did not qualify for technical support and was told to try the syncback user forums for help. After a few days of posting and following advice with no results, I was finally told by a senior syncback user that there was no way to know what was causing the access denied error because it could be caused by thousands of different issues. Why even have an error code like that? I have been told the same thing about the check engine light on my car. Again I say, why even have a warning system if it does not tell you what is wrong?

    So, after all the trouble I went to through to try and find out how to fix the problem and coming up dry; I decided to try another file synchronization program. I downloaded FreeFileSync from cnet and tried it. It is so much easier get started with. FreeFileSync only showed about ten errors (not 500 like SyncBack). But this time instead of giving me a useless indecipherable error code, FreeFileSynce actual gave me a detail description of what the problem was. The files that cause the errors were system files like, thumbs.db (The files that caused the errors on Syncback were jpg files). The error code that FreeFile Sync gave was this, "Win32 Error: The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file". So, FreeFileSync, told me what was wrong. Where as SyncBack just told me that there was something wrong with their error code "Access Denied".

    FreeFileSync also give you a side by side explorer type view of your synchronized folders with a button function down the middle that allows to manually copy files over individually and in either direction.

    After three years of pulling my hair out with Syncback, I say "Good by SyncBack, Hello FreeFile Sync!".

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Getting the job done easily"

    November 13, 2011  |   By Zadig

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    1 - Very easy to set up backupjobs
    2 - Works very nice in the background
    3 - Easy scheduling
    4 - Expert mode

    Cons

    1 - Some problems with norwegian language pack
    2 - Reports of error do not contain complete path to files not backed up.

    Summary

    Very nise GUI
    Does the job
    Expert mode

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Nice free program"

    October 19, 2011  |   By DrNotes

    Version: SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

    Pros

    Flexible
    Can create unlimited backup profiles
    Copies quickly

    Cons

    Little bit of learning curve to understand options.
    Additional confirmation click required to execute backup after source and destination are compared, can't just kick off the backup and walk away.
    Comparison window lists every difference between source and destination, even files that are in the destination but will not be copied.

    Summary

    It performs my manual backups of only changed files very well as needed.

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Results 1-10 of 54

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