Sync Toy problems

[jkolak]

After having my computer in malware removal in December, I decided I needed to get serious about backing up my data.

I don't have external media, but I do have sufficient storage available on the different computers' hard drives on my LAN.

I thought Sync Toy would be the ideal solution to sync folders such as My Documents, My Videos, etc.

It ran well the first time I tried it, but when I came back to keep my folder sync up to date, I got almost entirely errors, mostly with messages like, "Unable to create item, file already exists".

When the program started to run, it said it was analyzing for changes and compiling a list of files to copy. So I don't understand why it would try to copy files that already exist.

So now I have no confidence that the new files were actually copied to the backup location.

Any ideas? Is there another program I should be using to do this?

Thanks.

[Geek-9pm]

The Sync Toy is a utility available free from Microsoft.

A Google search shows other have problems with it.
Here a link to the social network Microsoft. They say there is no easy workaround from the issue discussed.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/synctoy/threads

Here is the most recent item found
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/synctoy/thread/9a93d0c0-bc45-4f42-864d-00fc41ce33be

Perhaps you may wish to use another free sync program.

[jkolak]

Thanks Geek-9pm.

I was afraid it would be something like that.

I searched CNET and found a couple that seem awkward and difficult to use.

I was hoping someone would know what is the best software that people are using these days.

[patio]

SyncBack offers a Free version...worth a looksee.

[jkolak]

Thanks Patio.

I see it has a 5 star review from CNET, so it may be just what I'm looking for.

I don't know why something so obviously preferred didn't come up in my last search at CNET. I waded through 10 or 20 pages of programs and didn't see anything outstanding.

[patio]

CNET suxx...
But let us know how it goes...

Generally for Freeware i usually scan majorgeeks, softforge and others.

[soybean]

I recently installed Allway Sync.  Since I haven't used it much yet, all I can say is that the initial synchronizing between a computer and an network hard drive went fine.  Some user reviews at http://www.snapfiles.com/opinions/Allway_Sync/Allway_Sync.html, for what they're worth.

[jkolak]

SyncBack offers a Free version...worth a looksee.

I'm only a little late getting back to you! The reason is that I found Windows Live Mesh met my needs. But when Live Mesh was discontinued, I didn't want to use SkyDrive as they intended, so I went back to your SyncBack suggestion. I did use it for a while. Live sync is not available in the free version. I used it successfully in the mirror function, but that was not as useful because if I had to do something in the secondary computer, it wouldn't pick it up in the primary computer. So I had to do a workaround to save it in the public folder and manually pick it up when I went back to the other computer. I switched to FreeFileSync now, which is nearly the same user interface, but is completely free with all the features. I just installed it, so we will see how it works out.