Microsoft's SyncToy tool is great, but often overlooked or unheard-of little piece of software. Intended to be used for synchronizing directories, this utility can be a great way to initiate backups of laptops, move and sync data to cloud storage, or simply keeping your files sync'd to a USB key for mobility.
You can download the SyncToy tool from the Microsoft webiste here. This link also contains a detailed description of the SyncToy tool and features. SyncToy requires the .NET Framework 2.0 or newer to be installed and now has a 64-bit version.
The major new features and improvements included in previous SyncToy 2.0 release are:
* Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.
* True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.
* Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.
* Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).
* Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.
* Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.
* Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.
* Re-Architect Sync Engine: The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.
* Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.
* Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.
* 64-Bit Support: SyncToy now has a native 64-bit build (x64 only) for 64-bit versions of Windows.
* Folder pair rename
* Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents created under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded. Usability improvements for the sub-folder exclusion dialog.
* Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.
