Number 291 - August 2007

GoodSync
by Ron Kehn, Big Blue and Cousins, The Greater Victoria PC Users' Association, June 2007
Thanks to the Computer Outlook Radio Talk Show at http://computeroutlook.com, I won a copy of a program called GoodSync from Siber Systems http://goodsync.com. A free trial is available.    I use this program to back up my Outlook Express files, my pictures, my music and other valuable data to an external drive and highly recommend the program.    The Program allows you to set up a series of jobs to synchronize information between devices. These devices can be hard drives, removable USB thumb drives and external USB drives. The program is network aware so if you have a laptop and a desktop computer you can synchronize any file or folder and keep the same data on both systems. Unfortunately it synchronizes by date so if you make some changes on one machine and forget to synchronize and then make changes on the other machine and then synchronize the first data is lost. After you lose the data two or three times and have to re-enter it you will remember to sync after closing the program. The interface to set up the items is all point and click.    You can have as many jobs as you want and just scroll through the list using the little triangle on either end. When you click on the name of the job you will get the option to analyze the system and/or synchronize.	The information that is returned tells you if there are any new files, changed files or unchanged files. The following clip was captured after I updated but if the file doesn't exist it tells you that. Also, if you delete a file on one system you will get a warning message that a file has been deleted. Normally, I go in manually and delete it from the other device. The file names are kept as a data file and that is how it is able to distinguish between a file that doesn't exist and a file that has been deleted. Once you have synchronized, the program gives you a summary of files copied and bytes processed.    I use this program to back up my Outlook Express files, my pictures, my music and other valuable data to an external drive and highly recommend the program.    If you just want to synchronize a computer with USB devices then the program has a suggested retail price of $19.95 US and if you wish to buy a license for a second computer on the network that is another $9.95 US. I tried to find a retailer in Canada that sold the product but I suspect it is only available from their website. They do offer discounts for multiple purchases and, as a test, I asked for the price of 20 licenses and it was $209.80 or $10.49 each. For 5 copies the price was $11.98 each. And for 10 it was $10.99. Perhaps we can arrange a club purchase if there is sufficient interest. I am willing to arrange it. If any club members are interested, email me rjkehn@shaw.ca with a subject of GoodSync group purchase and tell me how many you want. (Ed Note: This offer is for Victoria PC Users's Association Members)
Number 291 - August 2007