Sync Folder's Compliment? (2nd Post)

[Blue Max]

FIRST, we may be naive, but how do we specify the counterpart to the network
file we need to sync in Windows Vista? To sync a network file we mark it as
'Always Available Offline,' but where do we tell it what folder to sync with
on our local computer? I'm doing a bunch of synchronizing and have no idea
what is being synchronized on our local computer nor where!

SECOND, is there anyway to synchronize two folders on the same computer,
either on the same or separate drives? I.e., two local folders in contrast
to a network folder and a local folder. We often download office files and
would prefer to synchronize them right on the same local computer.

THIRD, is there anyway to synchronize a whole drive, other than selecting to
sync all the individual folders?

Thank you for any help with these items!

 

[Shenan Stanley]

FIRST, we may be naive, but how do we specify the counterpart to
the network file we need to sync in Windows Vista? To sync a
network file we mark it as 'Always Available Offline,' but where do
we tell it what folder to sync with on our local computer? I'm
doing a bunch of synchronizing and have no idea what is being
synchronized on our local computer nor where!
SECOND, is there anyway to synchronize two folders on the same
computer, either on the same or separate drives? I.e., two local
folders in contrast to a network folder and a local folder. We
often download office files and would prefer to synchronize them
right on the same local computer.
THIRD, is there anyway to synchronize a whole drive, other than
selecting to sync all the individual folders?

Thank you for any help with these items!

Although I notice you posted mainly in Windows Vista groups - I have to
point out you also posted in a Windows XP group. You are more likely to
receive an answer in the first two groups below than the Windows XP one. ;-)

- microsoft.public.windows.vista.file_management
- microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup
- microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage

 

[Blue Max]

Sorry, Shenan, the third post to the Windows XP group was inadvertent. Our
question really applies to the 'Sync Center' in Vista, not in XP. This was
a simultaneous post and we apologize for inadvertently including the XP
group in the post. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

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[miket]

Answers in-line.

FIRST, we may be naive, but how do we specify the counterpart to the network
file we need to sync in Windows Vista? To sync a network file we mark it as
'Always Available Offline,' but where do we tell it what folder to sync with
on our local computer? I'm doing a bunch of synchronizing and have no idea
what is being synchronized on our local computer nor where!

When you mark a file or folder as 'Always Available Offline,' what I will
refer to as 'pinning a file,' the file is then copied into the CSC cache.
The cache is located by default at %SystemRoot%\CSC. The security settings
on this location is are designed to discourage people from directly
manipulating the files it contains. The structure is intended to be opaque.

What is being synchronized are any files and folders that you have pinned.
If you pin a folder using the 'Always Available Offline' option in the pop-up
menu, all the folders contents will also be pinned--including sub-folders and
their contents. If you pin a share all the contents of the share are pinned
and, once synchronized, will be available to you when you are not connected
to the network.

To access the files in the cache simply access the network share on which
the files are stored. If the share is offline the request will be filled
from the cached data.

SECOND, is there anyway to synchronize two folders on the same computer,
either on the same or separate drives? I.e., two local folders in contrast
to a network folder and a local folder. We often download office files and
would prefer to synchronize them right on the same local computer.

Offline Files is not designed to solve this problem. I personally do not
know of a way to solve this problem. I suggest that you continue searching
for an answer to this question.

THIRD, is there anyway to synchronize a whole drive, other than selecting to
sync all the individual folders?

I am not sure what you mean by "synchronize a while drive" in the context of
Offline Files. Offline Files is intended to allow you to access your files
located on network shares when you are not connected to a network. Therefore
Offline Files is not designed to synchronize files located locally, one files
on network shares.

 

[Blue Max]

Thanks, miket! It appears that Microsoft's sync program is not the program
for us. Our desire is to sync folders in two different locations,
regardless of whether they are on the same drive or the same network. An
example, might be a project of several files that is maintained in two
locations, say home and work. We might have worked on the project both
places and now want to synchronize the folders so that the source folder,
destination folder, or both,will have the latest updates. We also want the
sync process to identify copies of the same file which may have been
inadvertantly updated in both locations since the last sync. In such cases,
we would be alerted to the fact that accepting one or the other would delete
the modifications of the compliment file in the other folder. In which
case, both would have to be saved under different names and combined, which
is easy to accomplish in our word processor.

Thanks

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