A
Ashish
Tony, the fact that the SyncToy metadata files are put in the root folder
being synchronized is a little bit about future-proofing the product. In the
next release we may support multi-master P2P sync where you may be able to
carry your USB keychains across mutliiple machines and share the same replica
and metadata for sync with all machines (as opposed to creating different
folder pairs with different metadata files as you have to do today).
Regarding the flexibility of using datbase engines under the covers, you
really shouldn't worry about installing SQL Server Compact Edition - it's a
small, lightweight db engine that's designed for desktop apps (the download
itself is under 3MB).
Having said that, the new Synctoy is built on top of the recently announced
Microsoft Sync Framework (http://msdn.com/sync) and as such uses the
FileSystem support in the Sync Framework (the File Sync Provider) as the
underlying sync engine. If you're looking for a highly flexible file sync
solution and are enough of a power user you can choose to write your own
using the File Sync Provider. Check out the whitepaper on the msdn web-site
to see how.
Ashish Shah
SyncToy Development
being synchronized is a little bit about future-proofing the product. In the
next release we may support multi-master P2P sync where you may be able to
carry your USB keychains across mutliiple machines and share the same replica
and metadata for sync with all machines (as opposed to creating different
folder pairs with different metadata files as you have to do today).
Regarding the flexibility of using datbase engines under the covers, you
really shouldn't worry about installing SQL Server Compact Edition - it's a
small, lightweight db engine that's designed for desktop apps (the download
itself is under 3MB).
Having said that, the new Synctoy is built on top of the recently announced
Microsoft Sync Framework (http://msdn.com/sync) and as such uses the
FileSystem support in the Sync Framework (the File Sync Provider) as the
underlying sync engine. If you're looking for a highly flexible file sync
solution and are enough of a power user you can choose to write your own
using the File Sync Provider. Check out the whitepaper on the msdn web-site
to see how.
Ashish Shah
SyncToy Development