SyncToy -- Suggestions, Etc.

[John V. Barone]

I downloaded SyncToy a few days ago, and have tried it out.

A couple notes on it:

1. It would be nice to be able to type in the path (using an
autocomplete box) instead of having to work through the "Select Folder"
dialog all the time. I usually find it much more quick to just type in
the name than it is to go hunting through a treeview, especially if one
factors in the time it takes for the treeview to refresh itself if a
given folder has a lot of subfolders.

2. I like to use UNC paths a lot, and even after adding them to "My
Network Connections", I still have problems using them. Seems that if
the original path path is pushing the length limit, SyncToy will throw
an exception. Evidently the length of the UNC name makes the name too
long, and then SyncToy refuses to copy the file. But I can copy the
same folders from computer to computer w/o a problem by using Explorer.

John Barone

 

[Guest]

Hello John,

I agree with your post as I too have started using the tool with many UNC
paths.

One major issue I have had is to do with folder exclusions procedure. I am
syncing my personal media folder (my docs, + extras all contained within a
single folder). Now due to the fact that some applications (including
synctoy) store user data in the user’s my documents folder, moving such data
from machine to machine is not best practice for these applications.

Now synctoy does have an interface to perform this task, but I have seen
that it does not work 100%, as even if a folder is removed from the sync list
if a file is created after the first sync within one of these folders it
still gets marked for moving.

The interface for the exclusions could also do with a little work, perhaps
not expanding every object in the tree initially, and making the window
resizable.

I really hope that MS manage to add a fully featured version of synctoy into
Vista or perhaps even a XP service release.

Apart from that, thanks MS for a useful little util.

Regards
Jay

 

[Guest]

I just started using it last week as a replacement for the brain dead
Briefcase thing.

I'm a software developer and I take source code home to work on at night and
weekends, I copy the files to a SanDisk.

It would be wonderful if XP would offer the option of launching SyncToy when
it detects that I have inserted the USB device.

That's my only complaint - yet.

 

[Guest]

Hey R3dD0g.

I thought that there were just some registry keys which controlled what was
invoked when a new storage device is inserted. Im sure there is a tweak util
out there that will let you play with these settings and invoke Synctoy.

I grabbed this out of the help file on how to schedule synctoy to backup:

"Modify the Run textbox to include the –R command line option. –R all by
itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to
run just a single folder pair, add –R“My Pair†to the end of the command
line. Note: there is a space before the hyphen but not one after the R. If
the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as
the example above shows. "

So perhaps you could have a go with that? Please keep us posted on how you
get along.

Regards
Jay