A Review of AJC Directory Synchronizer......

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After investigating some of the other popular file sync programs (e.g. Foldermatch, ViceVersa, Easy2Sync, AllwaySync) I have found this to be the best value, most intuitive and powerful file & directory compare and transfer program available in 2007!! And its compatible with Windows Vista, and also provides better versioning control than in Vista.

(See also AJC Active Backup for easy to use, instant automatic backup and version control, the moment you hit your Save button)

AJC Directory Synchronizer is well designed, flexible and easy to use.

AJC Directory Synchronizer lets you compare and synchronize two directory structures in a very powerful, yet simple way.

Genuine Customer Testimonial: "I have used AJC for several years. The features I like the most are the simplicity and ease of use of the product. Once I established the various scenarios I wanted to use, its a point and click process. I use the product for backing up application files on my business laptop. I backup them up to an external DVD/RW. I perform this operation at the end of each week. This will add any new or modified files to the backup DVD. about a year ago this saved me when my hard drive crashed on my laptop. I also use the product to backup my home files to a dedicated internal hard drive on my desktop PC. I am an armature photographer and have thousands of pictures on file that I don't want to lose. I did try other products that I downloaded on a try and buy, but did not find any that are as easy to use as AJC." TB

On this page I will introduce you to the program that I personally use and recommend, and show how you can use it, and then on the next couple of pages I provide some screenshots of the program in use. I always think pictures give you a much better idea of what you get for your money!

And while we're on the subject of pictures, the program has recently been changed so graphic thumbnails can now be displayed on the explorer and synchronize list. This is a very useful improvement for people who want to synchronize their digital photo collections.

Screenshot showing thumbnails for comparing graphics files

Try AJC DirSync right now! - Instant FREE 30-day Trial

As a software developer, and product documenter I not only use AJC Directory Synchronizer at work to transfer program source code, documents and web pages over the network between my laptop or different PC's and servers, but also at home I use it to automatically backup changed files from one hard disk to another, making a quick effective backup that doesn't even require me to change floppy disks or CD's !

These are just a couple of the reasons I use it, but as you read on you will see there are many different ways to use this neat, well-designed, and very visual piece of software. This soon becomes apparent as you read the variety of genuine customer testimonials that can be found here and on the AJC Software web site.

You can see quite clearly what will be transferred, and you feel in control. This is not something that can be said for the standard Microsoft Windows Explorer when searching, selecting, copying and moving many files!

And what if you made a mistake and suddenly realise you have overwritten the wrong files? Well thats not a problem with DirSync because you can optionally set it to archive backup versions of the destination files before it overwrites them, making it easy to get back to any previous state.

I tried several other synchronisation programs, but in comparison this program has a wealth of features and yet it is very reasonably priced.

What sold me on this program was that, to my knowledge, this is the only software that contains a "dual explorer". By this I mean it has a Windows style explorer that "overlays" the two directory structures one on top of the other with color coding so that you can easily visualise which files are located where, and see clearly what you have selected before you start the transfer (you will see some screen shots showing this in a moment).

Take a look at some of the main features of the program:-

"Compares files and synchronizes them between folders or machines in 5 easy steps." Powerful directory / folder compare and synchronize software. See thumbnails of graphics files. Two folder structures are shown in Windows explorer style and overlaid with color coding. Files can be synchronized between the two chosen folders by transferring in one direction or both according to a set of comparison rules and file patterns, e.g. triggered by date changed, by change in file size, etc. Choose two folders; same disk, two seperate disks, over your network or even on a removable device for later transporting to a remote location. Files can be compared using the built in visual diff software (click here for details of this file comparison software), opened, deleted, renamed etc. There are useful reporting and logging facilities. Easily schedule automatic synchronization with fully integrated support for the Windows scheduler. An easy to use wizard helps you setup your synchronize job to run at the times you define. Powerful command line options are provided, e.g. to allow automatic synchronisation to be scheduled for backing up one area to another. A new Archiving feature allows multiple file revisions to be kept. This is an extremely useful feature which makes automatic disk-to-disk backups possible by retaining previous versions of the same file (click here for how to perform scheduled automatic backups).

File/Folder Synchronization is really easy:

1. Select the two folders to be compared in the explorer.
2. Set the options to decide which files get transferred, e.g. new/older/same, larger/smaller/equal, existing/new, recurse subdirectories, delete files, verify, etc (there are plenty of options available, but the wizards make the choice easy to understand for beginners).
3. Press the Prepare List button to create a synchronize list (nothing is transferred yet).
4. Review the synchronize list, and then press the green tick button to do the synchronize.
5. Save as a Project for repeat use if required.

That's It !

Although there are many options for you to synchronize files automatically, the concept behind this software is that you can see "on screen" exactly what is going to happen to your files beforehand, and you will have full control. Unlike some other systems available you will not find any confusing or gimmicky options, just straight forward powerful features to get the job done.

For example, (you may have come across this too) one thing that really annoys me with Microsoft's Windows Explorer is when I want to copy many files between machines, and Windows Explorer gets stuck on just one file (maybe the file is locked by another program), then Windows Explorer just hangs and stops, and the only option you have is to cancel the operation! You have no idea how far it got, or even which file was the problem! Well, not any longer. AJC Directory Synchronizer allows you to see every file it is transferring (without stopping on problem files!), and gives a full report of what has been transferred, listing any files it couldn't transfer so you can retry them later if needed.

If you would like to learn more, the following pages provide screenshots and give a tour through the operation of the program:-

1. File synchronization software for PC to PC File transfer

2. How to Backup your Laptop and transfer laptop files to PC

3. Windows file compare utility

Alternatively, if you can't wait, just try it out!

Its free to download and try for 30 days. Click here to download (the download is in ZIP format approx 2.1Mb, and you only need to download once, because if you decide to purchase after the trial you simply activate the full product using your license key).

I believe you are unlikely to find a better program in its class, and remember that what we are talking about here is security and peace of mind......

......Ensuring your valuable files are backed up regularly is a vital necessity, not just a "nice to have" !

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