Online Backup Services and PC Synchronization
Posted: Monday, June 14, 2010
by Tom Romano
http://www.remotebackupsites.com
File synchronization and backups are two different things. Both are useful for you. Only A few online backup services combine synchronization with backup capability. Before you jump and pay a fortune for an online backup service, its prudent to spend some time educating yourself on the differences.
Why synchronize files ?
Once a week you duplicate all the things you did on your notebook to your desktop. The most painful way is to copy file by file on to your desktop.This gets even more trickier if you have multiple folders. And it gets even more crazy if use a different folder structure on your desktop and laptop - eg. your music files are located within the itunes music folder on your laptop, whilst on your desktop you have them neatly arranged on your D:\drive.
File Sync Software
Software that will synchronize files between computers have been around for a while. Products like like Goodsync, the designers of the popular Roboform software has been in the market for a while.
File synchronizers will copy files from your desktop to your notebook or notebook to your desktop, or even from your desktop to an FTP site. Before you can synchronize files between two computers, you need to have them connected in some way. Computers should be either on the same network or directly connected using another method say USB or Firewire.
Most synchronizing software offers several different methods for synchronizing your computers like Two-way sync, One-way sync, syncing via FTP etc.
Two Way Synchronization :
A two way sync compares the files at both ends of the sync. It will determine which is actually the latest file and reproduce the file in either directions.
One Way Scynchronization:
A one way synchronization copies files from one computer to another in one direction. You have to choose upfront which way you want to sync.
Here is an example of when a oneway synchronization is useful: Lets say you always use your desktop to store pictures. But you would like to transfer new pictures from your notebook to your desktop whenever you add new files. Simply set up the one way sync and your new photos will always get copied over.
Online Backup
When you backup your files to an online backup service besides having a complete backup of your system you also have the advantage of storing that backup in a remote place, so if anything unfortunate were to happen to your home or place of work, your backup will still be secure far away.
Bear in mind that syncing is different from a back up.. File syncing keeps everything synchronized between two or more computers, whereas a back-up stores your data for safety so that you can go back to a version of the files as of a specific day.
Online Backup & File Sync Combination
When you combine file synchronizing with online , you get a perfect symphony working for you. In fact with this combination, you do not have to worry about even connecting the computers to each other. As long as each of your computers can access the internet, you can synchronize files between them.
Visit remotebackupsites.com to learn more about online backup sites
This Article has been viewed 274 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.