Sync Now! 4.3.5

Overview

Keeping backups of important data and documents is one of the most important things that any user with elementary computer safety awareness should do. With the rise of the Cloud and Cloud Computing, data backup became more and more accessible, but there’s still a portion of users who have their reasons not to trust cloud service providers. For them, and for those who want to synchronize and backup their files in a less troublesome way, we can suggest synchronization applications, such as Sync Now!. This software allows you to synchronize your folders and files between computers, servers and storage devices, in a few easy steps. Synchronization can even happen in real-time, manually or automatically (at a scheduled time).

Installation

The procedure that you have to follow in order to install this application is no different than the procedure for installing any typical application in Windows. You just have to run the installer, configure the shortcut and installation directory settings, and then let the main installation process finish, which won’t take more than 1 or 2 minutes, so time is not an issue here.

Sync Now! contains no type of malware (viruses, trojans, spyware, etc.) and doesn’t promote any other 3^rd-party advertised software either.

Supported operating systems are Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1 (32/64-bit).

Interface

Whenever you open the program you’ll be asked to buy a license and activate the full version of the program, if you don’t have one (the trial period lasts 30 days and has a few limitations, such as a limited number of tasks). After closing this message you will be brought to the program’s main interface, which has the “ribbon” style of toolbars instead of the traditional toolbars and menus. This helps with the organization of the features, which are easier to find and use than searching in several drop-down menus.

At the middle of the window is a list with all the active/scheduled synchronization tasks that you have created (task name, last sync, result). Selecting a task from this list shows a summary of the settings for this particular task and a summary of the last performed sync, in the two panes located at the lower half of the window.

Pros

Creating a new synchronization task is very easy. All you have to do is click on “Add Task” from the toolbar, and then follow the wizard which will guide you through to creating the task.

This procedure begins by giving the task a name, and then selecting a source and target. The source and target type can be “Folder To Folder”, “Folder To ZIP file”, or “File To File”.

Then, according to the type you selected, you may add the source and target to the available boxes.

Afterwards, you will be asked to select how to synchronize the selected files/folders (“update target folder only”, “update target folder and delete obsolete files from target folder”, “make target folder exactly the same as the source folder”, “smart bi-directional synchronization” or “expanded bi-directional synchronization”).

In the remaining steps you may add filters (include or exclude specific files/folders from the task) and configure some more advanced settings, such as handling of file conflicts.

Real-time synchronization is one of the program’s more useful features, which synchronizes files and folders as soon as they are saved.

Scheduled sync is available as well.

Cons

Some grammar and spelling errors in the product and its website exist, which could be fixed in order to make it look more professional.

Alternatives

SyncToy (free), FreeFileSync (free), SyncBack (freemium), GoodSync (freemium), Synkron (free), Syncovery (paid), PureSync (paid) and Uranium Backup (freemium) are just a few decent alternatives used for synchronizing/backing up files and folders. SyncBack, Syncovery and Uranium Backup are the best out of those.

Conclusion

A nice interface combined with an easy to use functionality is what the average user needs, and Sync Now! offers both. A more demanding user might want to look for a software with more advanced features, though.