My favorite file sync program gets an update

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Allway Sync is one of the programs on my list of 10 favorite Windows programs of all time. I’m pretty good about keeping it up to date, so I was surprised to see today that version 8.2.1 was available as an update to my current version, 7.1.2. How did I fall so far behind?

I didn’t, it turns out. Version 8 has been in beta testing since March. The first official release (8.1.0) was two weeks ago, and there have been two updates since then to fix what the news page describes as “minor bugs” and some compatibility issues with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

I just downloaded and installed the new version and immediately noticed a welcome change: The sync options now include FTP folders and Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3).

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I’ve been using this software to keep files in sync across machines on my local network. Looks like I’ll be able to use it as a client for syncing stuff to the cloud, too. The Amazon S3 option is especially intriguing, as it represents cheap cloud storage that can be accessed by any client using its APIs. I don’t currently have an S3 account set up, but the service gets rave reviews and it’s been on my to-do list for a while. That project just got moved a lot higher on the stack.

Update: Well, it took me about five minutes to activate my Amazon S3 account (I’ve had an Amazon Web Services account for years, so it was just a matter of checking a box and agreeing on a payment method). I had to cut and paste two digital keys into the AllwaySync configuration dialog box, and that was all the setup required. I am busily backing up my digital pictures to cloud storage right now. According to the S3 estimates, I could store 100GB, transferring 40GB or so per month upstream and 5GB downstream, for about $20 a month. Pretty good deal. AllwaySync is currently about halfway through synchronizing my 7500+ digital pictures to the cloud. Nice!

Published by Ed Bott

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14 thoughts on “My favorite file sync program gets an update”

  1. Thanks Ed, this is great stuff. I tried suffering with Synctoy but its lack of large directory name support threw it fits, than settled with Robocopy scripts (Which by the way is not a bad way to go, especially when I can multi-thread the copied by running multiple instances). This app works great and I think I’ve just encountered a reason to go back to a GUI…

  4. Sahirs, its really easy…. robocopy “D:\My Documents\Documents” “\server_name\Documents” . /mir /v /z /eta. I keep my Windows my documents directory on a separate drive, in this case D. I’ve created a share on the server called documents that points to a documents directory that I back up to. Pictures, documents, music, video’s etc are done. The command line mirrors the directory and give me verbose output. I have another script kick these off for each of the directory types I backup up. Its very simple and robocopy is quite fast.

  5. I think there is a bug (at least with Vista OS). If you right click on a sub0\sub1 directory to filter out all sub1 content, it create a filter without the leading back slash (which seems quite correct) but this filter “filter out” both sub0 and (of course) sub1.
    Adding the leading back slash it works. I’ll stay with SyncToy!

  7. Hi,

    Is this utility able to copy in-use Windows file (e.g. if I want to backup entire “Documents & Settings” folder (with sub-folders)?

    Thanks

  8. Allway Sync works great with Amazon S3.

    My only complaint is that I never send any files over the ‘net unless they’re encrypted. Since I can’t find any encryption/decryption built into Allway Sync – it means I have to manually encrypt my local files and sync them.

    Am I missing something, or is there any way to automate encryption prior to sync’ing my local files with the remote S3 bucket?

    Bottom line – I’m seeking a “set it & forget it” solution.

    Thanks.

  9. @BradleyD: you could always create a TrueCrypt (free) container to put all your files into and leave it permanently mounted as a virtual drive under windows and then sync the “container”. The problem is that you’ll have to reupload everything every time.

  10. After the fast reaction to the bug I pointed out I decided to switch to AllwaySync. Then I find that the application connect to AllwaySync on exit, and I did not find any advice on this feature on the web site. I suppose it’s just to check who’s using the program, but what else? is this feature present also on the pro version?
    I decided to go back to SyncToy

  11. BradleyD,

    We have added ability to connect to S3 over SSL.
    We plan to release the new version at the next week.

    Riccardo,
    AllwaySync never sends usage statistics.

  12. The problem is not usage statistics (I’m willing to by the SW), it’s the unreported connection to your site that worrying me. Here follows pieces of Ms Network Monitor frame summary

    72.21.56.173 TCP TCP: Flags=.S……, SrcPort=53303,
    72.21.56.173 IKE IKE: version = 1.0, Identity protec
    72.21.56.173 TCP TCP: Flags=….A…, SrcPort=53303,
    72.21.56.173 HTTP HTTP: Request, POST /bugreport.php
    72.21.56.173 HTTP HTTP: HTTP Payload
    72.21.56.173 TCP TCP: Flags=..R.A…, SrcPort=53303,
    72.21.56.173 IKE IKE: version = 1.0, Identity protec

  13. Riccardo,

    Looks like a program exception occurs at application exit. Usually AllwaySync asks user to send report or not, but in your case it seems to unable to create confirmation window.

    We have to fix this in the future releases. Thank you.

  14. Thank for recommending this software. Only problem I’m having is trying to set up jobs to run from a command line and/or a windows desktop shortcut. Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 3, 32 bit here… I’ve got a ticket and email into Allway Sync website, hopefully I’ll be set up soon!

    Cheers,

    James

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