As a security professional, I know the importance of having good backups. I also know that people want solutions that are easy, fast, and reasonably priced. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to find a backup solution that meets these requirements.
GoodSync, by Siber Systems, is doing a great job of backing up and synchronizing drives and files for me. I’m currently checking one of my backup / sync jobs to see if there are files that need to be shared between the two. I can do that as I type this post because GoodSync pretty much automates the whole thing after I do the initial set-up.
I think that the term “backup” is pretty much self-explanatory. That’s where you make an exact copy of the contents of a drive, directory / folder, or file to another. The purpose is to have an extra copy just in case something happens to the original (deletion, unintended modification, etc.). It can help you ensure the Integrity and Availability of your information — two of the three “legs” of the computer security triad (the other one is Confidentiality).
Synchronization, or “sync”, means that the contents of two files, directories, or drives are kept identical. This is handy if you have more than one computer and share a common external drive between them (i.e. a thumb drive). You can then use that common drive on both computers and use the “sync” function to keep the same data on both computers.
GoodSync, as the name implies, does the sync part. At the same time, it also creates a backup of your files / directories / drives. To use it in “pure” backup mode, simply connect your backup device as often as you want, pull up your “job” (more on that in a minute), and click a couple of buttons to update your files. The same basic procedure works for a sync job.
When you first download and install GoodSync, you’ll be asked to create your first job via a dialog box. Simply give it a name (preferrably one you’ll understand) and select “Synchronize” or “Backup”. On the next screen — regardless of your choice — you’ll be asked to choose two “sides”. One side (the left side) is the source, i.e. the files you want to sync or back up; the other side (the right side) is the target (where the files will be moved to).
If you choose “backup”, it’s a one-way operation. The files on the left side of the screen will be copied to the right side (including hidden and system files). Choose “synchronize” and files will be copied both ways, excluding any system or hidden files.
Once you choose your source and destination, you click on the “Analyze” button. The software will go through the files and decide which files need to be copied. Once the Analyze process is done, simply click on the “Sync” button to actually copy the files.
As you can imagine, the first time you run a job, it can take a while. I had almost a terabyte of data that I wanted to sync and it took me several days to run all of the jobs and copy all of the data that I wanted to keep. After that first run, though, it’s relatively quick to either sync or back up any files that have changed since the last time you ran the job.
You can create multiple jobs as well as analyze / sync all jobs at once (keep in mind that a job will not sync until a fresh analysis has been done). This software makes it easy and affordable to create backups as often as you wish. I recommend that, at the very least, you run your jobs weekly (I’m actually running them daily, more often if I’m working on very important files). And all of my jobs are going to a 1.5 terabyte external drive that’s easy to grab and take with me. This drive is a part of my “grab it if you can” emergency kit, along with my netbook, important papers, family, and dog.
I’m now in the process of creating sync jobs for all of my thumb drives and compact flash (CF) cards (I use a lot of them). Again, this will give me a backup of the information that I need and use the most.
There’s also good help available on the Siber Systems website for GoodSync (by the way, Siber Systems also makes the RoboForm Password Manager, which I also highly recommend). I did have to use their customer support once; their response was fast and accurate.
So use GoodSync to quickly and easily create backups of your data — and don’t forget to use RoboForm to manage your passwords (and with RoboForm, you can afford to use hard-to-guess passwords because RoboForm remembers them for you).
I’ve tried and tested a lot of backup solutions and think that GoodSync is a very good solution. It creates good backups without having to do a lot of cumbersome configuration, monitoring, and maintenance. You can easily have your first backup / sync job running within a few minutes. And since it’s easy and affordable, using this software makes it more likely that you’ll actually create and maintain a backup.
One final suggestion: Take a look at the features of both the “regular” and “portable” versions of GoodSync (and RoboForm). Decide which will best suit your needs, then purchase the version that works best for you. I chose the desktop version of GoodSync since I do all my work on my main desktop computer (and use a thumb drive or CF to transfer work to my netbook when needed) but chose the portable version of RoboForm so that I could transfer my passwords between computers when necessary.
NOTE: This article contains one or more affiliate links. If you click on the link(s) and purchase something, I will receive a referral commission. It will not have any effect on your purchase price of the product.
Please purchase responsibly. Do your own careful evaluation before making a purchase decision; do not base it solely on my subjective review of the product.
If you found this post to be helpful, you can say "thanks" and support this website by clicking here.
Comments on this entry are closed.