How to keep two different volumes on a network sinced

[DavidHB]

(18-01-2014 19:51)ReneZ Wrote:  Just a quick one, with the one action (Drive A to Drive B) overwrite all on the second drive (Drive B) or does it just add/overwrite?

As with any file copying program, you have to read the instructions very carefully!

For each defined task (which it calls a 'folder pair'), SyncToy has, as it were, three modes or actions, Synchronise, Echo, and Contribute. In the action selection dialog, each action is fully defined.

If, before you start, you can make a full backup of each music folder to a safe location, you will at least have a fall-back if things go disastrously wrong.

For the first stage of copying, if you are producing identical copies in both music folders (which I will call A and B), the safest option is probably to use Contribute, as this does not perform any deletions. You would run 2 folder pairs, both with the Contribute action, which (obviously) would be A to B and then B to A.

Note that you can run a preview, to see what SyncToy is going to do before it does anything problematic.

In the ideal world, this process would produce 2 identical and correctly populated music folders. But files with slightly different names or in different folders can produce unwanted duplications. This is why I have a 'master' folder, where I make all the changes; I then 'Echo' the master to my 'listening' folder. To get to the point where you can do this, you may need to go through whichever folder you choose as the master to delete any spurious files and re-organise as necessary. It can be a bit of work, but, in my experience, it is worth the effort.

David