5. FolderMatch and FolderClone Software Comparison

FolderMatch and FolderClone

FolderMatch and FolderClone are two separate offerings from software vendor Salty Brine Software. Both of them are synchronization solutions though each has at least one key feature that the other doesn’t have.

FolderMatch takes the typical left (source), right (target) approach that we’ve seen before.

FolderMatch : Main synchronization screen

All the various solutions we tested were designed to make sure that they compare the right time data to ensure that you get the most recent file. FolderMatch goes a step further by adding in a time server option to make sure that your system clock is actually synced to a time server and that your local PC gets the right time. Now if the other end that you’re syncing wasn’t time synced you still might potentially have an issue. However, FolderMatch also has comparison tools to look inside files to compare file differences based on size and content.

FolderMatch: Time sync options

The major flaw with FolderMatch is that there are no options for setting up scheduling for synchronization. As such, FolderMatch is really just a comparison tool that can be used for manual synchronization.

That’s where FolderClone, Salty Brine Software’s other product, comes in. FolderClone does have scheduling options for synchronization. However, FolderClone is a little limited on the periodic synchronization front and only lets users sync every five minutes.

Setup isn’t quite as easy as FolderMatch’s typical left/right approach, though it’s not too much of a stretch.

FolderClone : Synchronization setup

FolderClone is also missing FolderMatch’s Time Server sync function. It’s too bad the vendor didn’t just combine the best of FolderClone and FolderMatch instead of providing two standalone solutions.

That said, you can buy both FolderClone and FolderMatch in a bundle for $55.