ViceVersa
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: file, syncing, software | Themes: Software
4. ViceVersa
ViceVersa
ViceVersa fits into the left (source) / right (target) category of synchronization tools, though you may not realize that from the initial screen. You start with a simple small dialog box with the top for source and the bottom for target. Seems easy enough right?
In fact, it’s significantly more complex and powerful. As soon as you hit the “Compare” button, a new window pops up showing the familiar left/right setup that you might have expected. But instead of the simple setup of say GoodSync or Allways Sync, which shows simple arrows to indicate synchronization direction, the two sides in the Vice Versa equation are not as well linked. You actually have to look at each entry and see if you’ve got a check mark or not (indicating whether the item is synced) instead of simply looking at the middle of the left/right dialog box.
That minor usability issue aside, ViceVersa offers an impressive array of synchronization options. Multiple synchronization targets are possible with ViceVersa, allowing you to have one source that is then synced up with as many target directories as you want.
There is also a Time Synchronization option that lets ViceVersa synchronize your PC’s system clock to a known time server, to ensure that your time is accurate.
Password protection is also a neat little feature that could be extremely useful in multi-user environments. It enables the user to set a password so that synchronization operations cannot be modified without authorization.
Scheduling options are very robust with ViceVersa, with an almost overwhelming array of choices and methods. In fact, there are three separate tools that users can employ to set up synchronization scheduling: VVScheduler, VVLauncher and VVengine. It’s really not that hard, in general, to set up a synchronization schedule, and no other tool we tested provided three different separate tools for the purpose. To make matters even more confusing, VVengine is actually a separate download-at a separate cost as well. Frankly, this represents a lot of needless complexity for something that really should be baked into the core product as an easy to use feature.
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I use robocopy from Microsoft's server administrators resource kit. I'm still thinking I'm using the best tool after having read this article.
I'm using Allway Sync which is a freebie, and USB Detect & Launch to automate the sync process when my backup HD is attached.
A few years back I beta tested the windows GUI for Synchronex by Xellsoft. Based on Python scripting for the power hungry or point and click simplicity for the timid are both available. Dozens of backup and Synchronization options are at your beck and call just by using the built in wizards - including Webdav, ftp, sftp, lan, internet, xvs, shadow copying, zip and the list could go on! It includes integration with the windows scheduler and to top it all off there is a Linux version as well!
I have used Synchronex since the close of the beta and I will continue to use it to maintain a secure sync across my own LAN as well as the internet for the foreseeable future.