5. Beyond Compare

Beyond Compare

Beyond Compare bills itself as a utility for comparing text files, folders, Zip archives, FTP sites and so forth. But you can also use Beyond Compare as a solid synchronization tool, with the general idea being that if you can compare files and know what’s current, you can synchronize correctly.

Beyond Compare uses a standard left (source) and right (target) approach, though it doesn’t have the simplicity of Allways Sync/GoodSync’s straight forward arrows between the two columns, signifying what is and isn’t synced.

Synchronization options include the following:

• Update Target on Right: Newer files from the left are copied from left to right; orphans on the right are not deleted, while newer files on the right are also not deleted.
• Update Target on Left
• Bidirectional Update: Older files are replaced with newer ones and orphaned files are copied both ways.
• Mirror Sync: New files are copied and orphaned files are deleted.

Where Beyond Compare doesn’t compare favorably against its peers in the synchronization software marketplace is in its automated synchronization options: namely, it has none of any real consequence. Sure, you can do a manual sync when needed, but that’s hardly efficient.

The help screen details a method whereby a user could create a synchronization script which would help to automate the syncing process. Nice try, but when you can get other software that will setup automated synchronization with a simple click of a box, it just doesn’t stack up.