Microsoft
has released a new power toy called SyncToy
which promises to do away with the issue of having duplicate photos laying
around on various computers. God knows I suffer from this. I've
often thought about writing something like this for photos and music.
Maybe this will be the solution to my problems.
There are new sources of files coming from every direction:
digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders,
PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders,
drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store
and retrieve files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still
largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to get copies of
files from one place; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage
locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and
dropping from one place to another and keeping a mental card catalog in their
heads. Others use one or more applications to provide this functionality for
them.
Now there is an easier way. SyncToy is a free PowerToy for
Microsoft Windows XP that provides is an easy to use, highly customizable
program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying,
moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations
can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional
customization is available without added complexity. SyncToy can manage
multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two
folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other
applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make
sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized
folder.