Compare & Sync Folders App Reviews
I have a NAS where my family and I store all our files for regular use with our home computers and a Macbook that I use all the time in my trips (twice a week). I use the app everytime I get back from a trip in order to sync the files that i have chaged but all also the ones that my family has changed. I like that you can see what has and has not been changed and that you can then choose what to do with each file before syncing. It is very handy and works very fast.
I have downloaded the free version of the product and found it quite useful. At that point I have decided to spend the additional CAD11 to unlock the additional features and filters. This is when I stumbled onto the bugs: the product defaults to the US App Store and does not gracefully handle making the in-app purchase from the Canadian store. I seem to have worked around this issue the first time, however, when trying to restore the purchase subsequently it does not go through. As such it seems like a money lost unless the bug is fixed. The product worked very well when it worked.
Uhg!
Tried it. Couldn’t get it to work. It’s a bit cryptic. Every task is a in-App Purchase.
The help is really thin on this product and several important command/status fields are not defined anywhere on their online help that I could find. You must have 100% confidence in something you’re using to handle your files—I don’t. I tried to compare (never got nerve to sync) four different drives that were mostly the same. This software found missing files that were not missing and vice versa. It also didn’t flag missing files to be copied consistently. In all fairness, I also downloaded a trial of a more expensive compare app not on the Apple store. It wasn’t totally consistent either and comparing the same two drives gave different results with the two apps. Sync is hard, I’m not sure anyone does it perfectly. But I need better than I’ve found. FYI I was trying to restore my Mac mini disk after a failure of an external SSD boot disk that failed after a month of use. The drive failed and I didn’t notice that the mini had at some point reverted to booting from internal HD. So I had some new and old files on HD. I was able to put the SSD in another enclosure (SSD itself was OK) and it had a mix of new and not up to date files. I also took four days to download the backup from my auto online backup service. So these files were mostly the same. The two apps along with Finder and Find Any File were used to compare the different versions. Constency was not a word to describe the results. Regretably, the online backup service was the worst copy. Word to the wise. Do archival copy saves not file syncs for backups.
This one doesn’t automatically sync folders
Just a FYI - this version doesn’t do autosync of folders. Not quite sure why they have two similar but different apps, it is confusing.
Compare & Sync
Works well, but I transferred it to my new computer and now some of the functions are gone. I emailed support - no reply 2 weeks so far.
Works again
The app refused to open giving me some "Error #002", until I removed it completely from my mac losing all my saved tasks, and then reinstalling it again. Now it seems to work again. A bit confusing app, but it's still better than nothing. 2.7 is definitely way too low of a rank for it.
Works Well For Me
I have used this app for several years and it has worked well for me. I really appreciate developers such as this one offering a free version to see if the program suits the customers needs prior to purchase. I'm not all that tech savvy, but the HELP/SUPPORT page is straight forward and provides sufficient information to learn the application. My thanks to devleoper for a good utility. Thanks
Yup i understand the UI complaints
I downloaded this software after looking at the reviews. I didnt expect the UI complaints to actually be as bad as they were but, yup i undetand them after trying the app. If tooltips were added it probably wouldnt be as bad, but the main issue is the use of assumptive short wording... What is A?, What is B? What is C?, if i click this will it compare or sync? I cant risk it just syncing and destroying my data i just want to know if its different.... I am sure the tool can do it, but the UI makes it too risky to test - so yes - i too opted out of actually using the software because of the UI. I am certian the tool can do what i want, but I am unwilling to risk my data on an unclear interface.
Getting Error #006
I'm not sure what's going on. The app had been functioning until recently. Has it not been optimized for the new M1 chip?
No Clear Instructions
I just need to compare some folders with thousands of files, but there are no clear instructions on how to do this without destroying data. Beware!
Well Done and EFFECTIVE
Synch folders Synch files app has been a great help keeping my CAD files duplicated across my laptop, desktop and server system at work and home. No duplication and overwriting possibilites dumping my usb files and overwriting a newer version of files.. No more carrying a USB Drive! Great and simple to use and inexpensive for sure!! and my second app from this author!
Indespensible
The negative reviews this app has received are baffling, frankly. This app is well-written and comprehensive in the suite of solutions it provides. Anyone who is in need of compare, sync and back-up funtionality will find this app indespensible. One critical factor is its speed. It is by far the fastest folder comparison tool I have tested before settling on this one. Even with network attached drives, the peformance is exemplorary. The feature set is rich and does take effort to decide what to use and how to use, but that is true of any compreshensive application and is expected. This application is feature rich, comprehensive, fast and above all - accurate! After searching for an application with this feature set, I found it.
All features are not free
All features are not free
Might work if you could see how
This might be one of the worst GUI I've seen. Totally incomprehensible! There is a help file, but doesn’t explain the most rudimentary functions and how to use them.
Syn Folder
Many of the reviews are very onformative and I would like to add mine. Syn Folders is one of the easiest method to synchronize folders on a Mac. Just drag and drop as all Mach apps should be. Easily customizable to exclude sub folders where data does not change. Much quicker and less of a hassle that setting up time machine. I have multiple drives for different types of data and i’s very easy to select which folders, especially medical data etc that I like backups on in case of a lot or failed drive. I recently lost also 4 TB of data, most valuable to me was 18 years of digital photos from the many cameras that I have had over this period. i wish I would have found Syn Folders earlier. joe swistok
Works well for me
I have tried several compare folder type apps. Compare and Synch Folders has worked best for me. I think some more guidance might help new users.
Great compare tool that keeps original file time stamps!!
Finally a folder compare tool that when you copy the files over in the program you don't lose your original time stamp! I've been searching for a while for something that will do this and this finally does it - saved me hours of manually sorting and then copying stuff from my external travel drive to my RAID backup drive!
Hard to imagine a worse _and destructive_ UI
If you actually intended to write the most complicated UI you could, you'd be hard-pressed to beat this. I don't know how the one person could write "this is pretty straightforward"... It's not at all straighforward, and I'm a software develper. The fields are complicated, screen views are re-used (like if you choose "Settings" from the main app menu, instead of bringing up a panel, it replaces your window contents with settings, and then you have to figure out how to get back to your window contents!) It's called "Compare & Sync FOLDERS", but I see no way to just see the folders that are different without seeing the view completed polluted by all the files that are different It has this weird "preview"/"sync" checkbox and "x" in the top left, but if you choose the checkbox (which I believe is non-acting/non-destructive compare), after it does the compare, it automatically switches it to "X", so if you didn't notice that and hit the "recycle" icon to re-compare, it would actually ACT. OMG, get this app away from me!
Works great!
I needed to compare folders with thousands of files to make sure they were sync'd. This app was just the ticket. Found missing files very quickly and allowed me to add those files to the target folder. Worked like a charm! Highly recommended.
Fast, reliable Deletion Syncing
Recently started syncing a network folder with local folder for current graphic design projects at work. This tool synced 180gb overnight without a single issue or error. I have clicked the sync button a few times today as I worked and the incremental syncs were pretty fast. The tracking deletions is the real reason I wanted to try this, but the speed and reliability are great as well.
DO NOT USE
This app is crap! I just needed to compare 2 folders with code but instead, it moved files around and it screwed up my code. DO NOT USE.
Powerful for daily backups
I use this program every day to back up my files to a network drive and Dropbox. I asked the program creator for some custom command lines so I could copy files with the original date and time of last modification. Then I show missing & diffs and back up only the ones that have changed since the last backup. I find it to be powerful and convenient. I didn't give it 5 stars because there are some features that I've never been able to get to work. Also, I would like to be able to set the layout of the user interface and leave it that way permanently.
This and Sync Folders Pro - Best apps for sync
This is the first fully featured sync app I’ve seen that does it all. Support is excellent, response is detailed and very helpful. Any of the issues I have experienced under OS Mojave have been based on the new set of security functions that most of us don’t know how to get around. Thanks for a great app!
So confusing to use
there was nothing intuitive on this app. it's so confusing to use.
it simply doesn’t work
Downloaded SW and purchased full version. Getting error re: permissions and no help found to resolve: "The folder path can not be saved. Check the permissions of folders: /Users/Catherine/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music, ~/Library” Seems like a simple concept to compare two folders…but this software can’t do it for me.
Does not work
I used this to compare two folders of music files. One had over 900 files and was 3.6gb, the other 3.0 gb but only about 650 files. This software said there was no difference. Also, its just about the worst UI you could ever face, and apparently there are no help screens. Avoid unless you can get into this Russian developer's convoluted mind.
Opaque UI
I just wanted to compare the contents of two text files to see what had changed between them. I tried repeatedly to get this to work for me, but the UI, while apparently transparent to some folks, made no sense to me. I guess I'm not enough of a beginner? The online documentation was little better. It promises the app to be easy for beginners, but it presents a complicated toobar with no obvious guidance to its functions.
So far, I like and recommend this app very much.
I am using the app to make certain that folders such as Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music, etc., are always backed up. The ability to copy to an external drive, without worry about removing deleted files, is a great plus in this endeavor. It assures that I always have all of my files on the external drive, and allows for making room on the internal drive without worry. I have found the app to be very useful, easy to use, and I have found no problems. One issue I had in the beginning, which turned out to be my error, not the app, was quickly resolved, with the help of the developer. He responded very quickly, with several emails to help me sort it out. One cannot ask for more than that.
I RECOMMEND THIS APP
Some of the reviews claim a “hard to use interface”……….the interface for this application is pretty straight forward. Another review stated “it does sync files automatically”……..remember it is a free application. For someone’s efforts to create this product, this product works very well. I have used this product for 2 years between four different machines (work ,home, client’s machine) that I have not noticed any difficulty in its use nor has there been any glitches and/or bugs. The application works great for backing up files and for transferring files in setting files up on another machine. It’s a product with a very small installation size that works very well.
Impossible UI
Help pages do not resemble current version of app. UI is cryptic, and I have been using file management tools for 25 years. This one has literally the most cryptic UI I have ever experienced. Never even managed to preview a sync job. I gave up. "Dun git gone. Bye.” ;-)
Unusable user interface
I wanted a quick visual Finder-like tool to compare an external USB drive to local drives such as Pictures or Music. I downloaded and ran this and after 5 minutes could not figure out how to simply select the source and destination drive. I could not get a choose/open folder/file dialog to open. I tried clicking on help and there was no help. I looked here and the very first reviewer I saw had the same experience. You have to usability test your code. Give it to someone who understands the desired task: show new or updated folders/files on a remote drive to a local folder. If they can’t figure it out then something is wrong. I gave it two stars out of kindness. I can’t rate it really since I can’t get it to do anything. I’m not willing to work to chase down how to do it. I’ll use rsync in the terminal if I can’t find an intuitive UI with rsync-like capabilities.
Grrrr!
Wasted my time trying to figure out how to compare 2 folders! unfriendly user interface. Cryptic icons without description. Complicated web help!
Very Hard To Use
Very obtuse user interface. Cryptic symbology. Icons and buttons are not obvious. “Help” does not help that much. Probably has a lot of sophisticated features, but will take too long to learn it (and I am a PhD!)...
Decent, I would get ChronoSync instead
I got this version because I wanted to have the preview feature compare to the sync pro version. The filters are not working properly and the syntax is quite bad (even for someone with a programming background). I used the exact filter from the website for filtering of the files and it still didn't work. It needs much better support for system files. DS_Store, Thumbs.db, etcAlso I was not able to get filtering to work for apps and packages properly. The in-app purchases werebuggy and had to reset a couple of time to work. I'm looking for better options but so far this is actually the best one I have found which theoretically has the feature I am looking for. UPDATE: I have been using this for a couple of months now and have gotten used to it's quirks. But ChronoSync is much more mature, user friendly, and stable. So if you really need this kind of software I would say that is the better choice (albeit a bit more expensive)
Excellent
I used the SyncFolders for a couple of years. That app works very well, but one cannot preview the changes before syncing. For the last year I have been using the Compare & Sync Folders app which is great. As implied in the title, one can first check the list of changes that will be done and then proceed with the sync. I understand the confusion about the existence of the 2 similar-yet-different apps. SyncFolders does not list changes before syncing, but can be automated. CompareandSync list changes a priori, but, as far as I know, cannot be automated. Both are expremely flexible, which I think it has to do with some users being frustrated by a few somewhat unusual options and lack of clarity. Most are there to customize your operations to very fine details. I haven’t tweaked anything, and can do straightforward syncs fast and without any problems. I do not understand the complaints about the lack of response; the developer has always responded to my inquiries very fast. I use it to do full backups and to sync work folders between different computers, and it has been very helpful. I would (and usually do) recommend this app to anyone who wants to do these operations with the possibility of checking changes before proceeding.
Server Comparisons
I love using Compare & Sync with my Apple Clients. One of the digital agencies I service, uses a Font Folder on the Server, with all the “approved” fonts to be used by the various artists and designers. Instead of having each designer log in and find the approved ones, I use C&SF to create a local folder version of the Server Folder. When the server get’s updated with a new font, it automatically compares the local folder against the server, and boom. Synced. No hassel. They use a similar setup for “Current Approved Versions” of documentation. The moment a new version replaces an older one, all the users get the update in their local folders. Pretty awesome!
This one doesn’t automatically sync folders
Just a FYI - this version doesn’t do autosync of folders. Not quite sure why they have two similar but different apps, it is confusing.
Uhg!
Tried it. Couldn’t get it to work. It’s a bit cryptic. Every task is a in-App Purchase.