Pure Sync: Free Backup and File Synchronization Tool

From Christoph Güntner’s company, Jumping Bytes, comes an “easy to use” backup and file synchronization tool that guides the user through complex settings with ease. Pure Sync scores high points all around, from a clearly laid out interface to advanced customization abilities and support for multiple storage mediums and transfer technologies.

Unlike Mozy, Carbonite or Jungle Disk, Pure Sync is aimed more at local backups and operations. It’s a useful tool if, for example, you use an external hard drive or a NAS (Network Attached Storage) for backup. Using Pure Sync, you can backup just the files that have changed, instead of manually copying everything over. Windows Vista and 7 have a built-in backup (Windows Backup) and synchronization function (Sync Center) but they’re not as easy to use and have a more limited feature set. Pure Sync is a timesaver and replaces two separate programs.

Pure Sync is a versatile tool – supporting local drives, server volumes such as MyServerfolder, MTP devices and WebDAV. If you are willing to fork out 14,90 € for the Pro version, you’ll get some additional features like copying open/locked files, backing up to a FTP server and synchronization/backup with another user.

Using the wizard, virtually any user, no matter how tech-savvy they are, can set up either a backup, synchronize a folder or automatically download photos from a camera. All the settings are presented in the wizard and are easy to understand.

How to use Pure Sync

1. The first step in setting up a profile is choosing a name for the profile.
2. The second step requires you to select an operation mode for the profile: Synchronization, Backup or Photo mode.
3. The third step is selecting the folders of the origin and destination.
4. You can select criteria for discriminating between files: date, size, file type.
5. Set up synchronization based on a schedule, when a connection is found, when a file is modified or manually.

Pure Sync is available for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and also works with Windows 7. During testing, I did not encounter any bugs.

As always, I’d like to hear what you have to say. What backup or file synchronization tool do you use? Have you tried Pure Sync? You can also check out other articles related to backup here.