Automatically Syncing Files

I would suggest using the briefcase functionality. It is not completely automatic, you still have to tell it to update. But it has the advantage of having a local copy on your laptop to work with, and when you do the "update" function, it will tell you which files have changed between the two. It will also tell you if you have goofed up, and changed the same file in both places and therefore might lose something. At that point you can choose which direction to go e.g. laptop overwrites desktop, desktop overwrites laptop. Or you can save a copy of one of them to another location manually and then do the update towards the one that you saved the copy manually. That way the 2 computers are in sync again, and you can open up the manually saved copy to see what was lost.

You might try Unison

Over the years I've used a variety of syncing programs. I've finally settled on an excellent program called "Super Flexible File Synchronizer" (SFFS) . It is very easy to set up and test, includes a scheduler, and supports a wide variety of synch'ing options/modes.

I use my laptop as the "master" computer, since that's usually where I do most work. I use SFFS to sync to a PC server through a wireless-N network. The program rapidly compares all files in all selected subdirectories and only copies those files that have been changed. SFFS can also be set up to transfer new or empty subdirectories, and intelligently delete (if desired) any files removed on the "master" machine. I use SFFS to sync the laptop to the server automatically at the end of the day, and the server does the same with a networked backup drive 12 hours later - all automatically. You can easily force a sync'ing operation at any time. And, you can even set it so that it ignores small differences in file creation times or exact 1-hour differences. This avoids massive transfers that often plague other file sync programs during biannual time changes (in the US). SFFS uses an intuitive graphical interface, and is very simple and intuitive. It simply works... and works well.

Have you looked into Microsoft SyncToy?

DR Bayne

Another vote for SyncToy. It's not often you get something this useful for free, from Microsoft :)

Tom D.

Wow, something from microsoft that actually works. Thanks all.