SyncToy is a very powerful yet simple backup tool, that lets you synchronise your folders. Download SyncToy from here.
Once you have downloaded and installed the SyncToy application you are ready to setup your first “Folder Pair”. A folder pair consists of a “Left Folder” and a “Right Folder.
Click the “Create New Folder Pair” button at the bottom of the application.
Choose a “Left Folder” (the folder you wish to copy) and a “Right Folder” (folder you wish to copy to)
Click Next and choose how you want your copy to be handled. There are 3 options to choose from; Synchronize, Echo & Contribute.
Sychronize – this option allows you to copy new and updated files in both directions.
Echo – This option only copies from the left folder to the right folder. It will also rename and delete files making the right folder an exact replica of the left folder.
Contribute – This option is almost the same as Echo except deletions will not be made in the right folder if it is deleted in the left.
In this example I am going to use contribute to ensure deletions are not repeated within my backup folder (Right Folder).
Finally, name your folder pair with something meaningful.
Press Finish.
Scheduling the SyncToy backup
Open Task Scheduler in Windows
Create a Basic Task, give it a name and a brief description (optional).
Choose your schedule and set as required, click next.
Choose Start a Program, click next.
Program/Script: “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.1\SyncToyCmd.exe”
Add Arguments: -R <Folder Pair Name>(optional)
NOTE: If you only use the -R flag without a folder pair name, all folder pairs will run.
Click next.
This will open up the confirmation dialog, tick the “open properties” box and click finish.
In the properties dialog, choose “Run whether user is logged on or not” and “run with highest privileges” options and click OK. At this point you will prompted for the admin account details.
SyncToy 2.1 & Windows 10 Pro x64 were used in this demonstration.
