You will learn about the Windows mirror folder and 3 tutorials to mirror folder in Windows 10. The last one is easier.
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Mirror folder is a real-time mirroring and synchronization software integrated with Windows, which can help you mirror one or more important folders to local/network/removable drive or sync the entire local disk to another internal disk. The process can be auto-sync or in real-time. Once you set a mirror, mirroring/synchronization will be done quietly in the background as if you did nothing.
Mirroring files means to make an exact copy of original files on different locations, that’s redundancy or fault tolerance, so you can get your files back instantly. Below are some situations you may want to mirror/sync files and folders.
Sync folders on the local drive to another internal/external/network drive.
Sync files between a laptop and desktop computer over network.
Sync files between two computers that are in the same location.
Migrate entire system drive to another drive.
MirrorFolder software and its Properties page are the most common 2 ways to mirror a folder in Windows 10, you can set auto sync, real-time sync or two-way sync as you like.
Well then, download MirrorFolder online and mirror files or folders according to one of the methods. Please note you need to restart your computer to complete the entire installation. It looks like a folder with two files.
Step 1. Double-click MirrorFolder to access the main program and MirrorList tab. Then, click “New” at the next of source box, then click "Browse" for Source path and select the folder you want to mirror.
Step 2. Click "Browse" for Mirror path and select a target path to save the folder, then click “Ok” to apply. As mentioned earlier, you can mirror important folders to local disk, network drive, or removable device, such as, USB flash drive.
Notes: ◉ To exclude subfolder, you should uncheck “Include all subfolders for mirroring” and tick “Exclude”, click “Add” and “Browse” subsequently to exact subfolder name. Also, you can exclude later by clicking Options for Source. ◉ To set more mirror, repeat Step 1 and Step 2 until you select all folders.
Step 3. By default, this tool mirrors for selected source, but you can change it to all sources from the context menu. Then, click “File” > “Save” and then "File" > ”Synchronize” > “Synchronize All” to start the pending mirror.
Notes: ◉ If this is the first time for you to make a mirror, this tool will treat it as a change, so you will see a (*) sign in the upper right corner of MirrorList. Please remember to save changes before syncing, otherwise this tool will not mirror folder. ◉ The default sync mode is auto-sync. To change it in real-time, click “Options” at the right side of Mirrors for Selected source and check “Synchronize in real-time” under the SyncMode tab. ◉ To perform two-way data synchronization, click the SyncOptions tab and check “Bi-directional synchronization”.
As mentioned earlier, MirrorFolder is integrated with Windows, so you can mirror any folder on your Windows 10.
Step 1. Right-click the folder (here is working resources) you want to mirror and select “Mirroring” from the pop-up menu list.
Step 2. In the working resource Properties page, tick “Mirror To” option and click “Browse” to select the mirror path. Then click “Add” to confirm, and tap on “Apply” and “OK” to sync folder in the background silently.
Note: If you don't want to mirror the selected folder anymore, working resources, for example, you can right-click the folder and tick "Not Mirrored" in its properties window.
If you have done an in-depth research for MirrorFolder, you may find that it’s difficult to find a tutorial to mirror a folder with it, which also took me a long time. And its main program is not intuitive, so you cannot easily and quickly find the sync option or whatever you want. Moreover, you even don’t know if the folder is synced, the operation is succeeded or failed, because there is no clear prompt for this.
Well then, is there any easier way to perform Windows folder mirroring? The answer is yes - you could try a different file sync software.
AOMEI Backupper Professional, a specialized file sync tool designed for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP, is worth trying.
Here you will use AOMEI Backupper Professional to mirror one or more folders. Before that, you need to make some preparations:
If you want to mirror folder to external hard disk, please connect the prepared device and be sure it can be detected. But if you want to mirror folder to network drive, you need to make sure your computer and the network drive are connected.
Download and install file sync software AOMEI Backupper Professional on your computer. If your computer is server 2003/2008(R2)/2012(R2)/2016(R2)/2019/2022, you could consider using AOMEI Backupper Server.
Without further ado, let's get started to perform Windows mirror folder with the following steps.
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Professional, and then click “Sync” and “Mirror Sync”. If you want to mirror files or folders immediately when any changes occur, you could use "Real-Time Sync" to replace it.
Step 2. Click "+ Add Folder" to select folder on your computer, then select a destination path.
>> To mirror folder to network drive, click the inverted triangle and "Add Share or NAS Devices". In the pop-up window, type IP address of the network drive and enter username and password if prompted. Then, you can choose the shared folder on network drive as destination.
>> To sync folder between desktop and laptop at different locations, ie, home and office, you can click folder-shapped button and select previously connected removable device, such as external disk or USB flash drive. Also, you can use cloud storage as destination.
Step 3. To automatically sync files, click “Schedule Sync” and select daily/weekly/monthly, event triggers, or USB plug in. Then, click “Start Sync” to begin the mirroring process. Then, you will see the Finish button when the process is 100% completed.
Notes: ◉ Event triggers: It allows you to sync files at a specific event, such as user logon, user logoff, system startup, system shutdown. ◉ USB plug in: A unique feature designed for USB device, which can automatically mirror files from or to USB flash drive when it's plugged in. ◉ Wake up the computer to run scheduled tasks: sync files anytime even without your attention, such as midnight.
That’s all for how to mirror folder in Windows 10. MirrorFolder can help you auto sync files or in real-time, but it’s really not user friendly and makes users feel confused. By contrast, AOMEI Backupper has an intuitive interface that make the mirroring process simple and efficient.
Except for file/folder sync, AOMEI Backupper can do more for you, such as system/disk/partition/file backup (including restore), Incremental or differential backup, system/disk/partition clone, create bootable media, universal restore, etc. Please download this software to explore it yourself.