Ultimate Guide to Real Time Sync Software: Protecting Your Data

What is Real-Time Sync

File sync means creating a copy of specific files or folders in another location. When you manually copy and paste a file in File Explorer, it’s a one-time sync. To make it automatic or scheduled, you must figure out how to create a scheduled task to copy files.

Real-time sync is a more advanced version. With real-time sync, whenever there are changes to the files in the source location, the sync software immediately updates those changes in the target location. This keeps the files in sync across multiple places without needing to set a schedule, making it easier and faster to keep data updated without manual effort. Real-time sync is especially useful in situations like:

♦ Your source data changes frequently and you want the target path to always keep the latest copy.
♦ You need to get your work files home and don't want to lose the most recent work progress.
♦ You collaborate with someone on a project, and the changes you make to the work documents need to be seen by the other party simultaneously...

Overall, real-time sync is more intelligent than the conventionally scheduled file sync, but how can you achieve that on your Windows computer?

Best Real-time Sync Software for Windows 11/10/8/7

Although you could use Windows file sync tools like Windows 10 SyncToy or Sync Center, they are not equipped with a real-time sync feature. One of the closest approaches is to create a file sync task and then set a tight schedule for it. For example, you can use Robocopy to create a file sync batch file and use Windows Task Scheduler to execute the command regularly.

If you need to sync files or folders in real time, you'll need a reliable sync tool. AOMEI Backupper Professional is a great option for this. It works on all versions of Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, 7, Vista, and XP. With its powerful Real-Time Sync feature, it automatically syncs any changes made in the source folder to the target folder. Plus, it offers additional sync modes, such as Two-Way Sync., to suit your needs.

Besides system and data partitions on the local drive, it supports more storage such as external hard drive, USB flash drive, CD/DVD, network share, NAS, and cloud drive, allowing you to manage the data synchronization flexibly.

Get the 30-day free trial of this real-time file sync software for Windows and have a try.

Step by Step to Sync Files in Windows via Real Time Sync Tool

Now, we will introduce how to real time sync folders in Windows 10 computers as an example. Just download and install AOMEI Backupper to get started.

📌Sync files between cloud services, NAS, SSDs, HDDs, system drives, and external drives.
📌Schedule syncs for daily, weekly, or real-time updates.
📌Perform incremental backup files to OneDrive, flash drives, or cloud storage.
📌Use the “System Backup” feature to clone your system volume to another drive.
📌Create bootable media to recover your system in case of failure.

How to real-time sync files/folders with professional software:

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper on your Windows 10. At the main console, go to  Sync > Real-Time Sync.

There are more sync methods you can choose:
Basic Sync: Set up a one-time sync or schedule it to run daily, weekly, monthly, or triggered by specific events like a USB connection.
Mirror Sync: Keep the target folder identical to the source folder by syncing files in both directions.​​​​​​​
Two-Way Sync: Sync changes in both directions. Any updates in the source folder will sync to the destination, and changes in the destination will sync back to the source.

2. Click Add Folder to select the first folder as the source folder. You can add multiple folders as the source.

3. The Filter settings allow you to exclude files that you don’t want to sync from the source.

4. Then choose a destination folder to receive the synchronized folders.

5. Click Start Sync to perform real time folder sync in Windows 10.

✎Options: You can Comment on this sync task so that you can distinguish it from other tasks, or set up an Email notification to receive the result of each task.

After a few moments, you will get all the folders synced to the destination, and any changes to the source will be synced instantly to the destination.

Real-Time Sync vs Scheduled Backup

While both of them are means to achieve continuous data protection in a broad sense, the way they work and the outcomes are actually different.

If you need to keep your files up-to-date across devices or locations, Real-Time Sync is ideal. It automatically updates the target folder whenever changes are made to the source, without requiring manual intervention.

On the other hand, Scheduled Backup creates snapshots of your data at specific times. You can use incremental or differential backup to only save the changes made since the last backup, helping conserve storage. This method allows you to keep multiple versions of your data for easy recovery if needed.

However, Real-Time Sync has a downside: any mistakes made in the source folder will immediately be reflected in the target folder, making it hard to restore previous versions.

To avoid this risk, especially with important data, it’s recommended to combine both sync and backup. For instance, you can set up a daily backup of the source folder alongside Real-Time Sync. This way, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore the files to the previous day's backup. To manage storage space, you can also set up a backup scheme cleanup to remove old versions you no longer need.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q 1: How does real-time sync improve collaboration?

A 1: Real-time sync allows multiple users to access, edit, and collaborate on the same file at the same time without worrying about version conflicts or outdated copies.

Q 2: What are the common challenges with real-time sync software?

A 2: Common challenges include version conflicts, excessive bandwidth consumption, data overwrites, and storage limitations. These can be mitigated with proper configuration and backup strategies.

Q 3: How do I choose the best real-time sync software?

A 3: Choose a real-time sync solution based on your specific needs, such as cross-platform compatibility, ease of use, data protection features, and customer support like AOMEI Backupper.

Conclusion

AOMEI Backupper is one of the simplest and most effective tools for real-time file synchronization. It is designed to make every step easy, with a user-friendly interface and straightforward operation. This software offers many practical features to help with everyday tasks. In addition to real-time sync, it also provides reliable backup and restore options, including system backup, disk backup, partition backup, file backup, cloud backup, and even restoring to different hardware.

For users running Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019 (R2) or SBS 2003/2008/2011, the specialized Server edition offers additional features, such as command-line backup, restore, and clone options, as well as dynamic disk volume support. IT professionals can take advantage of AOMEI Backupper Technician or Technician Plus editions for more advanced tools and support.