Best Real-Time Sync Software to Auto Sync Changed Files

What is Real Time Sync

File sync refers to creating an exact copy of certain files or folders to another location. When you copy and paste a file in File Explorer, this is actually a one-time sync. If you want to make this synchronization periodic, you must figure out how to create a scheduled task to copy files.

Real-time sync is an advanced version of file sync. Once there exists file changes in the source location and the sync program detects that, the updated files will be duplicated to the target location. It ensures the files/folders in two or more locations are updated synchronously without creating a schedule, thus facilitates data transmission and save your labour of manual operation. In practice, real-time synchronization can be more useful in these scenarios:

♦ 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, 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 conventional scheduled file sync, but how can you achieve that on your Windows comptuers?

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

Although you could use Windows file sync tool like Windows 10 SyncToy or sync center, they are not equipped with 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.

But if you want to actually sync files/folders in real time, you may need a professional real-time sync software that works efficiently. AOMEI Backupper Professional is such a sync tool working on all editions of Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, 7, Vista, XP, it has the powerful Real-Time Sync feature to sync the source directory to target directory automatically once the changes are detected. And you can enjoy more sync modes as you like such as Two-Way Sync.

Besides system and data partitions on the local drive, it supports more storages 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 Software

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

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

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

There are more sync methods you can choose:
Basic Sync: Create a one-time sync task, or schedule it on daily/weekly/monthly/event triggers/USB plug in basis.
Mirror Sync: Sync files/folders while keeping the target directory exactly the same as the source directory.
Two-Way Sync: Known as bidirectional sync or both-ways sync, it will sync any changes to the other side. If the changes detected in the source, it will be synced to the destination, and vice versa.

2. Click Add Folder to select the first folder as 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 Email notification to receive the result of each task.

After a few moments, you will get the 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 only want to keep an up-to-date copy at all times for teamwork or off-site work, then Real-Time Sync will provide you with the greatest convenience, as you don't have to do any subsequent setups manually.

Meanwhile, the Scheduled Backup will create a backup file of each data version at that time point. To save space, you can also perform incremental or differential backup to back up only changed files each time. This way you can keep many copies of different data versions in hand for precise recovery in the future.

Unsurprisingly, one pitfall of real-time sync is that any incorrect operations you made to the source data will also be synced to the target folder instantly, making it nearly impossible to retrieve the previous correct version.

Therefore, if your source data is really important, it's suggested to combine sync and backup to avoid unexpected risk, especially when AOMEI Backupper supports both fo the two.

For example, you can set up a daily backup of the source directory in addition to real-time sync, so when something goes wrong with the files, you can easily restore them to the previous day's version. If you are worried that too many backup files will crowd your storage space, you can also set up a backup scheme to automatically delete old backup files that you don't need.

Verdict

As the easiest and best real time sync software, AOMEI Backupper devotes itself to make every interface simple and simplify each operating process. Many helpful features of this software could be used to solve practical issues in real life. As a backup & restore solution, you can also use it to perform system backup, disk backup, partition backup, file backup, cloud backup, dissimilar hardware restore, etc.

If you are running Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019(R2) and SBS 2003/2008/2011, please turn to the specialized Server edition to enjoy more features, like command line backup/restore/clone, dynamic disk volume backup/restore/clone, and so on. For IT technicians, please enjoy AOMEI Backupper Technician or Technician Plus.