Whether your home office is your main office or a satellite office, one issue that is bound to come up is how to keep files synchronized between multiple locations. A laptop complete with the files you would ever need is one solution. However, this can be impractical for many users who, for one reason or another, require the ability to work on multiple systems. For these users, carting around a USB drive or other storage device is often the solution. A other solution is to email the files you need to yourself, although it's difficult to always send each and every file you may need, and you often end up without everything. Recently, however, another alternative has arisen.
Microsoft has begun a push into online services recently. These services are grouped under the "Live" branding. One of these services is FolderShare, now in beta. With FolderShare, you setup client software on the systems you wish to keep in sync. This isn't new, but the FolderShare system has some things that make it uniquely useful.
Note: At the time this article was writen, the service was free, and the only requirement was that you had a Windows Live account.
Another useful feature is the selective synchronization of the systems. Unlike some systems which keep all of your files in sync, FolderShare works only on the directories you ask it to. Even better, FolderShare can be configured to keep different folders in sync with different computers. For example, you could keep a folder on your home PC called Work Documents in sync with a PC at the office, while keeping a folder called Online Games on your home PC synced with your laptop computer.What I like best about FolderShare is that it does not require you to store your data on its servers. Instead, FolderShare only works when both systems are online and works like an advanced copy over the Internet. Thus, you don't have to worry about your confidential information sitting on a server on the Internet waiting to be stumbled across by someone.
To use FolderShare, you download the client software and install it on every machine that you want to keep in sync. Then, you login to the FolderShare web site and setup the folders you want to synchronize. It can be a little tough to get used to, as you have to login from one computer and ask it to synchronize a folder, then you have to tell it which folder to synchronize with on the remote computer. This isn't a problem if the folders have the same name on both systems, but you can sync a folder named Bank Records on your home PC with the folder Private on your laptop. Doing so requires carefully setting up the initial configuration, but once setup, the process to synchronize is invisible behind the scenes.
So, does it work? Pretty well. There are a couple of things to keep in mind. There is a maximum file limit of what can be synchronized, so this makes a lousy way to keep your mp3 collection synced. I'm guessing Microsoft did this on purpose to avoid just that sort of thing. Also, the client software runs constantly in the system tray. On my system it seems to eat up around 6,400 KB of memory while it sits there waiting for the files in my folders to change. And, because it does only sync across a live circuit between systems, both machines must be online at the same time in order for synchronization to take place.
Otherwise, it works very well. As a freelance professional, I find myself often working across three computers: my high-end, large screen desktop computer, my laptop, and sometimes a computer at a client site where they won't allow me to connect my laptop to the network. FolderShare keeps all three systems up to date with the files I need without dumping any of personal files on the client system. Documents that get updated one system are already updated when I get to my other system and I never notice any system performance changes when files are being copied. Obviously, when it is first setup, a substantial copy occurs as files are moved between systems. If you have a slow connection to the Internet, this is obviously not the service for you. Otherwise, now would be a good time to give FolderShare a shot.
The FolderShare service is available at www.foldershare.com.
