I don’t know about you but I’ve experienced issues with data loss several times in my life, and when it happens, it’s devastating.  You have no idea what you lost, if you have a back up, if you’ll need those files again.  It’s a horrible feeling.  This is my real life experience finally finding a solution that works.  Note that I have no affiliation with this software, I get no remuneration, no kick-backs, nothing for recommending this.  I paid for my license, just like everyone else.

After experiencing this a few times I changed how I store and back up my data.  Perhaps it’s a little excessive but when your life and career are data based, it’s something you seriously have to consider.

After trying dozens of free solutions I tried a program called Super Flexible File Synchronizer. It sounds goofy, I know.  But they offer a free 30 day trial so I tried it.  And the 30 day trial wasn’t just for 30 days.  It was for 30 uses.  Which ended up being a couple of months for me.  More than enough time to tell me that it was more than worth it to purchase.

The software works on Windows machines, Macs, and Linux.  That feature alone made it worth trying.  It can also back up or synchronize files from laptops, desktops, external hard drives, flash drives, and even online storage.  It supports various Internet protocols, including FTP, FTPS, SFTP/SSH, WebDAV, SSL, HTTP, and Amazon S3 web storage.  It can even compress or encrypt while backing up. (See all the features.)

Sounds great right?  I figured it sounded too good to be true.

I set up my profiles to copy from my primary 1 TB portable hard drive to three separate external hard drives: another 1 TB portable hard drive (Mac compatible), and two 2 TB external drives.  There are a ton of options you can set with how you want the SFFS to run, an exact mirror, copy from one side to the other, copy from both to both, smart tracking, and so much more.

I set up the 1 TB > 1 TB to only sync a single folder (with many sub folders) from left to right and right to left  Ignoring deleted files on the left or right, and asking me when files are the same date but different size.  I have it set to run in attended mode so I can approve the updates if anything is to be deleted or over written. It looks at both sides, builds a file list, compares the dates/times, and sizes, then runs the program.

And as it runs it tells you if files are larger than what they’ll replace so you choose if they get over written or not (this is crucial if you have a corrupt file on your primary and are backing it up and you might over write a good copy).

The 1 TB > 2 TB is set to copy from left to right and never delete anything on the right, but move files and folders if they are moved on the left.

I ran the profiles for the duration of the trial and had absolutely no issues.  Everything copied perfectly.  And those backups came in handy a few times when one of my external 1 TB drives became partially corrupt from being detached incorrectly.

Restoring files to the corrupt drive was simple, just connect, and run the profile.

So what’s the cost of all of this convenience? $60.  That’s it.  A one-time fee and you have a file backup program that will work for any and every situation you could possibly encounter.  And on all of your machines.

I get nothing for recommending this software.  Try it for 30 days.  You have nothing to lose, and you may even save your data.

What do you think?

How do you currently backup your data?