Software Review: Allway Sync

[threegee]

Software Review: Allway Sync (File synchronisation utility)

By: threegee

Last update: 2008-10-28

I'm very slow to purchase new software. That's because over the decades I've wasted thousands on shelfware - software that seemed like a good idea at the time. But, I've just purchased a $19.95 key for Allway Sync after only about 10 days of use. This is partly because the free edition is limited to 20,000 file syncs in any 30 day period. Now this sounds like a lot, but when you've got a couple of 500GB and a 1TB backup drive sitting around (and who hasn't at the present unbelievable bargain USB2 hard drive prices these days? ) twenty thousand (individual file comparisons) doesn't amount to too many sessions.

OK, what does this software actual do? Well.. it claims to be "file synchronization that works" [sic]. Is that a posh way of saying it copies files, and can't I do all that with good old drag and drop? Well, yes and no. You could continue to get by with what Microsoft provides for Windows; you might even resort to writing batch files. In the process you'll probably do a lot of unnecessary file overwriting, resulting in the job taking far longer than it should. But how do you handle the exceptions; the the cases when old data might overwrite newer data; the cases where stuff isn't where you assumed it should be? How do you handle all those reoccurring pop-up dialogue boxes that keep asking what to do, and are just waiting for you to slip-up and click on the wrong button, sending your hard work, or that no-longer-available download, to oblivion?

Wouldn't it be nice if the utility clearly showed you what it was going to do before it started doing it? Wouldn't it be nice if it then got on with it without nagging you to make decisions? Wouldn't it be nice if you could readily save the tested instructions to use time and again? Wouldn't it be nice if the utility worked seamlessly with all kinds of remote storage, even over the Internet? Wouldn't it be nice if there were built-in protections against doing silly things, even in cases where computer clocks have been mis-set, or set to different time zones, and newer doesn't necessarily mean newer?

A good sync utility handles all this and more. But a really good sync utility has a clear, and highly intuitive, user interface. This is where Allway Sync scores, it's just amazingly intuitive and clear. I particularly like the graphic selector which shows up when you hover over the arrow in the center column. Click on one of the little icons and you've instantly set the actions for that case. What's more the action is remembered for the next time you run the same job. Doing likewise on a directory instantly sets the default action for all the files in that directory. The main direction arrows at the top set the default for the entire job, and let you choose whether deletions and/or modifications are propagated. i.e. should the drive you are updating be treated to the other changes you've previously made on the source drive. It can handle these situations intelligently (and not be fooled by dodgy system clocks) because it maintains its own mini-database in each directory of interest. This is hidden in system folders called _SYNCAPP, but you don't need to concern yourself with this - it just works! Of course you need to run the program against a directory an initial time for this database to be created, so the first time you run it on a directory you may be warned or queried about special cases.

Three Flavours

The software comes in plain vanilla, and USB memory stick + portable hard drive flavours. The latter lets you carry the utility around with you and run it off the portable device itself. There's also a version that's designed specifically for USB flash drives powered by U3 smart-drive technology. U3 is only supported by newer versions of Windows and allows programs to be installed from a portable devices automatically, and likewise automatically installed when the device is removed. I've only tested the plain vanilla version so maybe someone who has a specific need would like to report their experiences with a custom version?

The above screen shot shows the status window. As I write I'm doing far better with my Estimated time saved than the 0.80 hours shown above. My copy is currently claiming over 11 hours saved on unnecessary file writes, and that's only after about ten days of fairly casual use. The background window gives a glimpse of the multi-path capability. It's not necessary for those paths to be on the same machine or even same network.

Sync over FTP

FTP capability was recently added by the authors, and there's direct support for Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) too. There's also 50MB of free storage on OffsiteBox.com in the deal, and on first use Allway Sync leads you through creating an account so you can be using it in seconds. Unfortunately that's where the speed ends as FTP syncs are painfully slow in comparison with local drive ones, but this is exactly where a good sync utility can make enormous time savings.

I used a directory containing just under 32MB of MP3 files as a test source, and on the first attempt got a session expired related error when the OffsiteBox.com transfer was less than 40% complete. A second attempt an hour or so later succeeded, and hitting the Analyse button after the session gratifyingly showed that the the displayed local and server times against files were now showing exactly the same values. This indicated that Allway Sync was now using its remote database file. After the aborted sync the time against those files which were successfully transferred was the time they were written to the server. The result being that on the next sync attempt Allway Sync was warning about the possible danger of overwriting newer files. So, an operation has to fully complete at least once before the sync will work efficiently.

The progress bar only updates after each individual file transfer and on the slower FTP transfers at least it would be much more useful if it indicated actual progress; there's plenty of other activity on the screen during transfers but you don't know whether they are simply animated graphics files doing their own thing. Still, the sorting Rubik cube icons are cute, and rather apt for Russian software. Another small area for improvement would be an used/unused percentage of quota bar for services such as OffsiteBox.com. The available quota could be entered manually on the FTP set up dialogue. Even better, the Analyse button could also run a quick check to warn of out-of-space conditions before the job is started.

Concurrent syncs over FTP ran fine on different tabs. It's easy to run any sync job in the background, and with FTP you'll want to. But running Zultrax Peer to Peer utility at the same time caused Zultrax to hang on certain operations. Allway Sync did keep running though. I'm not sure what's up here, but it does seem as if they are using the same Windows API and someone isn't handling something correctly.

Conclusion

In summary Allway Sync is a huge time and trouble saver. At under $20 it's really good value considering that the authors have been working on it for some four years, are still refining it, and claim that they wont charge for upgrades. You can use it for free until you've convinced yourself it wont turn out to be shelfware. Highly recommended!

You can download the fully usable free versions from here.

Product Rating: (5 Terriers)

Our Rating System: On our 0-6 rating scale a product almost never gets 6 unless it is entirely free, the manufacturer pays you to use it, or the reviewer is sent a suitable anonymous brown envelope.

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Edited March 10, 2009 by Mr Darn™
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