Hello. I apologize in advance for not being very computer savvy (I'm old with a poor technical vocabulary). I have a question, but first some background.
I'm getting a new HP laptop (Windows 11 Pro) and have purchased a Corsair EX400U external hard drive for backup. I'm looking for software that will:
• Automatically backup my files to the external hard drive whenever it is attached to my laptop (without me having to initiate or prompt it to do so).
•I also want the software to automatically overwrite stored files on the external hard drive whenever they change on my laptop ... and not just make new copies (which would fill up the hard drive).
So here's my question. Is FreeFileSync a program that will do these things I want?
Thank you in advance to those of you willing help me.
To Use or Not to Use
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 10 Apr 2025
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- Joined: 1 Oct 2018
First of all to clarify, EX400U is a external SSD not HDD.
FreeFileSync have a small tools called RealTimeSync, that can couple with FreeFileSync to do automatic backup, but I prefer not to use it, will explain it as follows.
FreeFileSync have multiple modes to synchronize files, if you want the backup copy on your external always the same as the source, you should use the mirror mode, in this mode deleted or updated file will be remove or replace during file sync, optionally you can also use the versioning function, to keep the deleted or old version of files to a path you choose, with separate folders named with the timestamp of the time of file sync.
Regrading the question of making new copies during backup, this is the main purpose of using FreeFileSync to prevent that kind of file backup method, during file sync using FreeFileSync, only the new, updated or removed files are being added, replaced or removed, if you enable the database it can also detect file move in the source and move the files to correct place on the backup side, the files that are the same are keep untouched, only changes in the source being sync to the backup side.
The reason I don't use RealTimeSync, is that I want to preview the file sync operations after file compare, before doing the actual file sync, and I don't want the backup being run unknowingly in the background to interfere with what I am doing.
If you don't brother with previewing what files would be sync, you can simply save the sync profile as a batch job, this way when you want to do the backup, simply open that batch job file, and FreeFileSync would do the compare and sync in one go, you can also set the batch job to run in the background and only show a progress icon in the system tray.
FreeFileSync have a small tools called RealTimeSync, that can couple with FreeFileSync to do automatic backup, but I prefer not to use it, will explain it as follows.
FreeFileSync have multiple modes to synchronize files, if you want the backup copy on your external always the same as the source, you should use the mirror mode, in this mode deleted or updated file will be remove or replace during file sync, optionally you can also use the versioning function, to keep the deleted or old version of files to a path you choose, with separate folders named with the timestamp of the time of file sync.
Regrading the question of making new copies during backup, this is the main purpose of using FreeFileSync to prevent that kind of file backup method, during file sync using FreeFileSync, only the new, updated or removed files are being added, replaced or removed, if you enable the database it can also detect file move in the source and move the files to correct place on the backup side, the files that are the same are keep untouched, only changes in the source being sync to the backup side.
The reason I don't use RealTimeSync, is that I want to preview the file sync operations after file compare, before doing the actual file sync, and I don't want the backup being run unknowingly in the background to interfere with what I am doing.
If you don't brother with previewing what files would be sync, you can simply save the sync profile as a batch job, this way when you want to do the backup, simply open that batch job file, and FreeFileSync would do the compare and sync in one go, you can also set the batch job to run in the background and only show a progress icon in the system tray.
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 10 Apr 2025
Thank you. That helps. Can you also tell me which program I should use to set up my external hard drive so that it updates files as I make changes to them ... Real Time Sync or Free File Sync? Thank you.
