How should I sync 10GB of documents data between my 2 Windows 10 PCs?

Hello

What it the best way to sync my data in my "c:/my_docs/" folder on my two Windows 10 PCs?
It is about 10GB.

I am currently using SynToy 2.1 and a 32GB memory stick, but it's horrendously slow.
For security reasons I don't like using DropBox.

Should I connect my PCs using ethernet cables and a router (which I don't otherwise need) between them, and still use SynToy 2.1?

Surely there has to be a better way!

Thanks

J


PS Part of the problem is that SynToy doesnt cope well with syncing a memory stick between TWO different devices! Nightmare.

Maybe an external wireless HDD or a premium onedrive account.

TairikuOkami said:

If you encrypt it first, you can upload it online. I use Takeafile to transfer big files directly between computers or you can connect them using TeamViewer and use a file transfer. You can also create a private torrent file.

How do you mean "encrypt" it? I have encrypted my little memory stick. And I could copy all my files into a zip file and encrypt that, but that would be extremely time-consuming to encrypt and then copy the whole 10GB.

What I am trying to do is to only copy those files which have been changed...

Takeafile looks fine but I would need to manually transfer each file that has changed, one at a time. And I would need to remember which those files actually are.

To get clear, I am wanting to sync not manually copy everything.

ricardobohner said:

Maybe an external wireless HDD or a premium onedrive account.

Do you mean keep all my data permanently just on the external HDD?

That means I have to carry an external HDD around with me. Also I imagine that the disk access speeds will be much slower than using the solid state drive (SSD) that I have one of which in my PC and my laptop.

And presumably if I try to use SyncToy it will have the same problem as I am having with my memory stick.
i.e. each time I sync to a different PC SyncToy thinks that all the files have changed since the previous time I synced.
(Or does SyncToy work better on a hard disk than on a memory stick?)

I do have an old router and if pushed I could try to set it up so that both of my PCs can connect directly to each other via an ethernet cable. It's just that SynToy is many years old now and I was hoping that there would be a better way by now.

I already give Micro$oft way, way, WAY too much money through paying for MS Office 365 Business account. Would I need to pay extra to get Premium Onedrive as well. It seems to come with OneDrive but I don't know if it is "Premium". Either way I am rather reluctant to share data with Microsoft as I don't trust them.

Why not just network the two computers using a crossover ethernet cable, don't need a router. How to Connect Two Computers Using a LAN Cable

clam1952 said:

Why not just network the two computers using a crossover ethernet cable, don't need a router. How to Connect Two Computers Using a LAN Cable

Interesting suggestion. The only problem is that my PC is currently connected to the Internet via a LAN cable and it only seem to have the one ethernet slot. So I would need to climb under my desk each time and unplug / re-plug my ethernet cables, yes?

PS From what I can see Microsoft are offering me 1TB of data on OneDrive, which is definitely tempting. But I simply don't trust Microsoft to not get hacked. Moreover I feel that it our moral duty to not all get sucked into the arms of the Evil Empire of "FAANG" (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google).

PPS So far using ToySync to sync data between my 2 PCs by taking it on and off my external Hard Disk Drive seems to work better than using a memory stick. ToySync doesn't seem to need to copy the whole lot each time I use "sync" when I am using the HDD.

ship69 said:

PPS So far using ToySync to sync data between my 2 PCs by taking it on and off my external Hard Disk Drive seems to work better than using a memory stick...

What router do you have? Does it have a USB socket?

I have a 2TB external HDD plugged into my BT Home Hub. It's automatically shared as a network drive, accessible from all my PCs. NB: due to limitations of the BT Home Hub I need to enable the SMB1 client on my PC in order to connect to the share.

Bree said:

What router do you have? Does it have a USB socket?

I have a 2TB external HDD plugged into my BT Home Hub. It's automatically shared as a network drive, accessible from all my PCs. NB: due to limitations of the BT Home Hub I need to enable the SMB1 client on my PC in order to connect to the share.

My main router is a Hub 3.0 supplied by Virgin Media. It has no USB socket.

I have a spare Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band DGND3700v2, which does have USB Socket. I suppose that I could plug it in in-line. But if so then maybe I should also plug my laptop into it too (by Ethernet cable)...

UPDATE: It now seems that SynToy was misbehaving with my memory stick. Every single time that I synched the memory stick to a different Windows 10 computer SyncToy seem to think that it has never been synched before to that device. [GRRR] which made it unfeasibly slow to sync!

It now seems that SynToy is happy to sync to either my external USB 3 HDD or to my portable WiFi's memory card... and this time remember that it had been synched before. So there does seem to be a bug in the way SynToy is working.

I remain unwilling to use Microsoft's OneDrive even if they are offering it for free. They must have some strategic reason to offer it for free and if that means that they are spying on me then forget it!

Maybe the easiest thing would be to us my Netgear N600 again, and use Synctoy every time I want to change to work on a different Windows computer, after all.

A bit clunky but maybe it's still the best one can do...

Microsoft only offers 5 GB of space in onedrive for free. You have 1TB because of your Office 365 subscription. When you cancel it they will reduce it to 5 GB again.

How about sending your files encrypted to onedrive?