Ever since Google opened up its Google Docs to allow uploading files of any type, most people have quickly utilized it as a free online storage/backup services. What is lacking though is a tool to sync your files from your desktop to Google Docs. Super Flexible File Synchronizer is one such app that allows you to do so.
Super Flexible File Synchronizer is a cross-platform compatible backup and file-synchronization app. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, but only the Linux version is free (and full featured). The setup (in Linux) is easy and no installation is required, unless you are on a 64-bit machine. After using it for a while, I find that it is even more powerful than the default Deja Dup backup tool in Ubuntu.
Installation
If you are using 32-bit Linux, all you have to do is to download the tar file (from here) and extract it to your Home folder. After the extraction, simply double-click on the “SuperFlexibleSynchronizer” file to run it.
If you are using 64-bit Linux, you will have to install the 32-bit libraries before you can use it:
This is how it looks when you first run it.
Usage
To configure it, click on the “Advanced Mode” link at the top right corner. This is what you will see. Click on the first button (the + icon) to setup a profile.
Give a name to this new profile.
At the “Sync Operation Mode” section, you configure whether it should just backup the source directory, or perform a synchronization. The “Standard Copying” and “Move Files to Destination” serve the same purpose, except that the latter will delete all files in the source folder. The “Smart Tracking” option refer to a 2 ways synchronization between the source and destination folders.
Once you have setup your backup source and destination location, you can continue to schedule a time to run this profile. Additionally, you can configure more advanced settings like version control, zip archive your backups, number of retries and so on.
Lastly, click the “Save as” button to save the profile.
Back to the main window, you can now press the “Play” button to run the profile.
More Configuration Options
There are tons of things that Super Flexible File Synchronizer can do than just simple backup. You can setup a password protection so only you can access the backup settings or set it to send you an email when the task is completed. It also comes with a version controlling system so you can restore to files that you have amended or deleted accidentally. What I love is the scheduling tool that allows you to control the particular timing (down to the seconds) to run the profile, not to mention that you can setup multiple profiles for different backup jobs. You just need to set it up once and it will automate the backup process. Cool.
Conclusion
The Windows and Mac version are available for US$59.90, so the free Linux version is definitely a steal. I am not sure if it will be free forever, so grab it while it is still available.
SuperFlexible File Synchronizer
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
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