ChronoSync - 4.0.3Synchronize and back up your files/folders. |
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| Overall Rating: | Not rated (0.0) | Features: | Not rated (0.0) | Support: | Not rated (0.0) |
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Featured Reviews
Does what I want it to do very well 



- Version: 4.0.2, 4/23/2009 10:21AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
CauseyPike
Still needs major work 



- Version: 4.0.2, 4/22/2009 04:06PM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
DrTimHill1. It gets horribly confused when mounting a remote share. As I type this I see a red warning "Cannot Locate Target" even though the target is mounted in Finder. If I setup its options to automatically connect to the target they simply dont work.
2. Performance is awful. Copy speeds seem to max out at 100Kbytes/sec (across a GB wired LAN!). The analysis phase is *slow* ... expect to wait 30+ minutes for medium sized sync operations.
3. Folder deletes on target dont work. This bug has been around since 3.x days. Tell CS to delete files/folders on the target and watch as it silently skips this. So you *cannot* reliably ask the product to mirror a folder tree.
Basically, it doesnt work. I'd advise *very* careful evaluation of your needs before using this product.
Superb if you put ChronoAgent on the remote machine, problems otherwise 



- Version: 4.0.1, 3/8/2009 12:02PM PST
(5 of 5 users found this comment useful)
dpdpThe result for me is a tremendous speed increase in backups, and what seems to be total reliability. Without knowing any of the technical details, I am going to guess that ChronoSync 4 was developed with Chronoagent in mind, and that problems with standard AFP connections went uncorrected as a consequence.
So for ChronoSync 3 users, I strongly recommend installing ChronoAgent (at $10) if you upgrade to version 4. The result will be the familiar ChronoSync 3 reliability plus an enormous increase in file transfer speed. A real, noticeable improvement.
[I should also add that I found the instructions concerning the use of ChronoAgent quite confusing. You install Chronoagent on the machine you are *not* running ChronoSync on; set it up on that machine, following the instructions; then add a new "connection" using the Connections pane of the Chronosync Preferences on the machine *with* ChronoSync (the *other* machine). (You'll need the IP address, port number and other info from your ChronoAgent setup.) Then pick that connection as the location of the folder to be backed up in your ChronoSync document. ]
I like some of the configuration options, such as automatic backups on drive mount, and the ability to set up automatic unmounting of drives once backups are completed. Granted it's mildly complicated when setting up options the first time, but the user guide and info made it reasonably straightforward, and questions I had about certain file types were answered rapidly by tech support. I use this in combination with Knox to manage encrypted disk images. Thus, I have an encrypted image on my backup disk, when this mounts ChronoSync runs a backup, and it all seems to work. It's nice running to an encrypted disk, as I feel that my data is more secure, given how easy it is for someone to steal a removable hard drive. (This is the main reason I use this rather than Time Machine). I like the control over versioning, and across a USB it's very fast.
I used to run my backups to a NAS drive, but this was always annoyingly slow, though not ChronoSync's fault as far as I could tell.
I can't comment on the network performance issues that some people have experienced, but for local backups this has been a reliable and trustworthy program, and I'm pleased with it's performance and customizability, as well as being able to find ways to configure encrypted backups. The tech support has been pretty good as well. I've tried a few different backup programs, and this is definitely my favourite.