ChronoSync - 4.0.5

Chronosync does pretty much what it sets out to do - synchronize folders/directories/drives in 2 locations. I found however, there were too many needless checks in the default start up set, which had to be reset manually every time because it doesn't remember your settings or back up locations from the last time you used it - perhaps this was an option I missed? I also do a lot of work cross platform using (dare I say) Windows and Linux so I regularly use USB HD's to switch around machines as they're not all networked. While there are some great back up/sync tools on these platforms, Chronosync was by far the worst on my favorite Mac platform. I've since switched to SuperFlexibleSynchronizer, which is a far superior product - well, in my opinion anyway.

Bravo!! Wonderful!! Excellent!! This program is outstanding!! This program, along with the company's ChronoAgent software, is wonderful for backing up an entire network of Macs!

After 8 months of total hell with unreliable and incomplete backups with Retrospect 8 (see my posts in the EMC Retrospect 8 forum under the name "scotty321" for all of my hell with the product, along with the hundreds of other users who are also having problems with this product), I have FINALLY found my replacement backup software and am now gladly & happily saying goodbye to Retrospect for good!

I am now using ChronoSync and ChronoAgent for my backup software!

I'm using them successfully at multiple different office locations, including one office location that has 17 Macs on their network. ChronoSync and ChronoAgent work absolutely flawlessly on a nightly basis to backup multiple computers onto multiple external hard drives.

In fact, ChronoSync and ChronoAgent do EVERY SINGLE THING that Retrospect 8 does (except backup Windows clients)... but they do it elegantly, they do it with better error reporting, they do it with a much better user interface, and they do it with significantly better pricing as well. You can backup an entire network of 25 Macs for only $190, with no upgrade fees ever!

So, goodbye for life, Retrospect... you have burned way too many bridges with me and have caused me way too much grief for any one person to have in their lifetime.

And hello again, old friends at econtechnologies.com! Thank you for giving us the best backup software in the Mac industry!!

I reformatted my system and updated to 10.6 the app works but only in DEMO mode accept the registration details under 10.6

I've used this program to do my backups for a while now. I see that others have problems over networks, but using this for local backups to a variety of disks has been basically trouble-free and very satisfactory. I had 3.3.6 and then moved to version 4, and it's not been a painful transition in any way.
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.

I am another longtime satisfied ChronoSync user who was having serious problems with version 4 - hangs and crashes. After going to the product website, I decided to install the add-on product ChronoAgent on my other machine (the one I do not run Chronosync on). This is advertised as allowing a direct (non-AFP) connection between the two machines, with greater speed.

The 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. ]