I was searching for a simple and free application to do folder synchronization on my computer.  I wanted a tool with a little more flexibility than having to manually “select all”, “copy”, “paste”, and then pick and choose what should be over-written, copied as new, etc.  In my search I came across a free tool from Microsoft called “Sync Toy”. 

Sync Toy is tucked away on Microsoft’s site under “professional photography downloads” and a simple application for copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files between folders and computers (particularly photographs).  There are many options that let you decide which folder acts as the source and which acts as the recipient (you can create just about any combination that suites your needs).  Basically you create a paring between the “left” and the “right” folder, and then define the type of “relationship” that they should have to one another.  When you want to sync, just pick the pair from the list and hit “run”. 

Sync Toy is a very powerful little tool and the only trace that it leaves behind is a hidden text file called “SyncToyDirectoryId.txt” in both of the paired directories.  It is free so try it out.

Stable v1.4 Release: Here

Beta v2.0 Release: Here