In today's world, File synchronization is a topic or person that has gained great relevance due to its impactful repercussions in various areas of society. Whether on a political, social, economic or cultural level, File synchronization has captured the attention of experts and citizens alike, generating an intense debate around it. Its influence extends globally, causing significant changes that affect millions of people around the world. As File synchronization continues to be the subject of interest and research, it is crucial to analyze its implications and consequences in detail to better understand its importance today. In this article, we will delve into the File synchronization phenomenon, exploring its origins, evolution, and future projections to shed light on its true meaning and scope.
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File synchronization (or syncing) in computing is the process of ensuring that computer files in two or more locations are updated via certain rules.
In one-way file synchronization, also called mirroring, updated files are copied from a source location to one or more target locations, but no files are copied back to the source location. In two-way file synchronization, updated files are copied in both directions, usually with the purpose of keeping the two locations identical to each other. In this article, the term synchronization refers exclusively to two-way file synchronization.
File synchronization is commonly used for home backups on external hard drives or updating for transport on USB flash drives. BitTorrent Sync, Dropbox, SKYSITE, Nextcloud, OneDrive, Google Drive and iCloud are prominent products. Some backup software also support real-time file sync. The automatic process prevents copying already identical files and thus can be faster and save much time versus a manual copy, and is less error prone.[1] However this suffers from the limit that the synchronized files must physically fit in the portable storage device. Synchronization software that only keeps a list of files and the changed files eliminates this problem (e.g. the "snapshot" feature in Beyond Compare or the "package" feature in Synchronize It!). It is especially useful for mobile workers, or others that work on multiple computers.
It is possible to synchronize multiple locations by synchronizing them one pair at a time. The Unison Manual[2] describes how to do this:
Common features of file synchronization systems include:[citation needed]
Consumer-grade file synchronization solutions are popular, however for business use, they create a concern of allowing corporate information to sprawl to unmanaged devices and cloud services which are uncontrolled by the organization.[citation needed]
When using cloud services, data privacy risks can be mitigated by using a file synchronization solution that features end-to-end encryption instead of simple transport (HTTPS) or at-rest encryption.