First of all we would just like to apologise to Andrea who sent us this demo of GoodSync version 7-5-2 to be reviewed, we’ve been having some trouble with our one and only PC after it was sent in, its given up on us! So as a result, you will probably notice from some of our screenshots, we’re doing this review using a freshly installed Windows XP Pro via VMware Fusion on a Mac!

Let’s first tell you what GoodSync is all about…

GoodSync, is the latest software in a series of highly reliable, easy to use products from Siber Systems, the makers of RoboForm. The program automatically synchronizes and backs up emails, photos, financial documents, MP3s and any other important files between desktops, laptops, servers, and external drives.

GoodSync uses an innovative synchronization algorithm to prevent file deletion, data loss, and eliminate duplicate files. GoodSync already enjoys numerous favorable reviews from both users and the press. Its powerful technology is remarkably easy to use, and is the only solution that offers true bi-directional synchronization.

Also it’s worth pointing out to those who aren’t used to the two terms sync and backup. The simple difference between synchronisation and backup is that backing up is a one way transfer, whereas in synchronisation, you’re performing a transfer process that’s two way and the end result is that both sources (computer folders which you have pre-specified for example) will have the same files.

So without further ado, let’s tell you what we thought of GoodSync. Just from first impressions, launching GoodSync was fast, no delays, we thought on first glance that it was simple but also professionally made and well thought out.

And if we take a closer look at what it’s doing to our virtual PC, for those who are cautious about memory usage, we can see that it’s consumption on system’s memory is very minimal:

We then give it a simple task to do in order to test it out. This task was a very common one, we wanted GoodSync to sync for us some music files from another computer on the same network to this computer via WiFi. The aim wasn’t to test out its transfer speed but to find out how it performed a job, as well as reliability, does it crash half way through, does it have bits of missing data at the end of the transfer process, etc…

Another feature I would like to point out is that you can ask GoodSync to perform multiple jobs at the same time by pressing the yellow plus button in the top left corner.

Of course this will compromise your system memory, but it’s not something we see in all synchronisation tools you come across these days.

Now that I have given GoodSync the location I would llike my files to be synced from, it immediately provides me with a tooltip pointing out to me as to where I need to press to select the local folder for files to arrive and this is great for those who just hate reading instructions or find it difficult to recognise what the next step required actually is. As soon as I have provided it with the two locations I would like my files to be synced, again it now points to me that my next action is to use the analyze function.

After quickly analyzing, it provides me with a data report like screen, telling me which folders and files will be synced, as well as the memory that I will require to complete this task, any conflicts or errors that it encountered that I should give attention to.

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