Windows 7 -Automatically Copying a file from Folder 1 copied to Folder 2 -How ?

Karen_taris

On Windows 7, how to get files to 'automatically' get saved from 1 folder to another folder

(so they are copied into 2 folders - one original and one duplicate)

the original one might be a Onedrive account.


File Created/ saved in Folder 1

Then it Automatically gets copied and moved to folder 2.

Do you have to get a software download for this?
or can automatically do it in windows 7, using the functions ??


and Also, is there away for the same thing to happen, but the file gets saved there, and moved to another folder (transfers) and leaving the original location?

Thank you for the help

Strider590

Edit ~ Nevermind, misread OP



I don't know why you'd want to create duplicates of files, it's not good practice. Better to use shortcuts......

Duplicates get really messy really fast.

But command line will do this with a few commands:

@echo off
:loop
xcopy "C:\Folder1" "C:\Folder2\" /c /i /r /y /v /e /d
xcopy "C:\Folder2" "C:\Folder1\" /c /i /r /y /v /e /d

timeout 5

goto :loop

Pop that into a text document, save the document as copyfiles.bat and run it.
It'll run in a loop every 5 seconds (until you close it), making two folders identical (obviously need to change the file paths).

Karen_taris

SyncToy, what is the difference between these 2?

Version: 2.1

File Name:

SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x86.exe
SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x64.exe


86 VS 64?

how do I know which one I need?

Here are my specs

64 Bit Operating system
Installed memory - 4GB
Intel core
Windows 7

Strider590

x64 is for 64 bit systems.
x86 is not 86 bit (confusingly), it refers to 32 bit systems.

AndyPix

create the above as a batch file ..

Without the loop bit.

Set it as a scheduled task to run say every 15 minutes (or whatever suits your needs)

Then you can forget about it and the 2 folders will always be duplicates of each other.

I agree with the above though. This is very messy and I wouldn't recommend it really.
But you must have your reasons

Andy

Strider590

AndyPix wrote: »

create the above as a batch file ..

Without the loop bit.

Set it as a scheduled task to run say every 15 minutes (or whatever suits your needs)

Then you can forget about it and the 2 folders will always be duplicates of each other.

I agree with the above though. This is very messy and I wouldn't recommend it really.
But you must have your reasons

Andy

Whilst i've nothing against using the scheduler, it would keep popping up in front of whatever task you were doing. Whereas a looping batch file could just be started and then minimised to task bar.

AndyPix

Strider590 wrote: »

Whilst i've nothing against using the scheduler, it would keep popping up in front of whatever task you were doing. Whereas a looping batch file could just be started and then minimised to task bar.

Na,
You just set the user running the task to SYSTEM, then nothing will appear on the screen .

I wouldn't like to leave a looping batch file running.
It wouldn't feel right

Andy

grumpycrab

Strider590 wrote: »

xcopy "C:\Folder1" "C:\Folder2\" /c /i /r /y /v /e /d
xcopy "C:\Folder2" "C:\Folder1\" /c /i /r /y /v /e /d

Strider, while I'm sure the 2 xcopy commands are deliberate why 2?

synctool is good but is not automatic on its own; you'll need to "schedule" it to run. And use the "contribute" option.

Strider590

AndyPix wrote: »

Na,
You just set the user running the task to SYSTEM, then nothing will appear on the screen .

I wouldn't like to leave a looping batch file running.
It wouldn't feel right

Andy

Meh.

I do it all the time, I use a single looping batch file to monitor the activity of my home server, to do daily backups, to close certain programs, to open other programs, to delete CCTV images which are only than 3 months, to do a whole load of things, if I can see its running then I know I don't need to do anything.

If I don't want to see the terminal window in my taskbar, then I just run a little bit of extra code.

I constantly run one like this ^ on my gaming rig, it's set up to taskkill all known game .exe files on my system by taking a command remotely from my phone or laptop.
This helps reduce the need for hard resets when the GFX drivers crash and I can't get task manager open.

grumpycrab wrote: »

Strider, while I'm sure the 2 xcopy commands are deliberate why 2?

synctool is good but is not automatic on its own; you'll need to "schedule" it to run. And use the "contribute" option.

Because xcopy both ways with a /d ensures the files are always synced to the latest saved version. It helps to reduce the issues you get when having duplicate files.

Say you have folder 1 with several files and folder 2 is a copy/duplicate, if you then edit something in folder 2, then folder 1 will have an old version of that file and your duplicate folders go out the window.

indesisiv

The question still remains why do you want to duplicate these folders?