Q: How do I register SynchroMaster?
A: To register SynchroMaster simply click on the purchase link on the menu at the left to visit our online store where you can purchase the software with a credit card online. You will an email almost immediately containing a serial number for registering the software for unlimited use. Simply use the purchase link in the software to launch the registration wizard and enter your serial number.
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Q: When I try to register SynchroMaster I get an error. Why?
A:
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Q: Do I need to have SynchroMaster installed on each computer I want to synchronize?
A: If you are launching a synchronization task from one computer to synch to another computer on your network, then it only needs to be installed on the computer running the task. It is NOT necessary to have it installed on the second PC. However, if you wish to run it from the second computer back to the first or to a USB backup drive or other medium, then it must be installed on each PC where such task is run. Each PC requires a separate registration to use the software from that machine.
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Q: How do I get SynchroMaster to see my Outlook files for synchonization?
A: First of all be sure that you have your system configured to show hidden files. Go to Tools > Folder Options and on the View tab, check the option to show hidden files and folders. To check where Outlook is saving data, go to Outlook's Tools > Options… > Mail Setup > Data Files… and you will see a listing of all of your data files (along with an interface for managing them). Then in Synchromaster, navigate there and select those files for synchronization to another drive or backup to zip.
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Q: If I synch manually every day, do I also need real-time synch?
A: Doing a synch on a daily basis either manually or on a schedule, will maintain your files up to date as of the last run synchronization. Realtime will update changes almost instantly as changes in files are detected. This has obvious advantages as well as some disadvantages. If you overwrite, modify or delete a file accidentally, realtime will overwrite, modify or delete it as well. Thus some very careful users like to synch their critical data to two different drives or partitions... one set on a manual or scheduled basis and the the second set in real time. This captures the advantages of each approach without the disadvantage described above.
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Q: What if I have a scheduled task set up to shutdown after completion and I am still working. Will I lose my work?
A: When shutdown after completion of a task is selected, Synchromaster will give a 30 second countdown before shutdown. Thus if you are working you will see the countdown dialog and can cncel the shutdown. Note that is shutdown is set after a scheduled tak, it will not occur if any other remaining tasks are configured to run before mnidnight of the same day.
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Q: Why do I have to create separate task groups. Why aren't tasks and task groups the same thing?
A: The idea is the total flexibility and control this gives you... you can have one task group which synchs say your desktop to your laptop, a different task group to synch laptop back to desktop, a third task group to synch your PC hard drive to a backup drive, etc etc. Each of these may be entirely different, and certainly the paths and drive letters will be different. Hint: if only the drive letters need changing, you can make a copy of the task group by going to the folder where it is stored and making a copy and renaming it, or just use File/Import and give it a separate name. Then you can just change the drive letters in each task.
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Q: Why would I want to create multiple tasks... Why can't I just list all the folders I want to synch in one task?
A: You can indeed list multiple folders in a single task. However, once again, this is a matter of flexibility and control. Normally once you have your tasks set up within a group you will rarely need to add new tasks if you are merely creating new subfolders - those will be synched as well if subfolder option has been selected in the task setup. Then when you run a complete synch you can just select all tasks with CTRL+A *or* select just the tasks you want to synch holding the CTRL key down and then click run. NOTE: The preview step is skipped when you run multiple tasks simultaneously.
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Q: How can I give all users to this PC access to SynchroMaster and the tasks without having to create the same tasks for each user?
A: This will be added to the install routine in the next version. However if you want to change it after installation, simply locate the SynchroMaster folder where the tasks groups are stored under your username in 'Documents and Settings' and cut and paste or drag that folder to the All Users\Application Data folder:
C:\document and settings\All Users\Application Data\SynchroMaster
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Q: How do you recommend using SynchroMaster to synch back and forth with my laptop and desktop on a daily basis?
A: The best way to handle this is to create a set of tasks in one direction only, typically using Method #2, "Update target folder, and delete obsolete files from target folder". You set up one or more tasks to synch your data over and additional tasks to synch a specific data file or folder from various applications which you want to keep in synch... your email files, for example, and so on. Then you want to clone the task group - simply go to the folder where it is located (Hint use File/Open to see where that is) and make a copy of the file and rename it. For example, you could call your first task C - J or Desktop to Laptop, for example. And the clone would be renamed as J - C or Laptop to Desktop. Then edit each task in that new laptop taskgroup and swap the Source & Target for each task (Hint use the "Swap Source and Target" link on the Source & Target screen of Task settings.) This way things are fairly foolproof. As long as you are careful to select the correct task group from the File Menu for the procedure you wish to run, there's no chance of a mistake and synching things the wrong direction, something you want to avoid as that can result in data loss.
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Q: Sometimes SynchroMaster produces an error in red text in the task summary reporting the file may be locked. Why is this?
A: Sometimes certain files such as thumbs.db, for example, can be locked by Windows and so cannot be overwritten. Thumbs.db is simply a system file wwhich Windows creates in a directory when you switch on the 'view as thumbnails' option. It is of absolutely no consequence. These can be freely deleted and Windows will instantly create them again when you view as thumbnails. Sometimes these files can be copied and other times they are locked. In any case... SynchroMaster is correctly reporting that the thumbs.bd file cannot be be copied over. It is not a bug. The failure to overwrite this file should NOT affect the synchronizing of the balance of the files in the folder however. If you wish to eliminate this error, simply delete the offending thumbs.db files in both source and target and run the synch again... if the directories are identical then the thumbs.db file will also be identical when Windows recreates them and the error should be gone.
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Q: SynchroMaster doesn't seem to retain some tasks after reboot which are scheduled for realtime? Why?
There's a small bug in SynchroMaster on some systems where tasks scheduled to synch in realtime are not retained after rebooting the system. For now they must be reset for realtime synch. This will be fixed in the next update.
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