How to Set Up Your First Sync to an External Drive
One of the more common questions we see in support is about how to set up a GoodSync job to synchronize your data. The following guide will help you set up a job from your user folder in Windows to an external drive.
- The very first step in setting up sync is navigating to your GoodSync program in Windows. After a fresh or clean install the GoodSync icon will be available from your Desktop as well as from Start Menu>>All Programs>>GoodSync folder>>Goodsync.
- Once launched for the first time you will receive the prompt below. If it is not your first time using the software, you can create a new job from the ‘Job’ selection in the upper left of the screen by selecting ‘New’.
Welcome to Goodsync
- Next, you must choose where you want the data to come from. Select the ‘Browse’ button on the upper left to be able to select the folder.
Browse folder
- To back up the folder on Windows that includes all of your Documents, Downloads and even the files on your Desktop, you will need to select ‘My Computer’ from the upper left. Next, select the folder that is your user name; in the example below, the user name is Mystic. Once your folder is highlighted, click ‘OK’.
Folder selection
- Now that the left side has been set up, you should receive a prompt like the one below on the right side of GoodSync. Click the ‘Browse’ button again to set a location for the destination folder (where you want the data to go.)
right side
- To select the external drive, you will first need to select My Computer with the external drive plugged in and power on if an outside power supply is necessary. Once the drive appears on the list, select the folder from that drive and select ‘OK’. For the job shown, the external is D: and the folder I wish to back the data up to is named Backup.
External drive
- Now that the two locations have been selected, you will need to click ‘Analyze’ from the actions menu in the lower right.
Analyze button
- Now you’ll see GoodSync analyzing the files, to see if any have been added, deleted, or changed.
Analyzing
- Once it has analyzed the files and changes, select the ‘Sync’ option. Once selected, your data will begin copying.
- Once completed, you will see a confirmation on the bottom left part of your screen. You made it!
Congratulations on setting up your first (or not so first) GoodSync job. For further information on setting up jobs to/from a cloud based service, feel free to visit the following link: https://www.goodsync.com/how-to-sync. Please note that GoodSync only provides a method to sync with those cloud based services, using GoodSync does not provide storage with mentioned services.
Until next time!