Not sure what has happened on my machine(s), but whatever the reason, Bamboo now seems to be loading/launching without the previously-mentioned errors over the last few days.

I think I recall that Windows XP occasionally optimizes the load order of startup items, although I haven't really done that many restarts, or perhaps I was "rushing" my account login before a required supporting service(s) was finished loading properly if that's possible (I've got lots of stuff running on my machines, thanks to GAOTD!)...

Time will tell -- Thanks Haxar and GOTD!

Before installation, as usual for any install on this XP-MCE laptop, I first scanned the setup.exe file with my anti-virus program, then temporarily turned it off. After the installation reached the end, an error dialog window titled “Bamboo File Sync and Backup” appeared:

Incorrect function.

OK

After clicking on OK it simply disappeared (no portion of an application window ever appeared).

After closing the setup installer, I also got the usual GAOTD “Successfully activated” window displaying some user registration info to enter into the application (if it had run properly).

Clicking on new shortcut “Bamboo Tray Icon” resulted in only an error dialog window titled “Bamboo File Sync and Backup”:

Incorrect function.

OK

A new icon appeared in the system tray; however (same as before), after clicking on OK both it and the dialog window simply disappeared (no portion of an application window ever appeared).

Clicking on the other shortcut “Bamboo Sync Center” resulted in the application window appearing (with a blank/black background) titled “Bamboo Sync Center”, then an error dialog window of the same title appeared on top:

Application fatal error. Shutting down application. ([objecterror]:the remote server machine does not exist or is unavailable)

OK

After clicking on OK both it and the application window simply closed.

I then restarted the computer. Afterwards the Bamboo icon appeared in the system tray and I was finally able to successfully run the application without error and enter the user registration info. I don’t usually have such problems installing various packages from GAOTD and other sources.

I have not yet used/”exercised” it (fingers crossed!)… too late tonight… tomorrow maybe…

----------------------

Tomorrow is now here and I see that my previous posting (above) did not appear among the comments, so here it is again. I also see that #58, Resident Goddess, had the same problem but it doesn't look like she attempted a restart before posting.

I still have not set up any folder pairs to test the intended program functions. I am simply trying to get it to launch and exit without errors for now.

As mentioned above, after last night's restart it initially appeared that Bamboo was working OK, or at least I could access the main program and enter the registration program without any problems. I had shut the machine down for the night.

Today, after system Startup and user account login (admin, same as used for the install), I was again greeted with a repeat of the small error dialog window titled “Bamboo File Sync and Backup”:

Incorrect function.

OK

Initially the Bamboo icon was showing in the system tray, but after pressing OK I moved the mouse cursor over the icon and it disappeared.

Last night I did install this program on two other machines (XP Home), a desktop and a netbook, both running Avast! anti-virus (this first laptop machine has AVG anti-virus). They installed without incident using admin-privilege accounts on those two machines, and no restarts were needed (I had temporarily suspended their Avast! "resident shield" function as I had on this machine's AVG during its install and restart).

After seeing this morning's startup error on this laptop machine, I went and fired those other two machines up to check again.

Logging into a non-admin-type account, the netbook worked OK as far as either double-clicking on the system tray icon to get the “Bamboo File Sync and Backup: Folder Pair Wizard" to appear, or to right-click on the icon and select "Bamboo Sync Center" and get the "No Flder Pair defined..." window, followed by the "...Folder Pair Wizard" window, followed by the main "Bamboo Sync Center" window. I could also "Switch User" and log into the admin account used for the install and it worked OK there as well (simply launching the various ways, and then exiting).

On the desktop, I could launch the two ways from the icon when using the original admin account used to install the program, but not from another admin-privileged user account. On that other account I could double-click on the tray icon to get the “Bamboo File Sync and Backup: Folder Pair Wizard" to appear, but right-clicking and choosing the "Bamboo Sync Center" resulted in a repeat of the “Bamboo Sync Center” window appearing (with a blank/black background) and an error dialog window (with the same title) on top:

Application fatal error. Shutting down application. ([objecterror]:the remote server machine does not exist or is unavailable)

OK

As before, after closing the error dialog window (clicking on OK) both it and the application window simply closed.

Eventually I'll try and see if the intended function of these works (as much as I can get it to work), but for now it appears that this is not very robustly-coded software.

I put in a lot of time on this so far because this kind of package would truly be useful at work (keeping multiple clients' industrial production machine data files synchronized) beyond my home machines' simple folder syncing needs if it worked well and was stable.

Thanks GOTD for a program that is needed and not just a "toy" for me to play with. I checked comments and decided not to download earlier due download time. The mirror link downloaded fast. Their website is slow to access, but workable. Thank you to all commentators for your valuable input. I believe that Haxer and GOTD provided great consumer support to make today's download a success.

#34, Mark Bean, #41-42, Maniac, Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 handles renamed files better than any other file synchronizer because it tracks the original file regardless of any name changes. It can also track changes to removable volumes if the drive letter changes. I've never had nor heard of a problem with SyncToy 2.1, there were earlier versions which might have had problems.

Downloaded, installed and activated fine. However when I click the Desktop icon to open the program I see a Black window open up,and this error:

Bamboo Sync Center
Application Fatal Error. Shutting down application.
([object Error]: Object doesnt support this property or method).

Off Topic:
My OS is Windows 7-X64, 8gb memory, all Windows updates. This is my first Sync program. Have never seen an error like this before. Too bad. Looks like a great program!!!!Lucky you that CAN install this one.

don't compare softwares here to freewares, there is no comparision, since this site began people say use audacity freeware over commercial softwares of similair breeding, it's so old and worn out, give credit to the publishers for even handing out the master works of months weeks days and even years or decades alright... Superb outstanding software can in no way be compared to freeware alternatives because simply put there is no comparison, it's like comparing audacity to media Monkey V3+ and i gotta laugh as sure they both deal with music but that's the single thing they have in common that matters, so yeah input equals output good or bad, enjoy Your online times.

zZz~<(____)~

This could not come at a better time, many thanks to GOTD as I was just about to aquire a programe such as this because I am about to clear and reformat a drive and this will come in mighty handy.

I used this and found it to be easy (even for me !!lol!!)
It worked quickly and efficiently and even located a missing component.
Full marks for an excellent programe, simply brillient !

This software has no advantage over similar freeware.Also the program is unretreivable in case user has to re-download windows.

(#25 cont'd) Here is the developer of Bamboo File Sync and Backup.

1. Registration key problem
We have received a few of reports regarding problems of using the GOTD registration key to upgrade the software to Pro Edition. The error should read "Problems found with your key or installation". Our team is still looking into the problem closely, and the cause is yet to be confirmed.

Our "guesstimation" is that this problem is affecting somewhere around 1/100 of GOTD version of the installation. To address everyone's concern, we guarantee that we will follow up the problem and re-issue keys if necessary. Our support on this problem will not be limited to this 24-hour GOTD program. So, should you encounter this problem, please feel free to log your problem here: http://na1.haxar.com/Support.aspx. We will issue a fix as soon as possible.

2. Clarification on the Giveaway license
Our Free Edition is targeted for casual users with a limitation of 500 files per Job(Folder Pair) and a total of 5 Folder Pairs. Free Edition is always available to users should they need it. The Giveaway license offered now, is the Professional Edition upgrade license, which has no usage limitation at all.

Thank you so much for this program. It will be some time before I could really comment since I am not very fast with computers. It looks though like the program I have been looking for.
About the email adresses: indeed it does not accept emailadresses with underscore or hyphen, while both I tried are legit.

I like Allway Sync which is free and they have a portable version. Only transfers or syncs the changed files. It is really good about warning you if there is a conflict between two files when changes have been made to both since the last sync!

http://allwaysync.com/

Great program! Simple to set up and use, lets me do what other backups don't, specifically, to sync and back up a specific file or folder without prompting me to backup a whole drive.

Installed with no problem on Win 7 x64 Enterprise. My first test was to use it to copy a folder on my mac pro to my US Robotics NAS, both systems on my home network. Unfortunately I made a typo in the path names and there doesn't appear to be a way to edit a folder pairing once it's been created. So I deleted the pairing and created it again and started running it. It is currently in the process of copying the files and seems to be working albeit somewhat slowly.

1. Can it handle long-filenames?
2. Can it handle open files?

Item 1 is mandatory and Item 2 is useful to have.

Nowadays, many internet shortcuts are extremely long and descriptive. For someone like me, I save lots of internet shortcuts as they are dragged into my windows explorer. Many are long and descriptive.

All the synch or file backup software I've tried cannot handle long-filenames. Except for one such software and it is free.

Can this software do Item 1 and Item 2?

Sorry, I meant #39. Gilda

Can someone please tell me if this is a 2-way file synchronization program that will work from internal hard drive to external hard drive and back and will it do what #38 asked? Thanks for your help. Gilda

I been after a good sync program that will do my 1000's of files for quite a while...

I seem to have a little problem tho... - I installed fine on Windows 7 64-bit, and got the GOTD activated window, However, when I run the program clicking on any of the options up the top (File/edit/view etc) absolutely nothing happens.. The options up the top highlight, but thats all..
Anyone else have this problem??

Also, I reformat quite often due to testing and other things, will this work after a reformat?

Regarding the complaint about the Help feature being on Internet Explorer, I have at least copied the URL over to Google Chrome and accessed it from there. I think they could have chosen a better colour scheme than green text on white. Thankfully, I can set my printer to print all colours as black on white.

GUI looks nice indeed, but what I think is missing in the backup section is to create several backups. You might want to create a backup each week, but last week's backup might have been corrupted, so you can still go back to an earlier version...

That would be a great addition to this software.

Hi! In order to register program, enter Giveaway****** in both email address and Name lines. Enter code in the Readme text file on 3rd line. The program should then register. I hope this helps!

@ #34 Mark Bean:
Microsoft SyncToy will actually rename files in the Target folder. Most other sync programs delete and re-copy the file, which takes longer.

LOL @ -37 for my #5 post. Guess most people don't work with a lot of files?

#21 JonJ - thanks! I'm going to stick with RoboCopy for now, but next time I go to redo my synchronizations I'll check that out. RoboCopy works great but the command line means I have to use Batch files and the Task Scheduler to do everything... a bit of a pain. PureSync does look pretty good though.

BTW, to all discussing Microsoft SyncToy 2.1... I was using it but stopped as I found it was 'missing' files. The target folder was missing files from the source and some files deleted from the source were not deleted from the target. I would not recommend it.

Hi Tim (#35)
I had same problem but after changing the my name to giveawayoftheday
name (see readme text), I sucessfully registered a pro version.

Is "Bamboo File Sync and Backup Pro" smart enough to only copy files in a folder to my thumb drive that are new or have been updated? ie, will it not waste time re-copying files whose timestamp has not changed?

Thanks,
Dan

Hi, I downloaded the program-(XP) but I cannot register it as the "Main Page" is blank!!?? Does anyone know what is happening here and how can I register it? I have uninstalled and installed it two times now, restarted the computer but it still does not come in??!! It did install on my laptop but not on the PC. Thanks!

How do I register this program? Nothing happens when i click the menu line with File, Eit, View ... Help. Appreciate any help. Lookes like a nice application.

What is the difference between the GAOTD and the free one given on their web site?

Bummer! Here's a program I really want to use, but when registering I get the following on the Bamboo registration window,"Problems found with your key or installation". I uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled to no avail. Can you help me here? I don't want to miss out! Thanks.

To #4, Fubar, you said that Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 is the only folder-pair synchronizer which can handle renames. I am using Alway Sync, It seem to handle renames, bit rate changes, ratings, etc. Am I missing something?
btw..........I never download a negative review written by you.

Question for the developer:

I've been to the link that you posted for the temporary mirror, but could not find whether it supports tape drives. I have an HP DLTVS 80 tape drive.

Is this device natively supported by your software?

The only info I can find in the More Info page is:
"Storage devices:
Copy across network, local hard disk, different file systems, and removable storage devices."

Thanks

Bamboo File Sync and Backup syncs local files/folders on demand or using Windows Scheduler. You can use filters to control which files get copied from one place to another, & you can set up batches of sync operations that can be activated manually or via a schedule. In tests the added right-click context menu caused Windows Explorer to crash in a minimal XP Mode VM -- Explorer crashed every time I right clicked on a folder. It fared much better in win7, but while setup didn't need to Run as Admin, running the app normally afterward caused win7 to use virtual store. Bamboo File Sync and Backup uses Internet Explorer internally for those without it installed -- FWIW it seems to run fine with the ie9 RC.

Monitoring installation, InstallWatch Pro recorded 1067 new registry entries in XP, 1257 in win7 32... unlike many apps where most of those entries are due to the installer or things like bundled runtimes, Bamboo File Sync and Backup does use a lot of registry keys/values, making it less than ideal if you're after something that can be made portable. As far as drive space goes you get 2 new folders, the program's main folder with 33 files taking up ~10 MB, plus a Haxar folder under User local App or Application Data. The app is set to start with Windows by default, with an icon tray program listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ Current Version\ Run\ .


* * *

#6: "... Many backup programs make images which are not quite so quick to restore the odd file, where this – using the sync mode – makes a perfect copy of all the files, tree structure etc."

Reading individual files takes time... Image backup apps read data, not files, so they backup faster, but the caveat as you've mentioned is that when you want just one or a few files, the image has to be mounted, then that file info read -- it takes longer than with compressed file backups & a lot more time than a duplicate file(s). That said, restore a system disk image backup & the disk/OS will boot -- restore the average file backup & it won't.

* * *

#15: "...But like others have said, it was very slow. However, I’ve tried a few different backup/sync programs, and many of them are slow."

FWIW copying several files is usually a bit slow because of the overhead involved in handling individual files. Also bear in mind that AV software can slow copying of multiple files substantially, especially to a USB 2 drive/device. Code like that used in a free app called FastCopy can help, & *may* be used in some faster syncing apps, but getting away from copying individual files, when possible, might provide a better solution if/when speed *really* matters. One way is to mirror the drive with whatever files you need to have copies of, or if syncing for backup rather than access, create a [probably smaller] partition you'll always use just to store those files, then use a disk image backup app on that partition.

* * *

#25: "Unfortunately, because my email name contains an underscore “_”, it does not seem to want my email for upgrade to pro"

*For testing* I just entered the same *fake* e-mail address I always try to use: mike@aol.com & it seemed to work OK. [I don't think a legit e-mail address is too much to ask for when I'm getting a free app, but until I decide to install & keep something that fake address is quicker.]"

* * *

#26: "Join #8 in wondering if this uses a proprietary format. If yes, then it would seem that this holds your data hostage if you should lose the GAOTD version."

Today's GOTD is intended for syncing the contents between 2 or more folders, e.g. copying Word &/or Excel files you're working on from the folder where they're stored to someplace else, perhaps network storage you can access when you're using another PC/laptop.

This software runs slow... in the background, but It does what it says and it's full of features. I appreciate the fact that the developer apologized for and corrected it's server problems and the mirror link offered above works well. Program installs and runs fine on Windows 7 X 64. The GUI is pleasant and the program is fairly intuitive when it comes to the basics. I would recommend a $15 to $20 US price tag. Nice program... not $40 nice. Awesome for free. Thanks, I haven't found anything of much use on GAOTD lately.

Thank You GOTD & Haxar Limited.
Installed Perfect With No Issues.
I Find The The Amount Of Time It Takes To back Up A Folder Is Very Fast. I Backed Up A 100MB File In Less That 1 Minute.
Other Back Up Software I Tried Has Taken A Lot Longer For A Smaller File. I Have Not Tried The Other Features Yet So I Can't Comment On Those.
The Interface Is Very Nice,Goes With My Zune Theme(black).
Personally I Have Had No Trouble Getting On Their Web Site At All Today.
I Will Be Trying A Much Larger File Later Today. If That Is Just As Fast Then It Will Be A Keeper.

Again, we see a "new" solution chasing a field FULL of others that are apparently as good or better.
When these "new programs" are presented here, they really need to distinguish themselves somehow from what we're already using, by some measure of performance.

Downloaded and tested - quite pleased with installation, design, features, and speed. It's backing up to an external hard-drive over USB, and much faster than other backup systems I've tried. I'm not stupid with computers but not a tech-geek either, and I find this program easy to understand even without a help file. Don't know if I'd pay 40$ for it, but I'm going to keep it for a while.

EXCELLENT!!! Finally some intuitive and good-looking backup/sync software. Installed and runs perfectly fine on W7 Ultimate. GUI is one of the best I've seen in a long while.

No complaints at all! GET IT WHILE U CAN.

Thanks GAOTD

Join #8 in wondering if this uses a proprietary format. If yes, then it would seem that this holds your data hostage if you should lose the GAOTD version.

They might as well send you a ransom note ("IF you want to see your data again, pay us or else..."). Uh, no thanks.

Unfortunately, because my email name contains an underscore "_", it does not seem to want my email for upgrade to pro

Options for scheduling tasks appear to be locked-out even after entering the registration information under the help menu. As others have noted, the Haxar website is essentially inaccessible today. Other issues aside, the sync function works nicely.

I like that the program realized one location was a removable drive and was smart enough to offer identifying it by volume label, not by drive letter. I don't like that I couldn't select multiple conflict items using either the ctrl or shift keys. I agree that it would be nice to have a local copy of the help file, and if nothing else open in the default browser and not just IE. GUI is very nice. All in all it seems like a possible keeper.

We are the developer of Bamboo File Sync and Backup. Firstly, thank you for all the comments from you all. It is exactly these kind of comments that keep us motivated.

Now regarding the website. GOTD caught us by surprise by giving us such a boost in traffic (a hundred times at least!) that our local hosting service provider in Asia simply gave in. While this is a happy problem to us, it has caused you all so much trouble checking our website.

Luckily, we have already subscribed a hosting service in North America just a week before due to our expansion. Now I guess it is just pushing us to move faster than we planned. A lot faster. In the past few hours, we worked our brains out to setup a mirror site up to the new data center. Although we may not be able to completely switch over to the new site within these few GOTD hours, we now provide you the following link to our temporary mirror site, hoping that this will improve the situation as much as we can.

na1.haxar.com

Thank you and hope you enjoy our software.

In response to Maniac [comment 5]
I had the same issue with "Many" files.
Have you tried PureSync [Jumping Bytes] www.jumpingbytes.com/en/puresync.html
Thusfar it handles as many files as I can give it to sync!!

#3, John, also, whichever synchronizer you run first will be much slower, it loads Windows file caches for subsequent tests. You'll generally get a more accurate timing by running each twice and tracking the time of the second run. Bamboo is also checking paths and files in alphabetical order, which can be slower but makes the logs much easier to examine.

#3, John, do your alternatives ignore shortcuts and reparse points, perform filtering, log absolutely everything checked, moved, etc., and handle alternate data streams? Bamboo ran at full speed during my tests (100% CPU of one core, low priority during checks), very fast transfers.

#7, Chris Gordon, I don't know what to make of your comments. I tested Bamboo on a 289 GB drive with a huge number of files and folders, some huge files, etc., backing up to an empty folder on another drive. I was very impressed with how it functions, it has very extensive realtime, interactive, and text logs, you can tell what it's doing during operation and after the fact. I didn't actually want to move 289 GB of data so I stopped the transfer after a few hundred MB (it builds a complete list of everything that it's going to move, skipped due to errors or filters, etc., before it transfers anything, so it completely scanned the source and destination). I tested backing up the same 289 GB to a duplicate filled 289 GB drive each containing about 670,000 files and over 52,000 folders and no problems (nothing moved, complete logs of everything checked). I also checked memory utilization while running, no problems. I'm running on Win7x64, but I don't see where that matters, and memory utilization is far too low to be affected by available RAM.

Also relevant:
"Q4: How many Professional Edition licenses do I need to copy file between two PCs?

Professional Edit license is counted on per-installed-machine basis. If you have two PCs connected over the network, you would only need to install Bamboo in either one of the machine to sync files between them. Therefore you would only need one licensed installation. However, if your PCs are isolated (for example, one PC at home and one PC in office) and you are copying files between them using a USB flash drive, you may need two licensed installations so that you can set up Folder Pairs between your Home PC and the flash drive; and then between your Office PC and the flash drive."

I got their website to load:
"Q1: What is the difference between Free Edition and Professional Edition?

Bamboo File Sync and Backup comes in two editions, Free and Professional. Each targets different types of usages in term of both amount and variety of files to be synced and copied.
In Free Edition, users can create at most 5 Folder Pairs. Folder Pairs are pairs of folders set up for a specific sync or copy action. The number of Items involved in the syncing or copying decision is limited to 500 per Folder Pair per Run. Free Edition is designed for casual users.
Serious and heavy user may want to consider upgrading to Professional Edition for unlimited volume of usages.



Q2: What is the limitation of Free Edition?

Bamboo File Sync and Backup Free Edition is designed for casual users. In Free Edition, users can create at most 5 Folder Pairs. Folder Pairs are pairs of folders set up for a specific sync or copy action. The number of Items involved in the syncing or copying decision is limited to 500 per Folder Pair per Run.
Heavy users who need to defined more Folder Pairs and more files to be synced or copied per Run may consider using the Professional Edition."

Marek (comment 8) - I've just tried it out in BACKUP mode, and it backs-up the files/folders as they are originally, ie. it's simply a "one-sided" synchronisation. I like that too...

But like others have said, it was very slow. However, I've tried a few different backup/sync programs, and many of them are slow.

I do like Bamboo's interface, it makes everything accessible to everyday users, instead of it seeming to be a "black art" for experts only.

So the friendly interface, combined with backups being straight copies of the source folders, gives Bamboo a thumbs-up from me. Better a slow, easy to setup backup that you actually use, than a fast you don't use because it confuses you.

A true gem today! As for speed an unattended copy of over 9 gig was done within 7 mins... http://www.xup.in/dl,21030834/8-3-2011_10-13-10.jpg/ Deliberately crashed my system to see what would happen. With the next restart it continued and finished the job as if nothing happened. Made it portable to keep it with me. Install en registration easy. Definately a keeper for me.

'lightning fast'...I dont think so!

I will stick with Ezbackitup thanks.