In my job we are not guaranteed to keep using the same computer forever. Also, I need to keep the files at arm's reach when traveling. This is screaming a "cloud" solution, but here in Brazil mobile connectivity is still an issue, and relying on company networks there is always the firewall and network policy issue, so cloud is no-go.  So I started using a 16GB flash drive to store all my personal and work documents. But I am afraid someday the thumb drive will die on me and I will lose everything. Also I have a hard time when I forget it at home and can't access my files.  So I am looking for some utility/script that will run on my home and work computers and whenever I connect the thumb drive, it detects it as my thumb-drive and synchronizes with folders on the computer, kinda like rsync.   These are the needed features:   Securely recognizes the thumb-drive (using a special "key" file or volume serial numbers) Update only modified files (no dumb-copying, as it's several GB) If a file was modified on both on the thumb-drive and the computer, ask for which one to keep. I may choose which folders to sync (do not want to sync the music folder, for example) Non-annoying operation, just ask for a decision on conflicts if needed (but a progress indicator would be nice).   Desirable but not required, are syncing being done automatically before removal (instead of at insertion).  Is there a ready-made Windows tool for this job? This could be pulled out with a batch file but I wanna know if there is something on the market already.  Thanks!  Update for future viewers..  SyncToy is very good, but has the flaw of needing Administrator account for installation. I needed to sync with na old XP work computer, with limited permissions. I've settled for Unison  . It is a command-line app, but matches all my requirements, and does not need  to be installed.
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I know there is a similar topic on syncing between computers, but I'm looking for an application to run on one computer that will sync a "document/file" folder with a folder on my secondary/external USB drive.  What would be the best solution?  I know I could use Dropbox &amp; Live Mesh, but they use up bandwith which isn't very good when I drop in a lot of large files.  I'm running Windows 7, but I assume any solution for Windows Vista would work just fine.
33783
I'm not particularly fond of apps cluttering my $HOME directory with their own files or directories. It's rarely a problem, because most apps have the courtesy to hide their data by prefixing it with a dot or conforming to the ~/.config standard. But not snap.  Q1: Have I misunderstood this directory?  Is ~/snap really a directory which I'm supposed to enter and access on a daily basis on a par with ~/downloads, ~/pictures, ~/work, etc?  Q2: In any case: Can I move it e.g. ~/.snap?  I can't find anything like /etc/snap, /etc/default/snap, or ~/.config/snap to tweak things. I tried export SNAP_USER_DATA=$HOME/.snap but it didn't work.
79045
I'm looking for a solution to write-protect the contents of a USB key. The idea is to prevent its contents from being inadvertently removed by the user or changed by malicious programs -- not to restrict the re-cycling of the key for something else.  Here is a summary of my findings so far:   Some keys have a switch which makes them read-only. Unfortunately this is not always the case.  With a FAT32 filesystem the only solution seems to be setting the files "read-only". But this protection is too weak. There is a slightly stronger write-protection available for NTFS, which can be achieved by removing write privileges from "All Users" it will make the files read-only to every account, except "Administrator". Formatting the disk as UDF makes it read-only under Windows&nbsp;XP SP3, but read-write in Windows&nbsp;Vista, Windows&nbsp;7, Linux and Mac&nbsp;OS&nbsp;X. Formatting as ISO9660/CDFS makes it read-only under Linux and Mac&nbsp;OS&nbsp;X, but unfortunately the contents are not readable anymore from Windows. With microcontroller-specific software is possible (if supported by the chip) to re-partition the key so it displays for example a write-protected and a read-write partition. The problem is that it is very confusing for the users: the write-protected partition can appear as a CD-ROM drive (which it is not), after insertion some drivers are apparently installed on the computer (in fact they are not really drivers), and it can lead to prompting for reboot. Besides, this solution cannot be applied universally because it requires knowing which chip is used in the drive, and the existence of publicly available tools to re-program the device.  John Reasor mentions utilities able to fill all free space on the device, making it impossible to create new files (see below).   Does there exist a general solution to store non-modifiable contents on a USB key?   It protects the contents from modifications typically done from the shell (e.g. delete, rename, move) or from the files and folders being modified by a standard applications (e.g. save-as) It should work with most of the devices The user can still re-format the device into a regular key to re-cycle it for another usage (for example, with )
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I was able to do this in Windows XP Search and using something like Copernicus.  I don't see any way to do this with Windows 7 (other than making it available offline which means that all that data will be duplicated on my local drive.  What I've tried : I read elsewhere in the Windows 7 Help that you need to make sure the networked drive is indexed by it's O/S. So this network drive is on our Server (XP Pro, SP3) so I've installed Windows Search 4.0 and set it to indexing that drive.  I have another XP machine which is already indexed and Windows 7 still wouldn't let me add that drive to  a Library (to get it indexed) because it's not indexed. So I'm not hopeful that the above solution will work.
97080
I am getting messages upon boot up that my hard drive will die very soon, and will need to replace the hard drive.  I do not wish to use some application to move my data and programs, but wish to do it manually.  I am looking for a typical list of directories and files which need to be moved as well as how to generate a list of programs I have installed so I can decide whether I wish to reinstall them on the new machine.  I just backed up My Documents, My Pictures, and My Videos.  I also backed up my Outlook pst file and browser bookmarks.  EDIT.  In hindsight, I probably should just have backed up C:\Users\Michael where Michael is the only normal user.  I rarely use the admin user, and don't think I need to back it up.  Any other "typical" directories or files which should be moved?  What about public/private keys, or is this handled under My Documents?  How can I generated a printable list of programs I have installed? EDIT.  I think I answered this using Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate | Format-Table –AutoSize  The operating system originally was Windows 7 Professional (I still have the DVD) and was updated to Windows 10 for free.  Do I need to backup any sort of license?
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My computer seems to be keeping a local copy of my iCloud Drive folder. Is there any way to disable this?  I know this because in my "Library" folder, there is another folder called "Mobile Documents" that links to the contents in my iCloud Drive folder.  Also, when I click on "About This Mac", under "Storage", it includes the iCloud Drive folder's contents.  Is there a way for me to not keep a local copy of the iCloud Drive folder? I don't want it taking up space on my hard drive...
59494
I have a SanDisk Cruzer 32gb flash drive that cannot be read only on a specific computer due to some unknown reason. Do note that all my other flash drives are working fine on this computer. Here's my situation... Background Info I recently bought a HP laptop. Before wiping the laptop's hard disk, I used HP recovery media creator to store the HP recovery image in my flash drive. After I was done with wiping my laptop's hard disk and making sure my clean installation of the operating system works, I wiped my flash drive with the standard Windows formatting utility. I don't like the OEM's recovery stuffs because of all the bloatware, but I backed it up to my flash drive just in case my clean installation fails. The Problem Now, this flash drive cannot be read on my main desktop (running Windows 8) anymore. However, the same flash drive can be read on my other two computers (also running Windows 8) perfectly fine. Observations:  The flash drive cannot be accessed in Windows Explorer or any Explorer alternatives. Received &quot;Windows can't access this disk&quot; error messages when trying to check the disk's filesystem. The flash drive's size cannot be viewed in My Computer.  Ironically, according to the Device Manager, the USB flash drive is detected and working fine. Things I've Tried  Uninstalling the USB mass storage driver and rebooting. Uninstalling all USB drivers and rebooting. Wiping and reformatting my flash drive on the computers that it can work on using MiniTool Partition Wizard. Using BootIce to rewrite the MBR of the flash drive. Copying the MBR of my other flash drives to the problem flash drive using BootIce. I've also tried formatting in FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS.  All of the above methods have failed. Does anyone know what's the problem, or have encountered such errors before? Please enlighten me. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you. =)
5659
Recently I started getting a File sync error on all 3 of my PCs running Ubuntu One.  One is running Ubuntu, the other 2 are running Windows 8.  Looking at the list of clients on the web, none of them were there anymore.    I found this article:      On how to fix the issue for my Ubuntu PC and it worked perfectly.  Now I am looking for a similar fix for Windows but haven't found one yet.  I've tried un-installing Ubuntu One and re-installing it, but it must still be holding the keys somewhere because it never asked me to login again.    Does anyone know where I can clear these keys to get my files syncing on Windows again?
115882
Sometimes I unplug my USB drive only to find out files were not written to it.  I suppose the only way to ensure files are written to it is to right click on the USB drive on the desktop and then select "un-mount", but sometimes I forget.  What is the best way to ensure files are written to the USB drive instantly? This way I can remove the USB drive as soon as I notice the LED light on the USB drive stopped blinking.  OS: CentOS 6
74680
I have recently upgraded my desktop PC and installed a SSD as system drive.   I read somewhere that these drives "don't like" being written on too much and that one needs to enable/disable certain OS features for such drives.  I checked the properties for the drive C: in Windows 8 and here's what I got.      Q1: As you see Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties is checked. Does it need to be checked for that drive?  Q2: Is there anything else that I need to change in the settings to accommodate for the SSD?
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I wanted to put my work files (code) in /usr/local/src, but I think it's already a folder that has some other semantic meaning.  What is that? Should I put source code there, or is there a better place?  Edit - I am the sole user and admin of the machine, and I don't want to use my home directory because it's on an NFS drive.
10352
I'm looking for something that will compare directories and files like Beyond Compare does for windows.  Its mainly for use of source control, but I need to use it for deployment as well.
100528
Say I used some thumbdrive on a public Windows computer and I copy some data to my Ubuntu computer with it. I cannot be completely sure that the Windows computer was clean, and it might have put something onto my thumbdrive. Is there a way to erase everything on a USB-Stick, even MBR viruses and that kind of off-filesystem stuff?
51266
I have a 90GB SSD but 90GB soon gets filled up.  My users folder alone is 26GB.  To get round this I use Symlinks (read the  for more).    Is there any way to make a separate SSD and HDD work like a hybrid so that frequently accessed files are moved to the SSD automatically?  This would be a nice addition to Windows 8 but I'm not holding out my hopes.    I guess ReadyBoost is a bit like this but its more designed for USB sticks I think.  I did try installing Windows 7 with the SSD as a readyboost but didn't really notice any much improvement over just using the HDD.
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From a Windows workstation when I delete files over the network (e.g. a file share, server disk, etc) those files are never put into a trash can, either on my Windows workstation or on the server - they're instantly and permanently deleted. This has always sucked IMHO.  Is there a software that, in this scenario, puts the files into a trash can somewhere for easy undelete?  Maybe a Windows policy change, registry setting value, software utility, etc ?   -- Looking for a specific solution instead of general "Hey look into this, or try this". I'm convinced somebody has already solved this and can explain it. Thanks.
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I need to be able to copy about 2TB of data from an external drive (single USB external disk) to a another external drive (Drobo attached via Firewire).  Finder is not an option. If it hits any problem, it stops the process and I have to figure it out why it failed and start over. It could take me months to get through it.  I've read about CP and RSYNC but I'm not too familiar and I'm afraid I might get some of the switches wrong and miss files, or screw up the file dates, or worst...  Can anyone suggest how I might pull this off with minimum risk and cost?
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I'm constructing a backup script for Windows 7, and the last action I want it to perform is to safely "remove" the USB drive that it is backing up to. I am under the impression that plugging the drive into the same USB port all the time will keep the same DEV_ID (correct me if I'm wrong). With a command line (or PowerShell), how can I tell Windows to safely remove the hardware automatically without user input?  Just as a place holder, other OSes that may have a way to do this would be great to know as well.