14 DAY TRIAL // Synchronization has gained more and more turf lately, and more and more users have come to realize the importance of this process, especially with the avalanche of portable devices cracking on the market at a very fast rate. There's no need to stress that even though the operation seems to be quite an effortless one, it still takes some time and why not try to make things easier if such a possibility exists?
Synching the documents in specific folders of your computer is nothing more than copying them to the desired location in order to have the exact files in two different locations. As easy as this may sound, the process can be automated if one of the locations is on a pendrive at its insertion in the computer.
Auto Pendrive from Centiware helps achieve automatic synchronization of data between different locations on your computer and the USB key with the slightest effort. In fact, the triggering action for the process to take place is the plugin of the removable device into your computer. The moment the system recognizes it, the copying operation begins.
The application comes with a $20 price tag and the only limitation is the fact that it'll close after exactly 30 minutes. As feeble a limitation this may seem, it proves to be quite a nag especially if you forget to start it before plugging in the thumb drive.
AutoPendrive has no interface and the only thing available for you is the Settings window that allows configuring the folders that need to be synchronized and choose the label of the drive that should trigger the transfer. Other than this, the application will sit quietly in the system tray and all its operations take place in the background, so it will not intrude on you in any way.
Working with the software is as easy as can be, because the configuration is common sense and the settings are not complex at all. You basically have to assign a local folder and a location on the removable device, set the copy direction (from pendrive to local or vice-versa) and enable the "transaction". After this, the software will take care of everything the moment you stick the thumb drive into the computer.
A very important feature is copying to and from the pendrive if it is labeled with a specific name. This way, you can ensure that synchronization does not start with just any USB key inserted in the computer. So, if the pendrive has a different name than the one specified in Settings panel, all operations will be aborted. The downside is that you can assign only one pendrive label for all operations. It would have been extremely helpful and valuable for the application, if each operation had been triggered by different USB keys.
The three sections in the Settings area are clearly delimited, giving you the possibility of enabling or disabling certain operations or removing them from the list, if you no longer have a use for them, you can enable notifications to alert when something goes wrong or specify how the operation should be directed. It's an easy turf to set up, but there are certain issues that need to be addressed, such as the impossibility of editing any of the saved tasks.
Our testings included both regular USB keys, as well as U3 compliant ones. On both of them the software behaved as it should and successfully completed the synchronization operations, regardless of their number, no questions asked. There is no dialog telling the amount of time necessary for copying the files from one folder to another and this may be seen as a downside by some users. Speaking of alerts, it would be a great idea to add a notification when the synchronization is completed sucessfully.
In the case of overwriting the information, there will also be no dialog available, but instead you will benefit from an error message saying that the copying process failed. Letting the user decide upon the overwriting of the data would greatly contribute to the flexibility of the entire application.
All in all, the software does a great job at synchronizing folders on removable drives with those on the local drive, but loses very much in flexibility as it does not allow linking specific operations with certain pendrives. The lack of certain dialogs may also come as a downside for some of the users.
The Good
Handling the application does not require any particular knowledge. Synchronization is done easily and effortlessly, with minimum input from the user.
You can add multiple operations to be triggered by the mere insertion of an USB key, regardless if it is a regular one or an U3 smart drive (provided that there is no protection enabled on it).
The Bad
The software seems to be crippled by the lack of flexibility with regards to notifications for overwriting data or lack of USB key specific operations. Also, in the case of U3 smart drives, synchronization will fail if security is enabled.
Compared to the price of the software, all these issues translate into a pretty expensive application as for $20 the expectations are way higher than what it offers.
The Good
AutoPendrive makes for a great USB>local drive synchronization tool that automates the process of copying the files from one location to another with minimum effort from the user.
Improvement in the mentioned areas would make it a helluva instrument ready to comply to most of the users' exigencies. However, it did great in our testing, with the above-mentioned minor exceptions, and proved to be a reliable tool that only needs a finishing touch.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
