Ok, thats a really poor pun, but I need to know how I can manage to keep my external flash drive and my comp synced for a particular folder where all my phD stuff is. Its really annoying to manually do it. Urrrgh. And i dont have money to invest in a software that has to be bought. Any idea is Visata provides any syncing options or if there are easy to use alternative freeware available?

thanks!

I have FolderMatch, which I got for something like £9. It compares drives (or folders within drives) then asks you what you want to do (e.g. make folder 1 same as folder 2, just copy new and updated files only, copy new files only). Basically any combination you can think of. The main benefit is that you can tell it to only copy what's new or changed rather than everything, saving a lot of time. You can get it on free trial for a time then decide whether you want to purchase it

Failing that. there are some free ones out there too (but I know nothing about them):

http://lifehacker.com/398696/five-best-file-syncing-tools

I think you can use 'briefcases' in vista so it syncs your work and updates it all - although not quite sure how it works, I think you jus put a briefcase on your usb and put all your files in it, then when you work on something at home, and take it to work, the file in the briefcase should update with your work one- you probable need someone more technically minded than me, but I know several people who use briefcases to sync work.

I used Syncback for WinXp

http://www.download.com/SyncBack/3000-2242_4-10413802.html

this explains how to set up a backup system in windows xp:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx

this allows you to back up onto a flash drive/external hard drive etc

i presume other operating systems (eg. vista) have a similar set up?