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'''File synchronization''' (or '''syncing''') in computing is the process of ensuring that [[computer file]]s in two or more locations are updated via certain rules.
In ''one-way file
[[File system|File]] synchronization is commonly used for home backups on external hard drives or updating for transport on [[USB flash drives]]. [[BitTorrent Sync]], [[Dropbox (service)|Dropbox]] and [[Skysite|SKYSITE]] are prominent products. Some [[backup software]] also support real-time file sync. The automatic process prevents copying already identical files and thus can be faster and save much time versus a manual copy, and is less error prone.<ref>{{cite paper |author=A. Tridgell |authorlink=Andrew Tridgell |title=Efficient algorithms for sorting and synchronization |url=https://samba.org/~tridge/phd_thesis.pdf |date=February 1999 |version=PhD thesis |publisher=The Australian National University}}</ref> However this suffers from the limit that the synchronized files must physically fit in the portable storage device. Synchronization software that only keeps a list of files and the changed files eliminates this problem (e.g. the "snapshot" feature in [[Beyond Compare]] or the "package" feature in [[Synchronize It|Synchronize It!]]
It is possible to synchronize multiple locations by synchronizing them one pair at a time. The Unison Manual<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/download/releases/stable/unison-manual.html#usingmultiple |title = Unison File Synchronizer. User Manual and Reference Guide. |last = Pierce |first = Benjamin | authorlink=Benjamin C. Pierce |date = 2009 |accessdate= 27 January 2014 }}</ref> describes how to do this:
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