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How to Sync Two External Hard Drives in Windows 11/10

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If you want to sync two external hard drives on Windows 11/10 computer, then this post will be helpful to you. Whether you want an extra backup from one external hard drive to another or you have some other reason for doing that, it can be done easily using the free tools covered in this post. While one tool lets you perform one-way sync, another tool covered in this post comes with different synchronization settings.

How to Sync Two External Hard Drives in Windows 11/10

In this article, we have covered a command-line tool and free software to sync two external hard drivers. These are:

  1. XCOPY
  2. FreeFileSync.

Let’s check how to use these tools for syncing two external hard drives.

1] Sync Two External Hard Drives using XCOPY command-line

XCOPY is a built-in command-line tool for Windows 11/10 that lets you sync data from one external hard drive to another. It supports one-way sync. To use this tool, first, you need to open Command Prompt window and execute a command with the necessary parameters for syncing two external hard drives. Here are those parameters and their explanations:

  • /e: This parameter lets you copy directories as well as sub-directories from the source hard drive to the destination hard drive including the empty ones
  • /d: This parameter copies only changed or newly added data or files from the source external hard drive to the destination. That means, only those files are added to the destination that is present in the source hard drive but not in the destination hard drive
  • /c: This parameter is used to continue the copying process even if some error occurs. For example, if the error occurs because of some read-only files or permission protected files, the copying process won’t stop
  • /y: If a prompt occurs to confirm you want to overwrite a file that is already present in the destination, then this parameter will suppress that prompt so that the copying process will remain to continue.

So, let’s say you have a source external hard drive named H, and you want to sync it with a destination hard drive named I, then your command would be:

Xcopy h: i: /e /d /c /y

The sync process will take time depending on the size of your data present in the source hard drive. Let the whole process be completed and your data will be synced from source to destination hard drive successfully.

You don’t have to start the entire sync process again and again for the same external hard drives. The next time you will perform the sync process for both the hard drives, only the changed or newly added files present in the source hard drive will be copied to the destination hard drive.

1a] Sync Two External Hard Drives using XCOPY command-line

The Windows Dos Box xcopy command is an excellent solution for syncing one directory to another. You can run xcopy command from a Command Prompt window directly. Or you can create a batch file to run xcopy command, which can simplify the work of retyping commands. Learn how to sync files between two external hard drives via a batch file of xcopy below:

  1. Connect the two external drives to your computer and make sure they are detected.
  2. Search for Notepad from the search box in the taskbar, and click the top result to start the app.
  3. Type the following lines to create a batch file:
  • @echo OFF
  • echo XCOPY Batch Process Started
  • xcopy g: e: /e /d /c /y (“g:” stands for the source drive and “e:” stands for the destination drive.)
  • echo XCOPY Batch Process Complete
  • pause (It prevents the console window from closing after executing the command.)

✍ Tips: Here are explanations of the parameters used in xcopy command:
● /e: copy directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
● /d: copy files whose source time is newer than the destination time. That means to only copy changed or newly added files from the source path to the destination path.
● /c: continue copying even if errors occur. Generally, errors occur with read-only files, or files that have protected permissions.
● /y: suppress prompting to confirm you want to overwrite a file.

  1. Press Ctrl + S to save the batch file. Name the file with the “.bat” extension, “xcopy_sync.bat” for example. Put the file in a location you can easily find.
  2. Double click the “xcopy_sync.bat” file to sync one external hard drive to another. It will bring out a Command Prompt window to show you the sync result. Press any key to close the window.

Related: How to Clone a Hard Drive on Windows?

2] Sync Two External Hard Drives using FreeFileSync

FreeFileSync is an open-source tool and one of the best free file and folder synchronization software. The good thing is it can also be used to sync two external hard drives. Another best part about this tool is that you can use it to perform two-way sync, create mirror backup of source data to the destination, or copy only new and updated files from the source to the destination. To use this tool for syncing two external hard drives, download and install this tool. After that, follow these steps:

  1. Open the interface of this tool
  2. Click on the Browse button available in the top-middle part of its interface. A Select Folder box will pop up
  3. Now, instead of selecting a folder, simply select the source external hard drive
  4. Click on the Browse button available on the top right side of its interface. Again, a Select Folder box will pop up
  5. Now select the destination hard drive
  6. Click on the Synchronization Settings button (green color icon) available on the top part of its interface
  7. In the Synchronization Settings window, go to the Synchronization tab
  8. Select a synchronization variant (Two-way, Update, or Mirror). You can also create a custom synchronization variant and select it
  9. Click on the OK button present in the Synchronization Settings window. Now you will come back to the main interface of this tool
  10. Hit the Synchronize button available on the top-right part of its interface. After this, it will start comparing the content of files
  11. When the process is completed, a Start synchronization box will pop-up
  12. In that box, press the Start button.

Finally, based on the type of synchronization variant, it will begin the synchronization process. Once the process is completed, your both external drives will be synced successfully.

Can you use 2 external hard drives on a PC?

Yes, you can connect two external hard drives to a PC. In fact, you can connect more than two external hard drives or USB drives to a computer. It depends on the number of free ports available on your computer or laptop that are used to connect external hard drives or USB drives.

How do I mirror two hard drives?

Mirroring two hard drives is a two-way sync process. That means, both the drives will have the same data. Whenever you will delete, modify, and add data to either of the hard drives, it is synced in both the drives when you begin and complete the mirroring process. There exist some good free tools that you can use to mirror two hard drives.

Hope this helps.

Read next: How to create Mirrored Volume in Windows.

Πηγή: How to Sync Two External Hard Drives in Windows 11/10

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