sync a folder in a windows pc to android

[Android Central Question]

I would like to know the easiet and best way to sync a folder in my windows pc with my android tablet ..thankyou

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Use Google Drive for Desktop, which allows you to select folders on your PC to sync with Google Drive in the cloud. These folders should then be available to you in Google Drive on your tablet.

https://support.google.com/drive/answer/10838124?hl=en

Another option (especially if you have a Samsung tablet) would be Microsoft's OneDrive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-615391c4-2bd3-4aae-a42a-858262e42a49

Please register on this forum, which will allow you to engage in discussion more easily, as well as post images. https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html

 

[mustang7757]

Which tablet?

 

[spARTacus]

What about a more direct way, without using a cloud service? BlackBerry Playbook and BB10 for example, used to have something called WiFi file sharing. Basically, a built-in smb/samba service, and a certain set of folders on the BlackBerry would show up as a network path. When at home, a windows PC could run a robocopy script and essentially do a "synchronization" and mir of two folders, one from the PC and one from the BlackBerry. All of that would be handy as a local non-cloud dependent service. One could drop things into a windows network share (or into a certain folder shared on the BlackBerry), and provided one was at home, the file would essentially be immediately duplicated/synchrontized.

I once wondered about trying to set that all up after switching to Android, using an smb/samba plugin service to the GhostCommander app from my Android tablet/phone. However, I never bothered.

 

[B. Diddy]

What about a more direct way, without using a cloud service? BlackBerry Playbook and BB10 for example, used to have something called WiFi file sharing. Basically, a built-in smb/samba service, and a certain set of folders on the BlackBerry would show up as a network path. When at home, a windows PC could run a robocopy script and essentially do a "synchronization" and mir of two folders, one from the PC and one from the BlackBerry. All of that would be handy as a local non-cloud dependent service. One could drop things into a windows network share (or into a certain folder shared on the BlackBerry), and provided one was at home, the file would essentially be immediately duplicated/synchrontized.

I once wondered about trying to set that all up after switching to Android, using an smb/samba plugin service to the GhostCommander app from my Android tablet/phone. However, I never bothered.

There are a number of wi-fi file transfer apps for Android, probably the most well-known being Airdroid: https://help.airdroid.com/hc/en-us/...mputer-with-AirDroid-Personal-Desktop-client-

 

[smvim]

Online storage services like Google Drive and MS Onedrive are just online storage services. To do syncing, that requires a user to manually copy data between various folders.
A simple way to do automatic syncing in the background is to use a service like Dropbox. It requires installing the Dropbox app on your tablet and installing the Dropbox utility on your Win PC, then just configure both to sync with each other. After that you're done, the file transfers all take place automatically in the background. (Your data gets stored within Dropbox's online servers, and that's what your tablet and your PC interact with.)

This probably doesn't fit in with your query as it's a more involved file syncing service but you might want to look into Syncthing. Unlike Google or Microsoft online storage or Dropbox, Syncthing is all Open Source so there is no corporate oversight nor data mining involved. It is more complicated to set up but it's also much more comprehensive. You can set it up so it syncs directly between your tablet and your PC, or set up up to do the same but only when you're at home and both devices connected to the same local network, or set it up to use your own online storage server, like what you can buy at Digital Ocean. And you pick which folder or folders to sync. It's much more configurable, but you do need to pay attention to initially setting it up. Dropbox is pretty much just a install it, tap on a few buttons following the setup instructions, and that's it.
But don't forget to always take into consideration how you're storing your data with online storage services. So your options are essentially between convenience or security/privacy.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

It's nice to see AirDroid still exists...

To be honest, I wouldn't really consider OneDrive or Drive to be less secure than synching locally across your WiFi network... sure, putting things online is technically less secure by default, but MS and Google have so much invested in their cloud storage that the weak point for all three solutions is the end user.

 

[hallux]

@smvim - DropBox, Google Drive and OneDrive are all similar ideas. There are OneDrive apps for the computer and phone side for both of those as well, that generate a folder in the computer's file system where you can save data to make available on all devices syncing to the service. Box is another service with similar functionality. They all rely on cloud storage as the central location and an app to sync between devices.

I can go one step past that - if I wanted to I could have files available to both my MacBook and my Android devices without utilizing cloud storage at all. I can set up Synology Drive linked to the NAS on my home network and just store the stuff in there that I would have synced to DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive or Box. I'm not storing my stuff in the cloud (keeping it MORE secure) and it's available on any of my devices as long as I have an internet connection.

 

[smvim]

@smvim - DropBox, Google Drive and OneDrive are all similar ideas. There are OneDrive apps for the computer and phone side for both of those as well, that generate a folder in the computer's file system where you can save data to make available on all devices syncing to the service. Box is another service with similar functionality. They all rely on cloud storage as the central location and an app to sync between devices.

I can go one step past that - if I wanted to I could have files available to both my MacBook and my Android devices without utilizing cloud storage at all. I can set up Synology Drive linked to the NAS on my home network and just store the stuff in there that I would have synced to DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive or Box. I'm not storing my stuff in the cloud (keeping it MORE secure) and it's available on any of my devices as long as I have an internet connection.

Well just to clarify, there is a difference between just online storage services, like Google Drive and MS Onedrive, and an online storage service like Dropbox that also does automatic syncing. An example being if you want to have the contents of folder on your phone to actually be synced with a similar folder within your online Google Drive storage, the Google Drive app on your phone doesn't do any kind of automatic syncing. It's up to you to always keep track of the contents of both folders and it's also up to you to transfer files to and from both folders. With Dropbox, that does monitor specified folders and then automatically syncs the content in the background..Those three services are similar only in that they involve online storage but only Dropbox includes automatic syncing.

 

[B. Diddy]

Well just to clarify, there is a difference between just online storage services, like Google Drive and MS Onedrive, and an online storage service like Dropbox that also does automatic syncing. An example being if you want to have the contents of folder on your phone to actually be synced with a similar folder within your online Google Drive storage, the Google Drive app on your phone doesn't do any kind of automatic syncing. It's up to you to always keep track of the contents of both folders and it's also up to you to transfer files to and from both folders. With Dropbox, that does monitor specified folders and then automatically syncs the content in the background..Those three services are similar only in that they involve online storage but only Dropbox includes automatic syncing.

It's worth noting that the Google Drive for Desktop program on a PC (but not on a phone) will in fact monitor for changes in any specified folders on the PC's drive and make sure they sync automatically to Google Drive in the cloud.

 

[smvim]

My mistake, I assumed the OP was looking for solutions to sync files between a Win PC and an Android device.

 

[B. Diddy]

My mistake, I assumed the OP was looking for solutions to sync files between a Win PC and an Android device.

You're correct in that the OP was asking for that. Unfortunately, since there really aren't any good direct sync apps (most on the market are from shady companies like Wondershare), that's why I suggested using the Google Drive for Desktop program to sync Windows to the Google Drive cloud, which would then sync automatically with the tablet.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Does the Your Phone app for windows and Android work for the folders you want to manage? It may be worth looking into. The Your Phone app is in the Microsoft store and Play store I believe