Syncing has taken on a whole new meaning in the digital age. Here’s why that’s a good thing for you—and your important files.

Sync, short for synchronize, means two or more things working in harmony. For example, if a movie was out of sync, the actor’s lip movements wouldn’t match up with the audio track.

Synchronization (or syncing, sync) in computing is the process of continuously ensuring that data (files, email, notes, documents, etc.) in one location is sync from data in from another location. Sync can also be used for backup – in that case, sync is configured in such a way that deletions and changes are stored in a separate location (like the cloudHQ_archive folder in the case of cloudHQ) so you can restore to any point in time.

Furthermore, the term synchronization also means that the data is automatically updated via certain rules. An example of file synchronization is how Dropbox syncs data between your PC and Dropbox’s servers. Synchronization also includes the following operations:

• Replication of file and folder deletions.
• Replication of file and folder renamings.
• Replication of file and folder movements.
• Replication of file and folder permissions.

In other words, file sync is a file transfer with a continuous process that ensures all files and folders are in sync.

File transfer is just a method of copying files from one location to another. An example of file transfer is sending files as attachments via email or uploading files via a website.

In short syncing refers to the process of continually ensuring that data in one location is sync’d with data from another place. File synchronization also manages operations such as the replication of file and folder deletions, renames, moves, and permissions, distinguished from file transfer which merely copies files from one location to another.

What does sync mean? How does cloudHQ sync files?