SyncToy for Windows

Storage and backup applications are among the most critical in any major corporation. Because missing or corrupted backups tend to show up only when someone needs to use them to recover from some data disaster, there's not much room for error. Lost data equals lost revenue and possibly legal liability, if the lost data are relevant to the financial performance of the company.

SyncToy for Windows

Less complete but more convenient than the previous two utilities, SyncToy is a Microsoft tool designed to keep two folders synchronized – whether it's the master and a backup on one hard drive, folders on peer-linked computers, or on a network client and server.

It manages both NTFS and FAT, works with the XP task scheduling utility, and is easy to use, though not flexible enough for granular control of which folders and subfolders get backed up at which times, or what to do if the synch folder is unavailable for a while.

It's from Microsoft, though, so it's unlikely to fry your system software, and is free.