What is the best technical way to regularly synchronize between two machines?

There are many ways to keep information current on multiple systems, and each one has advantages and disadvantages.

The first solution is simply to use some form of portable media to copy information back and forth between multiple computers. While the floppy disk isn't really an option any longer (due to its limited capacity) there are several other good choices:

• The LS-120 (also known as "Superdisk") is the same size as a standard floppy disk but hold 120 MB of data each. While each of your systems would have to be equipped with an LS-120 drive, and they are fairly slow to read and write data, the disks themselves are very cheap. Since using Superdisks is just like using regular floppy disks, no new computer skills are required to take advantage of this technology.
• ZIP Disks are more expensive, but read and write almost as fast as a hard drive, making them a very practical solution, particularly if you have to move large files from system to system. Additionally, "portable" and "external" ZIP drives are pretty affordable and can be plugged into the USB port on most any current computer. This means you could buy just one ZIP drive and share it among your systems.
• PC-Cards/Compact Flash/SmartMedia cards can all be used to move lots of information from computer to computer very quickly. These portable storage units have no moving parts and read and write data even faster than your typical hard drive making them an ideal method for synchronizing computers.

Additionally, while you might need to purchase a special "reader" unit for use with a desktop computer, these cards can be used in notebook computers very easily. PC Cards (PCMCIA) will plug right into any notebook computer and both Compact Flash and SmartMedia can be inserted into PC Card adapters so that they too can be inserted right into your notebook computer's PC Card slot.

As you probably already own one of these various storage cards for use in your digital camera or PDA, this becomes a very cost-effective use of your technology!

Another great, and obvious, portable media solution is to buy a CD Read/Write drive and simply "burn" your own CD's so you can move data from one system to another. While it takes some time to create the CD's, you can also use this technology to share large amounts of data with customers and clients and to back-ups your systems, as well.

As "external" drives are coming down in price, (often less than $250) and each CD can hold at least 650 MB of data, this is great way to get a high rate of return on your technology investment. And, since just about every computer can read your CD's you can use this to share information with large groups of users, distributing CD's with your company's latest listing presentation or sales forms to everyone in your office, for instance.

The second common solution to synchronizing data is to use some sort of networking software to connect multiple systems.

Windows 95 and 98 both contain basic networking software that will enable you to create a simple "peer-to-peer" network among all of your computers, whether you own just two computers or many more. All that's needed is to purchase network adapter cards and some cable. And, and possibly a router too, depending on the type of network you install.

You'll want to visit your local computer store to find out what equipment and cable to buy, but the set-up is pretty simple and the cost can be as low as $30 per unit.

Once your systems are networked, you can move vast amounts of data very quickly, and with no special skills needed. Just "drag and drop" files from system to system as you would with any hard-drive or floppy.

If you want to forgo buying any hardware at all, you can buy software that's been developed especially for the task. Programs like Symantec's PCAnywhere and PCLink/LapLink from (www.laplink.com) will allow you to synchronize two computers with just a simple cable or even over a regular phone line.

While this type of software might take longer to master, the convenience of being able to make a phone call from one computer to another, and then to manage and synchronize your files over the phone, might just be the right solution for many.

As you can see, there's more than one way synchronize two or more computers. Your best choice depends almost entirely on your own specific needs and circumstances.