I back up the important files of 'My Documents' on my PC into a usb memory stick and some important programme stuff onto an external hard drive. This in case of... whatever.

However, as I sometimes have to work off the stick or external hard drive away from my PC I have to keep swopping files between the three devices to keep them the same, assuming, of course, that I remember!

Does anyone know of a syncronisation software or process that will recognise the latest file on whichever device and update the other devices automatically?

Windows has had the "Briefcase" feature on it for sometime now (from 98 me thinks). This amazingly seems to be in XP still (in a new form). So have a read of this:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159905095

Thanks for that. Looks promising. I'll let you know how I get on...

I've had a look at My Briefcase - it's not exactly what I want. Ideally, what I'm looking for is a software solution that recognises that I've connected my usb memory stick or external hard drive and so automoatically goes about comparing and updating to the latest condition.

Somewhere in following up on this thread I came across a Microsoft download that may well do this but I can't find it anymore. It was called something like FileSync or similar. Anybody know where I might find this again?

What I was looking for turned out to be Microsoft SnycToy, a free download from their updates and downloads website. It appears to have been written by Microsoft staff but is not supported officially by Microsoft. Nevertheless, it's available from Microsoft (which must be some sort of endorsement) and it does exactly what is says it should do... which is, you specify on your PC a drive:folder(s)/file(s) and specify (in my case) a usb memory device and an external hard drive folder(s)/files(s) and set it off running. It looks at both sets of data and updates both to the latest condition. Saves all that tedious cutting and pasting. PERFECT!! :) Very useful for backing up music, photos, files... It also does several other variations on a similar theme that I haven't explored yet.