Sync, Backup, or Restore: Choosing the Right Task Operation

Every run of a task performs one operation between your sources (local storage) and your destination drive. Picking the right operation matters, because they behave differently — especially around deleted files. This guide explains what each operation does, when to use it, and where to choose it in the app.

If you haven't created a task before, start with the guide "How to Create a Sync Task", and see "What is a Drive?" for how to connect your storage.

Where to choose the operation

When you create a task you pick Sync, Backup or Restore. That is the task's default mode — the one the play button runs — not a limit on what the task can do. All five operations are available on every task, on Android, iPhone and iPad, Mac and Windows alike.

Open the task from the Tasks list. In the top right:

Play (▶) runs the task in its original mode. This never changes.
More (⋮) → Sync Options lets you pick any of the five operations below.

Selecting an operation in Sync Options starts that run immediately, so connect your destination drive first. It applies to that run only — the play button still uses the task's original mode next time.

Every operation scans both sides before transferring anything and then shows a task stats screen with what it found, plus the keep choice (keep local, keep remote, or keep both) where the two sides disagree. A second stats screen appears at the end of the run. If there are no files to process, neither screen appears.

The Operations

Backup

Uploads files from your source to the destination drive.

Nothing is ever deleted from the destination.
Use it for: the first full copy of your files to a cloud drive or USB drive.

Backup Sync

Uploads only the files that changed since the last run.

Much faster than a full Backup once the first copy exists.
Nothing is ever deleted from the destination.
Use it for: regular top-ups after your first Backup — a quick way to keep a safety copy current.

Restore

Downloads files from the destination drive back to your source.

Use it for: recovering your files onto a new, reset, or replacement device.

Restore Sync

Downloads only the files that changed from the destination drive.

Use it for: pulling recent changes down without re-downloading everything.

Full Sync

Compares both locations and makes them identical: new files are copied in both directions, and deletions are mirrored — a file deleted in one location is removed from the other.

Use it for: two locations that should always match exactly.

Important: Full Sync mirrors deletions

If a file is missing on one side, Full Sync will remove it from the other side. This is the correct behavior for keeping two locations identical — but it means Full Sync is not a safety copy.

If your goal is "keep a copy of my files in case something goes wrong" → use Backup / Backup Sync. They only ever add and update files.
If your goal is "these two folders should always be exactly the same" → use Full Sync.

Two safeguards are worth knowing about:

The task stats screen shows you what a run is about to do before it transfers, and lets you choose what to keep where the two sides disagree.
Turning Settings → Task Stats off disables deletions entirely — no operation will remove files from either side. That makes Full Sync a one-way add-and-update, so only switch it off if that is what you want.

Common setups

Safety copy of your documents: one Backup task to your cloud drive, then re-run it (or a Backup Sync task) whenever you've added or changed files.
Copies on more than one service: create a separate task per destination — for example, one task backing up Photos to Google Drive and another backing up the same folder to Amazon S3. Each task keeps its own source, destination, and operation.
Offline copy: a Backup task with a USB/external drive as the destination. Connect the drive, run the task, disconnect.
Moving to a new device: run Backup on the old device, then Restore from the same drive on the new one.

When do tasks run?

Tasks run when you start them. Sync does not yet run tasks automatically, on a schedule, or in the background, so nothing transfers until you open the task and start it.

Tasks are saved, so nothing needs reconfiguring. A top-up is three taps: open the task, ⋮, Backup Sync.

One task, several folders

A task can hold several sources but one destination drive. If you have three folders going to the same external drive, use ⋮ → Add Source to put them all in one task rather than creating three. One run then covers all of them.

To send the same folder to a second destination, create a separate task — each task has its own destination drive.

Checking what a run did

⋮ → Logs on the task shows exactly what was transferred on the last run. It's the quickest way to confirm a Backup Sync picked up the files you expected.