If you have multiple Macs -- as many of us do -- you should certainly look into ChronoSync from Econ Technologies. The US$40 utility offers a way to synchronize or backup files and folders. And if you use ChronoSync, you'll also want to check out ChronoAgent ($10), which has recently been revved to version 1.4.

ChronoSync runs on the source Mac and ChronoAgent runs on the destination Mac giving you a direct connection between the two. With ChronoSync on your Mac, you can synchronize, backup, and create bootable backups. ChronoSync can synchronize or backup to anything you can connect to your Mac. Add ChronoAgent to a destination Mac to give yourself a direct connection between two Macs for safer, faster, and more reliable syncs and backups.

ChronoAgent 1.4 adds ChronoAgent to the menu bar. It also adds the transmission of sync and backup results sent directly to ChronoMonitor running on an iPhone. Now you can display ChronoAgent on the menu bar -- which gives you instant notification of ChronoAgent's status. You can see at a glance if ChronoAgent is running or not and receive alerts for active connections, errors, and updates.

You can also turn ChronoAgent on or off and update ChronoAgent directly, all from the menu bar. Additionally ChronoAgent now transmits the results of any syncs or backups between ChronoSync and ChronoAgent directly to ChronoMonitor on an iPhone.

ChronoSync and ChronoAgent for Mac will run natively on both Power PC and Intel-based Macs running Mac OS X 10.5 or later. They're available in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Japanese. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/257l6nn .