What Is Synchronisation?

Date First Published: 6th June 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Network Services

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Easy

Difficulty Level: 3/10

CONTENTS

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Synchronisation

Learn more about what synchronisation is in this article.

Synchronisation is the process of updating information between two or more devices so that it remains identical on every device. For example, if an email provider used IMAP, which works by storing a copy of the email message on the server and only downloading it when it is clicked on, those emails would be synchronised across all other devices with an internet connection. If an email was deleted, that email would also be deleted from every other device.

Another example of synchronisation is file storage services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Mega. The files are stored on a server and are synchronised across multiple devices. When a file is uploaded, edited, or deleted, those changes will take effect on all other devices straight away as long as they have an internet connection.

Note:

The word ‘sync’ is an abbreviation of the word ‘synchronise’.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Synchronisation

The advantages of synchronisation are:

It allows information to be quickly updated across multiple devices without the need to manually transfer data. This is useful if multiple users need to access the same files.
It is good for collaborative work. On services, such as Google Docs, where multiple users can edit the same document at the same time, this can result in work being completed faster.
It allows users to access their files from anywhere with internet access.

The disadvantages of synchronisation are:

There are limitations in terms of the amount of data that can be synchronised. Synchronising data between multiple devices takes up server storage space, which is limited by the provider.
It increases the chances of unauthorised access to data. If an unauthorised user accessed a device with synchronised data, it could cause data theft, as emails and files may contain sensitive information.
It requires an internet connection at all times. If the internet went down, it would be impossible for any data to be synchronised across all the devices.