Do I need to be an Administrator to use SyncBack?
No, but if you are not an administrator then some functions may not function correctly or at all. Because of this, it is not recommended to run SyncBackPro/SE without elevation.
SyncBackPro/SE runs elevated, which means if you are an administrator then a UAC prompt will be displayed by Windows when you run it. SyncBackFree does not run elevated.
To copy open / locked files (not applicable to SyncBackFree) you must be a member of the Administrators group. These are Windows prerequisites for use of the Windows Volume Shadow-copy Service ('VSS').
The backup read/write copy method can only be used if you are a member of the Backup Operators group or Administrators group (Vista and later).
Windows, by default, does not allow schedules to be created if your Windows account does not have a password. SyncBack can change this, but you must be running SyncBack as an administrator for this to be possible.
By running without elevation you will only have access to files that the user account has access rights to.
Due to how Windows security works, if you run without elevation then you can see mapped drives. For example, if you map a network share to drive Z: then SyncBack will be able to see that drive. When run elevated, SyncBack cannot see mapped drives. This is due to Windows security. See this article for possible solutions.
To install SyncBack you must have administrator access rights. However, "No Install" versions are available, which are just Zip files that you can unzip into any folder. They do not need to be installed. The "No Install" versions can be used on USB keys, for example.
SyncBack Touch
SyncBack Touch is a cross-platform file server. It lets SyncBackPro and SyncBackSE copy files to and from another device, e.g. Windows, Linux, macOS or Android device, over the network (LAN or Internet). SyncBackFree cannot use SyncBack Touch.
Simply install SyncBack Touch on the device you want to the access the files on and then create a profile in SyncBackPro/SE to use that device.
On Windows, SyncBack Touch run as a service in the background. This means it can copy open/locked files and also access most (if not all) of the files on the computer on behalf of SyncBackPro/SE. Because of this if you use SyncBack Touch with SyncBackPro/SE then you may not need to run SyncBack as an Administrator or elevated (on Vista and newer).