Synchronous data transfer involves the simultaneous transmission of data from transmitter to receiver, synchronized by the same clock pulse. Data is transmitted continuously as a stream without the need for control bits. Timing signals play a crucial role in ensuring accuracy, as there are no control bits being sent after each message. The receiver counts the number of bits sent by the transmitter and combines them into bytes of data. This method is faster than asynchronous data transfer and does not involve start or stop bits in the transmission process.