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Syncbackfree does not copy everything

Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -  
Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -

Hello,

I have had this software for several years and I use it in "mirror" mode = I let it copy from the source to the destination ALL folders/files onto the external hard drive to which I have added 2 USB keys.

From time to time, I take a look at all 3: the external hard drive and the 2 keys.

It turns out that for some time now, while the window that opens when I back up (in the evening) shows "successful" checks, I then check the external hard drive or keys and I find that some files have not been copied. Sometimes, I deliberately modify even just one word in a text; I back it up and aside from "successful", nothing happens = no mirror copy occurred; so nothing was successful... This is a new issue, and I have the latest version.

Any ideas for those who use it?

Thank you


5 answers

  1.
    Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   10
     

    Hello,

    Just in case you need it: I've noticed that these days, there is one particular file that refuses to be copied. Should I investigate this file more thoroughly (it contains 19 Word files)?

    Thank you

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    1. .eric Posted messages 1386 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   87
       

      Hello, it's mainly this file that needs to be saved separately, you to begin with. Yes, you can check if there might be a reason for "not wanting to copy it." Would there be a message to warn you?

      Is it a refusal on their part?

      Are they visible in the copy program? Did they keep the same location, the same name, and the same size on the PC and/or in the backup? And are these files indeed present on the PC at the time of the "backup" or in a cloud?

      An additional protection, if necessary, within your PC or in the program, OS, PC, firewall, antivirus, or any modified setting is more likely to exclude these elements from the copy now.

      They have been moved, renamed, or the location table is no longer working, the disk could be defective or have changed.

      A recent failure or a bug should be investigated and remains suspect in the program or not.

      Is this a truly isolated incident, otherwise could we link it to the more or less distant past? What else have you done, what else has happened?

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  2. georges97 Posted messages 14579 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   2 924
     

    Hello,

    I haven't used Syncback Free long enough to experience any potential malfunctions. However, it has worked without issues for a year (reinstallation planned on my new PC).

    What I would try:

    1) test the troublesome folder by copying it to a USB drive.

    2) copy one of the Word files by placing it in another folder or in a folder created for this test and wait for or trigger a Syncback backup.

    3) if that works, copy the files from the troublesome folder to a new folder (do not copy the folder itself). Still keep the originals just in case.

    What I suspect is an anomaly in one of the files in the original folder or in the profile of the folder itself that is blocking the backup, even though in this case it would have been helpful to have an alert or error message.

    But I may be completely off track and others may provide a different diagnosis.

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    1. brucine Posted messages 24844 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 169
       

      Hello,

      I haven't used it in a long time either.

      If the result says successful, it's either a false positive (make sure that the scheduled task associated with it has indeed been executed).

      Regarding the test that was done, I am not familiar with the time granularity of the software (in French, the duration after which the attribute value change of the file is recognized, minutes, days...).

      If only part of the files is copied, it means that there are some exclusions of certain folders or files in the software's profile that need to be checked.

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  3. Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   10
     

    Hello everyone and thank you for your involvement.

    This morning, in the meantime, I did a little test.

    It's no secret, I named this folder "Authors" (the writers) and I had placed it in "Documents". There, all the described problems occurred. I had the idea to move it to the "Winword" folder... and everything is fine there.

    For example, I opened a file and modified a word or a space. Syncbackfree then did its job as usual.

    I didn't understand everything, but moving it to Winword fixed everything.

    I should add for the sake of completeness that I have an external hard drive and 2 USB keys (I: and F:) for security's sake (on a hub). But for these two USBs, it also worked for the "Authors" folder.

    I would really like to know the explanation for my simple intuition...

    Thank you all

    P.S. I clarify for brucine that when I created this folder, Syncback did indeed "install" it in the 3 "disks"; it was only after "some time" that I noticed it had "succeeded" when nothing had happened...

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    1. brucine Posted messages 24844 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 169
       

      Formally, I don't know (I'm doing this now via a script that backs up my data to an external drive, but all this data originally comes from a dedicated data partition, not from the special folders or others in the system partition).

      Copying these special folders (Documents, Images, Desktop...) raw (and not just their contents from the source folder to a target folder that might have a different name) can hold surprises because they are system and hidden folders unless explicitly specified otherwise, and they belong to a particular user.

      In my opinion, it's never a very good idea to host your data on the system partition anyway, but if you want to be sure, you just need to create any folder at the root of C: where you can copy this data to include it in the backup.

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  4. Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   10
     

    Even though I'm not fond of backups and I don't understand everything you're explaining (thanks for that by the way), I had to restart my PC because of a lot of "bugs" regarding this famous "Authors" (it didn't want to be deleted from Documents, or it was in Documents and at the same time in Winword, etc.). Now I've fixed everything: the "Authors" folder is properly in Winword and with Sync, it mirrors what I change.

    One detail I forgot: the shortcut for "Authors" was on the desktop. I removed it from there. I don't know if that matters...

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    1. brucine Posted messages 24844 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 169
       

      No, the shortcut doesn't matter; if the target has been moved, it no longer works, and that's it. Otherwise, it’s not part of the backup.

      I don't know what you mean by Winword, a system Office folder (not a good idea to put data there) or one that you created and named that way?

      Any potential confusion may also arise from the file backup option in Word (I haven't activated it), which then saves by default to
      C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\

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  6. Craftyfox Posted messages 395 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   10
     

    OK for the shortcut.

    Yes, I created Winword; so it's not a system folder.

    There, everything works normally as long as "Authors" is in Winword.

    Obviously, I still don't know why the successive backups didn't "want" to happen.

    Maybe one day I'll try again, but the location in Winword doesn't bother me. It's more an "intellectual" question and out of curiosity.

    Thanks again

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