FreeFileSync Forum

External apps in the context menu only work when hardwired if the folder locations left and right are passed to FFS via command line.
Paths like
..\WinMerge\WinMergePortable.exe "%item_path%" etc.
only work when first starting up FFS, then browsing for locations. If the very same locations are ...

I don't know what I am doing wrong. I enter the exact same logon information that works everywhere else (FileZilla, FTP-WinSCP) - but after a few seconds I get this error message

Cannot find the following folders:
sftp://XXXXXXX.server-home.org/
You can ignore this error to consider each folder as ...

My options contain lines like this

..\WinMerge\WinMergePortable.exe "%item_path%" "%item2_path%"

which used to work fine, but no longer does. Yields an error message "Incorrect command line" Error Code 2 = file not found (ShellExecuteEx)
This not only happens with WinMerge but with all my portable ...

None of my business, but by disabling UAC you expose your sister's machine to a high risk. You give malware free reign to install drivers and ActiveX controls, change firewall settings ....

I don't have a solution, but I can confirm the issue: Starting up FFS as admin does not suffice to drag & drop across other user accounts.

I don't think you can replicate the Contribute-function with FFS.
"Only once" is not an option here. If you don't want the folder to be synced all over again, you have to exclude it manually. This requires modifying the exclude filter after your initial snyc. For every case you add a seperate line ...

Remove from list - I like that too. Much clearer than Delete.
But the 3 Save buttons are safer than a combined dropdown, imo. I wouldn't want to accidentally overwrite one of my configs by releasing the mouse button on the wrong entry. I know it sounds stupid but it does happen, on touchpads of ...

I have a very similar situation, wanting to include a small subset only, without having to adjust the ever-changing bulk of excludes.

It made me wonder if filters could be reversed, excluding first, THEN including again. In other words, the includes would be exceptions to the excludes, not the ...

Thanks for taking the time to answer.
What would really help me and maybe others as well, were an example of when and how to use the Include section. Filters are the most challenging part of FFS, imo. Time and size sections also make me think twice about how they apply to includes and/or excludes ...

The 3) in my scenario is not an actual filter, but an added subfolder-sync to override the global exlusion filter for it's parent. I just named it "filter" to explain my intention to consolidate in/excludes into one filter dialog.

I wouldn't know how else to achieve sub-includes of parent-excludes ...

I don't understand why your last secnario would have to be different from the way it's handled now. You enter the few excludes. Period. The only difference = not needing the asterisk, because everything is included by default.

I probably lack the programming background to think it all through.
To ...

I wonder if it were easier to have Exclude Filters on top (considered first), then followed by Include.

This would assume an implicit "Include all" by default, instead of requiring the mandatory asterisk.

The lower Include-list would then allow exceptions very easily. Say you want these subs only ...

Couldn't you simply use the filter settings? Include the specific file names but exclude all other files? Then point your paths to the folders, and according to the filter settings FFS will sync the filtered files only.

> it's suited more for repeated syncs of the same folder pairs

A situation where users are likely to create a preset, imo.
The DEFAULT setting however, is the one that pops up when I have no preset to work with, no folder pairs set up. And that's when I repeatedly have made the mistake of ...

I also never use 2-Way. Much too risky because some programs change the modification date even though nothing was modified. Simply by opening a database or mail-client or ftp-uploader or private wiki, the modification date gets altered and FFS will thus overwrite a newer version (with real recent ...

Tools > Options > customize context menu:
Enter a new command line:
"..\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe" "%item_path%" "%item2_path%"

From the help menu:
The first entry is executed when double-clicking a row on main grid or pressing ENTER while all other entries can be accessed via the context menu shown ...

Are you asking me a question? Or just reporting that it works now with your new settings?

I read your first post again, and I am not sure anymore that I understand what you're saying.
Does your filter work when you run it from the GUI? And not work anymore as soon as you save it as batch job?

Oops, I just realized, this forum doesn't display my text as I pasted it.
Here's what it should look like AFTER you entered the lastFolderPath you want to keep, the folder that still should be included. After this folder you add
Backslash
Asterisk
Backslash
Asterisk

Or read the manual again, what ...

I can only judge from my situation, of course.
This exclude filter
\PaleMoon\*\*
works nicely for me, meaning it does list changes that occured in \Palemoon, but ignores changes that occured in subfolders of \Palemoon

What happens if you exclude like this \*\* instead of *.*

Doesn't it suffice to simply untick "Check once a week" in the Help menu? That puts -1 into my xml in lieu of your ??

Thank you very much. Works nicely, exactly what I had hoped for.

> I'll add a new command line option to load a ffs_gui or ffs_batch configuration into the main GUI without executing it.

Thanks. Much appreciated. Could the option be made available without having to load a configuration? Along with providing a leftdir and rightdir path and nothing else?

Thanks.

Is there a command line option to call FFS without immediately triggering the Compare function?

I just want to pass my present environment from a dual pane file manager, but since these paths are always different, I don't want FFS to start comparing right away, but rather set up my compare method ...

I run FFS portable from a stick. Often the db-files are gone missing on foreign drives, systems, companies. Their cleanup-routines or whatever else deletes them.

I vote for an ini-tweak or GUI-option to set the db-location.
Even better were no db-file at all. Don't know if it's really necessary ...

I've added this option for the next 6.8 release. Here's the new beta for testing:
[404, Invalid URL: http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/FreeFileSync_6.8_beta_Windows_Setup.exe]
GREAT. Been testing it on some problematic drives and it took care of all issues. Differences in seconds are still ...

Well, then "Show all dialogs" or "Show all messages" or "Show all warnings and Confirm-Dialogs"

My reasoning = since they're hidden, the usual pair is called Show/Hide.
But some programs also call it "Reset all Dialogs"

Actually, I like the way it is now. Except for the inconsistency that skipped items will not be counted by default, but will be counted when set manually to be skipped.

The reason I prefer option 1, is probably due to my 1-way syncs.
I can imagine 2-way sync users to prefer method 2, however ...

> anticipate each to be at 100% when the sync is complete

> How can it still show 95% compared to nothing...?

It doesn't compare left to right, it compares the relative contributions of the source folders, to my understanding. The first level (top level) folders of the hierarchy always add up to ...

Show all warnings

Omitting exact hour differences (as a saved OPTION with particular sync jobs) sounds good. I think these switches are the reason why other software doesn't flag those files as different.

OFFsetting, however - I don't know. Maybe I didn't get the point? If you mean to offset the time of whole folder ...

I have of variety of different paths that I pass over to FFS from a dual pane file manager.
FFS always starts immediately comparing the two sides - this is not what I want. If I knew in advance what to do with 2 sides, I could call up a stored preset.

How do I prevent FFS from starting a sync ...

> accessing a FAT32 formatted USB drive. It seems we need something better here.

I would highly welcome a different way of dealing with this.
Maybe an automatic flag that allows to isolate all exact 1h differences? So it were easier to mark them all in one go - to exempt them from the list, for ...

Thanks Zenju,
Will wait for the next DST to come around and report back.

However, judging from your points 1, 2, 3 - it appears to me that the exact same thing is likely to happen again:
1 = true - I synced just now, with DST in effect
2 = true - in those months following the next DST switch - I ...

>step away from FAT for the drives to be synced

Cannot do without FAT, just not feasible - the data does not stem from NTFS computers alone, but also other non-NTFS devices.

The problem compounds when you have a whole pool of machines, devices, drives, sticks ... which is exactly the reason I've ...

Thank you.
Made a note of the procedure to do it right after the next DST switch - *sigh* - but to be honest - this is quite a show-stopper for large volumes.

Thanks. This did the trick. Tried it on a rather small drive first. Right now it's busy syncing the big one (4TB)

Do you also have a solution for checking for 1h differences only? I am a bit scared to delete something that may indeed be newer on the other side. But I cannot possibly scan the whole ...

>You can also delete the files manually from FFS.

The emphasis being "manually" (via right mouse DEL), correct? Not by flagging them for deletion via the middle column actions?

>comparison speed is unaffected by the DST handling.

I meant the extra time it takes to unecessarily copy all those ...

>Delete the problematic files on the FAT32 drive with Explorer, then copy the corresponding files back over from NTFS, either with FFS or Explorer.

Easier said than done. They're scattered all over the whole area of 600 GB. That means I first have to isolate them in FFS (since it's only here they ...

Thank you for the explanation, Zenju

I don't keep track of when I copied what before or after the DST switch - but I trust your assessment, so this is probably what happened. Especially since it does not affect all files.

Are you saying I should NOT use Explorer to copy files?
But file managers ...

Immediately after running a sync that copies tons of files, I run COMPARE again on the very same set. And again it tells me tons of files have changed, even though it just synced them.

It seems to be related to the old 1h problem: all the files that FFS just copied over, bear a different time stamp ...

>Please don't draw conclusions for FFS based on the quality of implementation seen in other sync software. If you find any bug with two way mode, please send a bug report.

Sorry to hear you perceived it that way. I had absolutely no intention to question the technical aspect, or the robustness, nor ...

I don't know where FFS stores the log of installed versions - your best choices are probably the usual places: MyDocuments or Users\Your_User_Name\AppData\Roaming or ..\AppData\Local

Look for the file LastSyncs.log - should be in the same directory as FreeFileSync.exe if you run the portable version.

When relying on Two Way Sync, keep your file names and folder structure consistent. Makes it easier for the database (the "reference point" that keeps track of changes) to decide ...

Two Way is a very tricky thing - quite a challenge for every sync software I have owned over the years. I usually try to avoid it, and stick with the more straightforward options.

Why would you use Two Way in your case? You're the only one working on your files, aren't you? It never happens that ...

I see. But if you get no drive letter, chances are not good this will work with FFS, IMO.
If Windows is able to access these folders without drive letter, it probably means there is some kind of hardware handshake taking place, other than via the regular Drive:Folder:File hierarchy.

I had similar ...

Are you saying you do get drive letters in Win7?
Do you hook up the device via cable, or do you insert the SD card into the PC?
Are you able to access the folders via Win Explorer?

I run FFS portable from the stick. Requirements are different every time, some are backups, some are syncs (mostly one way). What I have to change frequently is the middle icon (="cannot be categorized").

If I see action icons only, I wouldn't have a clue why it wants to copy a file. Is it because ...

Confirmed. Same here. Still not fixed.

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