FreeFileSync Forum

Further to my last remark just above:
As per the earlier description by Zenju (the author of FFS), your "Cannot determine sync-direction: No change since last synchronization" conflict is apparently considered to be of the 2nd category.

> And can't mirroring be a more destructive move than just UPDATE? Mirror and Update can both be equally "destructive" if you accidentally made changes (other than deletions) in the source location and then run one or more syncs. Only if you made accidental deletions in the source location...

Your problem may be self-inflicted. > I have set FileTimeTolerance to 0 ... The simplest way to "fix" your problem is to change it back to the default setting of 2 seconds, as apparently even required for FAT/FAT32 file systems . The "Cannot determine sync-direction: No change since l...

The "Both sides have changed" notification only can occur when using a database . In previous versions of FreeFileSync (FFS), by default the database was only used in the Two-way sync variant, in which it is mandatory. Since FFS version 13.x, the database is by default also used in the Mir...

There are people using a chisel as a screwdriver. Sometimes it works, sometimes they hurt themselves doing so. If you, Widowsky, being forwarned, do not want to abandon using leading spaces in file/folder-names (using a chisel as a screwdriver), so be it; at some time you will surely hurt yourself. ...

What is your Symbolic Link handling setting (in the FFS GUI Comparison (F6) tab)?
What file system is your \\q\ location? Not all file systems support reparse points.

I understand your request and why/when this would make sense. But, looking at your list, there may be an alternative. You have quite a lot of sync jobs that ran 82 days ago. If you always run those sync jobs in combination, you can define a single sync job that has multiple left-right location pairs...

Did you try using the Windows Task Scheduler?
There you can choose to run tasks based on a given time, but also upon given events, such as startup, login, logoff and shutdown.

@PjotterTheMotter
You seem to be one of those people only willing to accept a solution exactly along their line.
The author has indicated a perfectly workable method to deal with your "problem". But hey, it is not exactly along your line ...

As you noticed, I forgot to add the /w or /wait option to at least the first two start-commands in the batch script of my previous reply.
See e.g. https://ss64.com/nt/start.html

Do not add /w or /wait to the FFS On Completion command-line, when using that route.

It is only possible to Exclude files and/or folders (and their child-folders) based on their (own) name.
It is not possible to (automatically) Exclude a parent folder based on the name of any of the files or folders it contains matching a name or pattern.

If those tilde-files do not just start with a tilde ( ~ ), but with a tilde+dollar sign ( ~$ ) they are most likely remnants of Microsoft Office files, generally caused by improper termination of an MS Office application (e.g. a forced system restart). You should then be able to recognize the file e...

I don't know MAC, but if those packages/folders behave like folders in Windows, then just like in Windows FFS may simply not be able to retain folder modification timestamps.
See here.

If you want to run your left-right folder-pair Compare and Sync in sequence per pair, you can either • Run a batch/cmd file that starts your sync jobs in sequence, waiting for the previous job to end before starting the next sync job (via the "start" command). Something like start "C:...

By default, the FFS save-location for log-files is C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\FreeFileSync\Logs
So, you must have changed that previously.

@dpeteual:
Why literally repeat exactly what is described in the manual?

> ... because of the stupid and wrong registration ... That is quite presumptuous The only thing fair to say is that there is a mismatch between the way the FFS donation edition tries to enforce installation on just a fair (non-excessive) amount of computers and some less common OSs that continuousl...

> ... as this program allows multiple sets of information to be mirrored in one easier operation The feature of using multiple left-right pairs is already present in the standard (non-donation) edition of FFS, and is unrelated to the Parallel file feature present in the donation-edition (and the Bus...

As described, Update seems to be the way to go for syncing OldFiles => OldFilesBackup . > how ... to trigger a process that will empty the "OldFiles" folder without messing up the newly-updated "OldFilesBackup" folder. FFS does not seem capable of emptying OldFiles for you. Inste...

> There's probably an easier/more direct way ...

In the GUI of the installed FFS donation edition, go to Help / Check for updates now.
The screen that appears has a button "Home page".

There was nothing attached, but:
https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=volume-shadow-copy
But is sounds strange that an exe-file would be locked, because exe-files generally do not get changed when in use.

> I still don't get it, because I need this particular folder to be treated differently then the rest of the sync. So I need to specify the folder in the rules. As per my previous reply, I don't understand what goes wrong. If all else fails, because " I need this particular folder to be treated...

See here.
So, it seems you would need to exclude *: without the folder-name part in front of it.
However, if that turns out to be true, I fail to see the logic behind it.

What does the log-file tell you?

> Then, on Windows, map a drive to the Mac SMB share. Run FFS and choose the appropriate drive letter. You can also access network drives without mapping them. In FFS's location bar type in the network folder address you want such as \\[NetworkComputerName]\[SharedFolderName] or \\[NetworkComputer-I...

Normally (normal) users don't have write access to system folders like \Program Files\.
Simply extract all content of the FFS installer ZIP-file to a single folder where you have write access, and install from there.

I assume you will be running FFS on either your Mac or your Windows machine. In that case, you only need to share your to-be-synced folder(s) on the machine on which you do not run FFS. In my view, the simplest would be sharing via the SMB protocol. Further info https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-h...

As you can see when comparing the listed features of the donation vs the business edition silent installation is only a feature of the business edition.
So, the error notification is correct.

... EDIT: I would suggest to add ability to give each pair a nickname for easier distinguishing because sometimes both folders have the same name, and drive letters is not practical to remember each time You sort of can. You could save each left-right folder pair as an individual *.ffs_gui or *ffs_...

... because the next change will then catch all that was missed earlier. ... True in essence, but worded a bit imprecise. After the RTS-launched FFS sync has ended, the next change in the RTS monitored folder(s) will make RTS launch a renewed FFS sync. This renewed FFS sync will then "catch al...