Hello. I have a laptop that I sync a folder with my desktop every few days using a batch job done with FFS. So I just click the shortcut and the sync is done without opening the full FFS GUI. The folder is about 250 GB and has like 3000 sub-folders and about 55k+ files. I do a mirror two-way sync with the default options (compares date+size, etc.). I am the only one with access to the computers and doing changes/syncs. Today when I went to find a specific file in a subfolder I rarely use in my desktop, I discovered that more than 10 subfolders (all with very specific names) were completely empty. It was the same on my laptop. I never deleted any of those files (several hundred of them), so I went to check my backups. Fortunately, I had a backup from 1 year ago that had all the folders and their files as it should. So I could recover them.
Investigating, I found that the parent folder in the 1-year-old backup had a different name from the current one. I suddenly remembered renaming it some months ago to organize things. FFS seems to have deleted the content of the subfolders at that point when syncing. This is very disturbing, since if this happens in a folder that I do care about and constantly use, I may be in trouble (work-related). The only explanation I can speculate after reading many posts here and online is that FFS after the rename of the folder, created a new folder with the new name, and then tried to copy the files. But something prevented it from copying the files in the subfolders and completing the job. What else could have been?
I just have enabled the option “copy locked files” which was off by default just in case, but I do not know if that will prevent this from happening again?. I also noticed I was on version 13.0, so I updated to the latest 13.6. But again, would that prevent the issue? What should I do? Can I trust FFS not to delete my files again like that? Gosh.
Any advice, comments on what should I do, any setting I do not know, possible explanations, or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
All subfolders (10+) emptied of all their files after parent folder rename and mirror sync
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You said you are using "mirror two-way sync". 'mirror' and 'two-way' are entirely different and cannot be used at the same time. Clarify what you mean.
As far as FFS, it is completely trustworthy. The issue you encountered is extremely unlikely to have been caused by FFS. "Copy locked files" wouldn't remedy your issue. FFS version wouldn't affect it either.
When you ask "Can I trust FFS not to delete my files again like that?", that is like asking a hardware store if you can trust the hammer they sold you not to hit your thumb again. FFS is a tool, it only does what you tell it to do. FFS provides logs for you to look over, if it wasn't able to copy the files to the new location, it would be reported in the log. Whose fault is it if the sync results aren't checked?
What should you do? Nothing besides ensuring your backup solution is robust and reliable. Sounds like it was, so why change anything? Identifying what the root cause was is the ideal outcome, but that can be impossible for these one-off errors. You could stop using FFS and sync everything manually, but that probably doesn't make sense either. All tools that increase convenience and reduce user input also increase the risk of errors.
As far as FFS, it is completely trustworthy. The issue you encountered is extremely unlikely to have been caused by FFS. "Copy locked files" wouldn't remedy your issue. FFS version wouldn't affect it either.
When you ask "Can I trust FFS not to delete my files again like that?", that is like asking a hardware store if you can trust the hammer they sold you not to hit your thumb again. FFS is a tool, it only does what you tell it to do. FFS provides logs for you to look over, if it wasn't able to copy the files to the new location, it would be reported in the log. Whose fault is it if the sync results aren't checked?
What should you do? Nothing besides ensuring your backup solution is robust and reliable. Sounds like it was, so why change anything? Identifying what the root cause was is the ideal outcome, but that can be impossible for these one-off errors. You could stop using FFS and sync everything manually, but that probably doesn't make sense either. All tools that increase convenience and reduce user input also increase the risk of errors.
