Synchronise from read-only source

[Enigmisth]

Good morning,
When I attempt to synchronise folders from a read-only FTP source, the content is copied but I receive an error at the end of the process.

Can anyone tell me how to solve this problem?

[xCSxXenon]

Disable using a database to track moved/renamed files for this configuration

[Enigmisth]

Thank you 1000, it works now :)

I take advantage of your expertise for another question...

Is there any way to set the created copy to keep the creation and modification date of the original file instead of putting the date of the day of the copy?

[Enigmisth]

new error :(

[xCSxXenon]

Thank you 1000, it works now :)

I take advantage of your expertise for another question...

Is there any way to set the created copy to keep the creation and modification date of the original file instead of putting the date of the day of the copy?

This is a limitation of FTP, not FFS

The error you are seeing is most likely an issue with the FTP server. Can it be updated?

[Enigmisth]

I have no idea, it is an old Aruba linux hosting but before touching it I would prefer to have a full backup.

So I have to rename all those files correct?

While for the date change problem I have to switch to SFTP?

have I understood correctly?

[xCSxXenon]

So I have to rename all those files correct?

If that is sufficient for you

While for the date change problem I have to switch to SFTP?

SFTP is still FTP, so no. You just don't get to keep timestamps AFAIK

[Enigmisth]

are all accented characters

[Enigmisth]

there were about 20 of them, I renamed them, they were all accented letters

OK the creation date I can't keep I understand now, I had read it wrong.

You were really very helpful, thank you.

Now I'll try to make a full backup, I hope I'm not disturbing you again.

[xCSxXenon]

No worries! If I didn't want to see people asking for help, I wouldn't be volunteering my free time here lol
The accented letters likely aren't in the UTF-8 format, so that would make sense

[Enigmisth]

I have another problem unfortunately... on the FTP there are files that are named the same but maybe one has an uppercase letter and the other a lowercase letter.

example: poppo.txt - Poppo.txt

when I make the copy I get an error that the file already exists because Windows probably does not distinguish between lower and upper case letters.

Is there any way to solve this problem?

[xCSxXenon]

Rename one of them. Windows considers these the same and therefore they would have to reinvent Windows to change it. More accurately, NTFS doesn't distinguish between upper and lower case, but that is what Windows uses in almost all cases. UNIX-esque filesystems do, which makes sense also because you stated it is a Linux server

[Enigmisth]

gee, that's a lot... and I doubt there is a way to rename all the files on ftp.

Can I configure Freefilesync so that when it finds a duplicate name it automatically renames it?

[xCSxXenon]

No, nothing in FFS to handle it. FFS has a general rule to never modify data, and that would go against it.
It may be scriptable if there is a constant pattern, but I don't have a one-click recommendation for that.
You could use FFS to sync as much as possible first, then run a comparison-only to get a list of the files that are duplicates, then use the right-click "copy to" function in FFS to get those files to a different location. From there, you could use many methods to rename them, depending on what you want them to be renamed as. For example:

 for %a in (.\*) do move "%a" "%~na - COPY%~xa"


This would rename all the files inside the current directory and add ' - COPY' to the end
"2023 Tax Forms.pdf"
becomes
"2023 Tax Forms - COPY.pdf"

Of course, you would tailor the cmd to your schema

[Enigmisth]

is it possible that with filezilla and with WinSCP I keep the creation and modification dates?

[xCSxXenon]

is it possible that with filezilla and with WinSCP I keep the creation and modification dates?

Can't hurt to try I suppose