Files will be updated even if updated already

[s_decoster]

Hi,

I am unsure if this is a bug or what is wrong in my example. I am running FFS 13.7 on Sonoma 14.7. I can't remember I had this issue with previous versions of FFS.

I have a list of files on my MacBook Pro that I sync (mirror) with several hard disks (e.g., an SSD and a regular external disk).

The synchronization has the following settings:
- Item exists on left side only: copy item to the right
- Left side is newer: update right item
- Right side is newer: update right item
- Item exists only on right side: delete right item

For the external SSD, everything works the way I want. After I sync my SSD, all my files show that they are equal (1321 files), and nothing needs to be synced anymore. This is the way it should be. The "date" column left and right show the same date for each file. Perfect!

But on my normal external hard drive, after I ran the same sync settings (showing 605 files equal and 716 that will be updated on the right side), I have the following issue: when I click "compare" again, the same 716 files need to be updated. Left date shows eg a date in 2023, right date shows the day today (i.e., the time that the file got just synced). Also the folders show today's date.

When I sync again, the left date stays the same and the 716 items get re-written again with the current time... So this means the difference stays, which seems to be an indefinite loop.

So I think the issue is that the files on the right always receive the "date" of the sync moment, not the original date of the left side. The issue is thus that "files that need to be updated" are huge, even though they should not get updated again.

Weird that this does not happen on my SSD. I think all the settings are the same.

What can I do here?

Thanks!

[Plerry]

Apparently file dates are not preserved when writing to your external hard drive.
There may be several causes
• The protocol you use to access your external HD (e.g. FTP) may not support preservation of dates
• The drivers for accessing your external HD may be buggy. Try updating those.
• The firmware of your external HD does not support preserving file dates or is buggy.
• ...

If you can't find and fix the cause, you may be able to address the impact:
For you sync to your external HD you could create a Custom sync variant, changing your setting:
• Right side is newer: update right item
into
• Right side is newer: do nothing
If the only source of files (in the relevant folder(s)) on your external HD is your MacBook Pro, that should be perfectly safe and OK.

[xCSxXenon]

The three proposed causes by Plerry are extremely unlikely. What format is the external SSD and what format is the external HDD?

[s_decoster]

I need to check, but I am pretty sure the SSD is Mac OS Extended (GUID), and the external HDD is NTFS or FAT32.

I assume my best bet is to re-format that disk into Mac OS Extended and start from scratch and see if this solves the issue.