Options for custom deleted items folder

[mfreedberg]

I had been wondering about how to do some simple versioning with FreeFileSync
and saw the comment in the help about using the custom deleted items folder to
help do this, which seems like a pretty good way to do it (keep old copies in
a custom deleted items folder).

Having tried it, though, I find the implementation a bit puzzling and was
wondering if you could add a specific feature to address.

The custom folder contains sub-folders named by timestamp and they only
contain the files that were "deleted" during that sync session, but that
structure does not preserve any part of the original folder structure where
the file was located if it is being moved from a root folder in the folder
comparison list. The file name is often not enough to know what got moved or
overwritten.

See the lone file in the dir listing below, which root folder in the folder
sync list did that come from?




Directory of G:\mrf7488_backup\WIN7P10D40946\old versions\2010-12-24 122353

12/24/2010 12:23 PM <DIR> .
12/24/2010 12:23 PM <DIR> ..
**-> 12/14/2010 11:24 AM 66,782 NA Pharma Sales Solutions BIG LIST v4_0_3 System Mgmt UCS Comments.docx
12/14/2010 01:17 PM <DIR> NaNoWriMo - Copy
12/24/2010 12:24 PM <DIR> OneNote Notebooks



So, would it be possible to add an option to preserve and re-create the path
for the items moved to the custom recycle folder?

[Zenju]

>that structure does not preserve any part of the original folder structure
FFS preserves relative path information beginning with the synchronization
directory. For example if "C:\source" is synchronized thereby deleting
"C:\source\sub\file.txt" then the custom deletion directory will contain
"\sub\file.txt".
Can you please check this again and if you indeed can confirm a bug, provide
steps how to reproduce?

[mfreedberg]

You have hit the problem on the head, it only preserves the relative path
beginning with the synchronization directory, which means that a file from
the root of c:\source is only written as the file name, with no path
information. I am syncing a number of source directories, which means that any
files from any of those root source folders are copied to the custom deletion
folder with no relative path information.

I think one fix might be to add an option to enable "include full relative
folder structure in custom deletion folder", which means that if you delete
c:\source\file_one.txt and c:\source\sub\file_two.txt, the custom deletion
folder would contain:
\source\file_one.txt
\source\sub\file_two.txt

Would that work?

[Zenju]

Yes it would work. But an even simpler solution would be to choose different
custom deletion directories for each sync-pair that needs to be distinguished.

[mfreedberg]

Choose a different custom deletion folder for each sync pair? I did not
realize that was an option, and if it is, great; if not, are you planning to
add that?

[Zenju]

Yes, you can even select complete sync config and filter settings individually
for each folder pair. If nothing is specified it uses "main" settings by
default. (See the two small buttons in the middle between left and right
folder)

[mfreedberg]

Well, color me embarrassed - I have looked over those options before, but that
was before I ever tried out the custom deleted items folder!
I know what I am doing tonight, custom configs are on their way!

[mfreedberg]

done, that will work just fine for me, along with the logging - every sync
pair has its own custom deletion folder so that you can see where the root
files came from! Perfect!

Now, what this tells me is that I need to read the help more carefully or we
need to add some more scenarios to the help file, I could write up what I have
done here and you could use that to extend the help if you like - it's a great
option and I am not sure everybody will have caught that feature or understood
fully what it could do for them.

[Zenju]

That would be fine! If you could provide an improved version for "backup
strategies" I'll gladly update the helpfile. Just some hint about the style:
Please keep it rather short with focus on the main points. Target audience
should be advanced computer users so the content should only be about what's
not self-evident.