date, time, filesize priority

Posts: 4 · rederikus 8 Aug 2010, 10:50

I have just started using this tool and I like it a lot. I have a question
however.

I have several files of the same name on different hardidsks on my network.
These have differing filesizes and date/timestamps.

I wish to sync them always having the larger file overwrite the smaller.
FreeFileSync seems to be giving preference to the data/time stamp over the
filesize. Is this true? Can this be changed? If so, can it be done as a user
preference setting?

Thanks.

Posts: 7052 · Zenju 8 Aug 2010, 22:22

> Is this true?
Yes,

Can this be changed?
No, but there's a workaround: In the configuration file "GlobalSettings.xml"
there is a node called "FileTimeTolerance". If this value is set to some very
high value, all files are treated as if they had the same date. This
implicitly gives preference to the filesize.

Posts: 4 · rederikus 9 Aug 2010, 10:34

Thanks for your reply. It took me a while to find the file as it was in
C:\Users\<me>\AppData\Roaming\FreeFileSync\GlobalSettings.xml. Now I have it.
I could not find the Tag you speciified. Should I add it? If so, to which
section do I add this.

Here's the content of the file you mentioned.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

    <FreeFileSync XmlType="GLOBAL">

        <Shared>

            <Language>56</Language>

            <IgnoreOneHourDifference>false</IgnoreOneHourDifference>

            <CopyLockedFiles>true</CopyLockedFiles>

            <ShowOptionalDialogs>

                <CheckForDependentFolders>true</CheckForDependentFolders>

                <CheckForSignificantDifference>true</CheckForSignificantDifference>

                <CheckForFreeDiskSpace>true</CheckForFreeDiskSpace>

                <CheckForUnresolvedConflicts>true</CheckForUnresolvedConflicts>

                <NotifyDatabaseError>false</NotifyDatabaseError>

                <PopupOnConfigChange>true</PopupOnConfigChange>

                <SummaryBeforeSync>true</SummaryBeforeSync>

            </ShowOptionalDialogs>

        </Shared>

        <Gui>

            <Windows>

                <Main>

                    <Width>933</Width>

                    <Height>612</Height>

                    <PosX>333</PosX>

                    <PosY>124</PosY>

                    <Maximized>true</Maximized>

                    <ManualDeletionOnBothSides>false</ManualDeletionOnBothSides>

                    <ManualDeletionUseRecycler>true</ManualDeletionUseRecycler>

                    <RespectCaseOnSearch>false</RespectCaseOnSearch>

                    <LeftColumns AutoAdjust="false" ShowFileIcons="true">

                        <Column Type="1" Visible="false" Width="150" />

                        <Column Type="0" Visible="false" Width="140" />

                        <Column Type="2" Visible="true" Width="118" />

                        <Column Type="3" Visible="true" Width="318" />

                        <Column Type="4" Visible="true" Width="96" />

                        <Column Type="5" Visible="true" Width="113" />

                        <Column Type="6" Visible="false" Width="60" />

                    </LeftColumns>

                    <RightColumns AutoAdjust="false" ShowFileIcons="true">

                        <Column Type="1" Visible="false" Width="150" />

                        <Column Type="0" Visible="false" Width="140" />

                        <Column Type="2" Visible="true" Width="118" />

                        <Column Type="3" Visible="true" Width="275" />

                        <Column Type="4" Visible="true" Width="139" />

                        <Column Type="5" Visible="true" Width="113" />

                        <Column Type="6" Visible="false" Width="60" />

                    </RightColumns>

                    <FolderHistoryLeft MaximumSize="12">

                        <Folder>C:\Users\Pete\Music</Folder>

                        <Folder>D:\Movies</Folder>

                    </FolderHistoryLeft>

                    <FolderHistoryRight MaximumSize="12">

                        <Folder>F:\PETE\Music</Folder>

                        <Folder>\\Desktop-pc\d\My Videos</Folder>

                        <Folder>F:\PETE\My Videos</Folder>

                    </FolderHistoryRight>

                    <SelectedTabBottomLeft>0</SelectedTabBottomLeft>

                </Main>

            </Windows>

            <ExternalApplications>

                <Commandline Description="Open with Explorer">explorer /select, "%name"</Commandline>

                <Commandline Description="Open with default application">cmd /c start "" "%name"</Commandline>

            </ExternalApplications>

            <ConfigHistory MaximumSize="10">

                <File>C:\Users\Pete\AppData\Roaming\FreeFileSync\LastRun.ffs_gui</File>

            </ConfigHistory>

            <LastUpdateCheck>-1</LastUpdateCheck>

        </Gui>

        <Batch />

    </FreeFileSync>

Posts: 7052 · Zenju 9 Aug 2010, 16:19

I'm sorry, it will be in GlobalSettings.xml with v3.9, but with v3.8 it is in
your *.ffs_gui file.

Posts: 4 · rederikus 9 Aug 2010, 17:20

I set the value from its initial of 2 to various values from 200 to 2000000.
It changed nothing. I even set the file to be Read Only since the program
writes to this file at the end of each run and sets

<FileTimeTolerance>2000000</FileTimeTolerance>

back to its default value of 2. Even that made no difference I am afraid.

If there is no current way to do this then may I please suggest this as a
possible enhancement in some future version?

Thanks for your help.

Posts: 7052 · Zenju 9 Aug 2010, 19:42

> end of each run and sets
The file must be modified before starting the tool. If it resets the value, it
means it didn't read your changed settings.

BTW: Your value is much too low: The time is in seconds. 2000000 is just 23
days.

Posts: 7052 · Zenju 9 Aug 2010, 21:42

One remark: It may be that you are struggeling with "LastRun.ffs_gui". This
configuration is overwritten on program exit and does not remember the
FileTimeTolerance setting. This is one of the reasons why it was moved to
GlobalSettings in v3.9.
Until then, using any config file other than "LastRun.ffs_gui" will work as
expected.

Posts: 4 · rederikus 10 Aug 2010, 07:51

You just gave me the information I needed to complete the test. The time in
seconds means, as you say that my time of 2x10^6 is way too low.

I noticed that the file was overwritten at th end of each run and that was why
I set it to be read-only. That part woked - apart from a program run error on
exit becaue it could not write to the file.

I'll try again. Thanks for your patience.

Posts: 13 · zardoz35 20 Sep 2010, 16:04

by changing FileTimeTolerance to 3600 freefilesync ignore time stamp of 1 hour
now it works fine for me because in France time change twice each year...

Posts: 7052 · Zenju 20 Sep 2010, 16:28

>3600 freefilesync ignore time stamp
Beginning with v3.10, this won't be needed anymore! File times will be
calculated correctly without user having to do something to make it work.
However a one-time migration step is necessary (i.e. one complete sync)