Errors

[rctneil]

Hi guys.

I could do with some help fixing this issue here. I downloaded FFs onto my
mums system to a backup. It is running Windows 7 HP 64 bit like myself and I
downloaded Free File Sync 3.2 64bit zip file. I extracted the contents to a
folder and ran FFS and set up the folder pair, compare settings and sync
settings to Mirror. I ran the sync and got an error. I tried it again after
giveing FFS admin access and still get an error. I also tried creating the
.cmd file you suggest in the help file and ran that and the majority of that
failed. I tried the .cmd again but with admin access and more of it suceeded
but againsome of it failed. A pic is below of the error I get in FFS, even
with running it as an admin:

[404, Invalid URL: http://www.neiltonge.co.uk/externalfiles/freefilesync/errorffs.png]

[rctneil]

Oops, sorry, link should be:




: [404, Invalid URL: http://www.neiltonge.co.uk/external/freefilesync/errorffs.png]

[Zenju]

The Volume Shadow Copy service requires admin rights. Therefore you're getting
this "access denied" error message shown in your screenshot if you don't have
them.

After you give FFS admin rights, you should get a different error message. Can
you please post the text of this error message here?

[rctneil]

Sorry for the late response to this problem. I now have a screenshot of the
error:

[404, Invalid URL: http://www.neiltonge.co.uk/external/freefilesync/errorFFS2.jpg]

[Zenju]

When copying a directory, the source directory is also taken into account in
order to transfer folder attributes etc. The problem in this case is that
access to the source folder is not allowed. This has to do with folder
permissions and cannot be fixed by starting the tool with admin rights.
Maybe it makes sense to apply a new logic, that simply creates the target
folder without copying metadata, if access to source folder is not possible.
This shouldn't be a significant loss of metadata, at least it's better than
showing an error message about a problem that cannot be resolved (easily)
anyway.

[Zenju]

I had some closer look: C:\User\<name>\Application Data is a symbolic link to
a directory. So the problem is that copying a symbolic link failed. I think
this case is indeed an error situation. It's just that the error message is
not very descriptive. I've adapted the error message to explicitly state what
happens: "Error copying symbolic link..."
As noted above, the reason is that security attributes for this symlink
prohibit copying. I don't think it would be correct to silently create an
empty folder on target drive. Therefore I'll not change behavior but adapt the
error message only. Anyway, in this specific scenario, it is safe to ignore
the error.

Regards, Zenju

[rctneil]

Hey,
Just tried running FFS again on that PC and ignoring the error I last posted
and it keeps the syncing process going but now and again it pops up an error
like the one last posted saying it had an error creating a new directory.

Any idea why it keeps failing making these new directories?

[Zenju]

> Any idea why it keeps failing making these new directories?
Still the same problem as discussed above.

[rctneil]

But the error says that it is failing to CREATE a new folder on the
destination drive!

and the fact that when I run a similar backup but on my own system, it runs
perfectly!

It's failing on stuff like attempting to copy the Windows "Music" folder and
others for example.

[Zenju]

The error message is incorrect. It should say "Error copying a symbolic link
..."

[rctneil]

You know much more about this than I do but why does it work on my system but
doesn;t on my mum's system?

[Zenju]

I see two possibilities why it works on one pc, but not on the other:

1. Symbolic links are not available before Windows Vista. So it may be that one PC has XP the other Vista or Seven.
2. Permissions have been set appropriately to allow copying these symbolic links. The default permission setting prohibits copying or traversing directory symlinks, but this behavior can be overwritten by a users with admin rights. May be that one PC allows copying them, the other doesn't.

[rctneil]

It's strange,

both systems are running the same version of Windows 7 and both were
completely setup by myself and configured in the same way which is why it's
confusing me. My previous backup program managed to copy these directories
perfectly on my own and my mum's systems.

[Zenju]

It's hard to say without deeper analysis. Maybe you are using different
configuration settings with regards to symlinks. For example if
<traversdirectorysymlinks> ist set to true, it won't copy the symlink, but
create a target directory instead. In this case you wouldn't get a "create
directory failed" error message.

[rctneil]

How do you enable that then?

[Zenju]

Don't bother. The best thing in your case would be to use an exclude filter to
simply exclude these symbolic links from synchronization. They don't contain
useful information or data anyway, so best skip them.

[rctneil]

They must be important as "Music" is one of the folders having the error

[Zenju]

What is the full path of this "Music" folder that you have problems creating?

[rctneil]

Sorry for the long delay in replying, The full path of the Music folder that
is part of the backup is:

C:\Users\Mandy\My Music

[Zenju]

> C:\Users\Mandy\My Music
That's a junction point, so it's the same problem as discussed above.
Nevertheless I'll re-think about how the tool handles these types of files.
Maybe it should still silently skip them, but this again wouldn't be very
transparent.

[crashkasbar]

Hi,

Is this resolved? I think I am getting the same error

+++++++++++++++++++++
Error creating directory:
"\\fred\Ag\Finance\2010 Files\"

Windows Error Code 5: Access is denied.
+++++++++++++++++++++


The above happens on Vista 32bit sync to 1 Win 7 64bit.
I also use FileSync (jam software) and it works, as does hand copying files.

Matter of fact even files don't copy, let alone creating directories.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Zenju]

>Is this resolved?
If by "resolved" you mean "not showing an error message" in this case, then
no, the error message is still shown. The error cannot be solved by the tool,
so it's up to the user to handle this. Other tools "solve" this problem by
doing something completely different, like creating an empty dummy directory
at target side, which arguably is not a solution neither.

[Zenju]

Remark: This thread is all about copying the reparse points located in
"C:\Users\*". If you get this "access denied" error for some other
directories, then it's a different error situation, not discussed here.

[rctneil]

I have just come back to this topic. I'm sorry but I am getting a bit confused
by this thread and I am in need of getting this sorted so we can get a backup
completed.

All I want to do make a backup of everything located in the users "User"
folder. In my case it is the "Mandy" folder.

Please tell me how I can do this without coming across errors like I am
having. Other tools seem to be able to accomplish it but I much prefer FFS to
those others.

[Zenju]

The possible solutions are:

1. Ignore all errors during synchronization. This will copy everything except the junctions that cannot be copied anyway
2. Exclude all junctions via filter
3. Use multiple folder pairs and include only those folders you really need; like my documents, picutures...
(4. I'm currently evaluating whether it makes sense to not include symblic
links in the file listing in the first place)

BTW, a good overview about junctions within C:\Users can be found here:
http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

[Zenju]

FYI:

To 4.) For v3.6. I'm planning an option to include/exclude reparse points. If
you'd then choose to exclude reparse points, your usecase would be fulfilled
almost completely. There is just a single directory that refuses to be copied
(but for different reasons): Microsoft\CardSpace. But this is a minor issue
only.

[rctneil]

Right,
As the folders in C:\Users\Mandy are junction points, How can I set up a
different syncing profile for each of the folders like Music, Pictures, Videos
and whatever else and run them all as one quick backup?

[Zenju]

With an option like "exclude reparse points" you won't need different profiles
for each folder. You'd have a single folder pair "C:\Users\Mandy -> D:\Backup"
that runs through without errors (except for "CardSpace")

[rctneil]

Ok, how far off is the new version?

[Zenju]

> Ok, how far off is the new version?
Oh well, I just came up with the idea a few minutes ago! ;) In the very early
stages, I'd say.