Two ways synchronised

[imer]

Hello,

Someone can explained exactly what is two ways synchronised , please ?. I use this soft to synchonise outlook files for two pc.

Regards,

Imer

[Radish]

I haven't used two-way sync other than for brief testing purposes but as best as I can see it works like this:

In the FFS interface you have a right side and left side. Two-way sync operates like this if you are using "File time and size" option for the comparison method:

(1) If you delete a file on the left side then on sync that file will also be deleted from the right side.
(2) If you delete a file on the right side then on sync that file will also be deleted on the left side.
(3) If you add a file on the left side then on sync that file will also be added to the right side.
(4) If you add a file on the right side then on sync that file will also be added to the left side.
(5) If you have a file with the same name on both sides but they have different time-stamps then when you click the "Compare" button (before doing the sync) FFS will show a "lightning flash" symbol for that file. Move the mouse over the lightening symbol, then slowly move the mouse to the left and the right and you will see what options are available to you for that file. Click to choose the option you want. (Note that other things can happen with those symbols depending on what action you previously applied to that file.)
(6) Also note that you can use that "symbol" part of the interface to influence what will happen to deleted and added files during a Sync operation.

Best thing to do with all this is just make a copy of the left side folder somewhere on your drive and make a copy of your right side folder on your drive. Now use those copy folders to test the two-way sync method. In doing the test you can modify, add and delete the files in either test folder to your heart's content and then, using the "Compare" button, FFS will show how it proposes to deal with the changed files. You could set up a versioning folder so that you can see what files have been deleted from either side. But there are a couple of options on how you want the versioning to operate, so might want to experiment with that too.

In all, FFS has a fair number of options you can use for setting up a Two-way sync and it would be too complex for anyone to go through all the permutations in this forum. Best thing to do is set up two test folders and try different things out for yourself to see how things work and what effects they have when you press the "Compare" button.

If you get stuck then in the first instance remember to check the FFS manual: https://freefilesync.org/manual.php If you are still stuck after reading the manual then post up your problem here with a specific question to be dealt with and detailing exactly how you have your Two-way sync set up. Asking a question that just baldly states words to the effect "Tell me how to use Two-way sync?" probably won't get a full answer as the options available for this are fairly numerous. Really you need to run tests for yourself first then post up with any specific problems you have. FFS does look a bit complex at first but after a couple of hours of testing it, it does become simple to use - it's worth the effort to just test, test, test in the beginning.

In short Two-way sync is designed, at base, to make the contents of two folders (or drives) identical. However, you do have the ability to influence that to a fairly large degree if you want and force FFS to make the folders non-identical - it really depends what you do after you instruct FFS to Compare the two locations.

[imer]

Thanks a lot :)

Imer

[Plerry]

Radish is not fully right. His (1) through (4) are right, but his (5) is not.

(5a) If you have a file with the same name on both sides,
but only the left file has been changed since the last (two-way) sync was run (has a later time-stamp),
that file will be copied left-to-right.
(5a) If you have a file with the same name on both sides,
but only the right file has been changed since the last (two-way) sync was run (has a later time-stamp),
that file will be copied right-to-left.
(5c) If you have a file with the same name on both sides,
but both the left- and the right-file have been changed since the last (two-way) sync was run
(have a later time-stamp), FFS does not know what to do and reports that as a conflict
that needs to be resolved by the user.

So, in his case (5), Radish seems to describe just case (5c) (the conflict case), but not case (5a) and (5b) that FFS will conveniently be able to resolve correctly on its own.

[Radish]

Thanks very much for the clarification, Plerry. As said I only did a test of two-way myself and didn't know all ins and outs. Hence, was only trying to help with my limited experience. (The path to Hell is paved with good intentions. Where's the blushing emoji?!)

However, what you're saying about 5c leaves me with a question. What happens if FFS spots a conflict, signals it to the user, but the user doesn't notice it and just presses the "Synchronize <- Two-way -> button"? What gets copied to where? Or does something else happen?

[Plerry]

... What happens if FFS spots a conflict, signals it to the user, but the user doesn't notice it and just presses the "Synchronize <- Two-way -> button"? What gets copied to where? Or does something else happen?

If FFS does not know what to do, and you don't tell FFS what to do (where the user resolves the conflict),
I would guess (but never tried ...) FFS does nothing;
i.e. leave both the left- and right-version of the file intact (as unresolved conflict).

P.S.
Don't hold back on your good intentions!
Good intensions serve well for paving many paths, not just one of those to Hell.
It is one of the nice things about forums: with the possible exception of (in this case) Zenju,
there is always someone that knows at least just a little bit more on the topic than you, or me, or ...
I have stood "corrected" several times in the past (and occasionally still am),
and still treasure those moments as learning opportunities.

[Radish]

If FFS does not know what to do, and you don't tell FFS what to do (where the user resolves the conflict),
I would guess (but never tried ...) FFS does nothing;
i.e. leave both the left- and right-version of the file intact (as unresolved conflict).

Yes I just tested this, setting up two files with the same name that will conflict, and on clicking the "Synchronize" button FFS puts out a warning dialogue window that there is a conflict as follows ("New Text Document.txt" were my test files for this):

The following items have unresolved conflicts and will not be synchronized:
"New Text Document.txt": Both sides have changed since last synchronization.

In that dialogue I clicked the "Ignore" button, FFS did the sync, and then I checked the log for what was, or wasn't done. The information in the log was the same as the dialogue window, so if there is a conflict that the user doesn't spot and the user just clicks the "Synchronize" button then, as you guessed, nothing gets changed for the conflicted files.

I should also mention for Imer's benefit, in case he is entirely new to FFS, that on a first synchronisation run of FFS on a folder/drive pair FFS creates a "sync.ffs_db" file in each of the folder pairs. As best as I can figure out it is information contained in those files that, in part, allows FFS to determine if there is a conflict. On that basis (I did a quick test on this) on the first sync run of FFS it won't be able to determine same-name file conflicts, as discussed here, and will just default (unless you tell it otherwise) to copying the same-name file with the latest time-stamp to replace the same-name file with the older time-stamp. So, flag that, consideration for Imer - the first sync run of FFS won't operate in the same way that subsequent sync runs operate when it comes to same-name files. So moral for that is, don't delete the FFS "sync.ff_db" files unless you have a good reason for doing so.

P.S. Me and my good intentions are now merrily skipping their way up the road to Heaven. Yahoo! :0)