Backup of recent files - filter application

[Kai4]

Dear FreeFileSync Forum,

I have the following use-case:

I do bi-weekly backups to an external harddrive using FreeFileSync. To reduce the time-span of potential data loss I also do FreeFileSync backups to a cloud-drive and have the filter there set to files that changed over the "Last 14 days".

The problem I now encounter is: The FreeFileSync filter always is applied on both sides, left and right pane. In most use cases this makes absolutly sense. But in the above use-case "Mirror left->right, AND time-span set" it would be so much more helpful to see the filter only being applied to the left pane. This would cause any files on the right hand side which are older than the specified time-span to be identified for deletion (to free up cloud drive space, as these by then have been backuped to the external HD).
My workaround now can only be to manually delete all files in this backup from the cloud-store before then copying over the new (max 14days old files). What I dislike about this is the manual interaction and the bandwith consumption to copy over new files that actually have been there already.

Is there any chance to ask for a simple checkbox in the filter dialog, that excludes the filter being applied to the right pane, if the synchronization is on "mirror"? I am sure I am not the only person that could use this, in "mirroring" applications this can be of good use in different backup szenarios!

Thanks so much for giving this a thought,
Kai

[Kai4]

I forgot to include a link to a different threat that was describing the exactly same problem in a different use case of syncing recent photos:
viewtopic.php?t=4414
There was no real solution offered 1.5years ago, though.

[markusoft]

create another job that runs before your 14 day to compare a directory (empty) Mirroring to Right Side - scratch it, won't work, WE NEED a filter to EXCLUDE files OLD THAN XX or Size ETC instead of INCLUDE

[Kai4]

you are right, this is an alternative way to tackle this. If I had a checkbox to switch the "files older than XX" and "size" from "include" to "exclude" - that would solve the problem / use case too.
Thus, there are really two routes to take, either a switch to apply mirror filter only to the left, or this checkbox to swith include/exclude.

[Kai4]

May I ask for an update on this? Did this request make it to the future feature list? I believe this use case will be important to many users with gaining popularity of cloud storage.
Thanks Kai

[markusoft]

bump

[Kai4]

If others have a similar use case, I found a workaround, unfortunately quite manual, but solves the problem: Create an additional configuration that Mirrors an empty folder to your target folder (potentially cloud) folder.
Click on Compare. Then use https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=tips-and-tricks#select-time-span to select a timespan reaching from a long ago date to your desired (e.g. 30 days before today) date. As the time-span is an additional include filter, it will only attempt to delete those old files from your target folder.
Unfortunately this is manual only and can not be included in the configuration, but it works and is a reasonable effort to free up space with your cloud storage.