File Explorer
- Posts: 36
- Joined: 17 Jan 2019
Is it best to close File Explorer when running a sync or does it make no difference if it is open or closed?
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- Posts: 143
- Joined: 8 Mar 2017
I invariably run FFS with Explorer windows open - haven't come across any problems in that regard.
However, might be worth mentioning that I have one program Stickies (PortableApps) that creates a temp file that FFS can't deal with. The warning I get from FFS is:
To get round that there are two things I can do:
(1) Create a Filter Exclude rule thus: \*\JET*.tmp In this way FFS won't try to copy the file (and fail).
(2) Just shutdown the Stickies program before trying to do a sync (At which point the temp file doesn't exist and hence no complaints/warnings from FFS.)
So, in the beginning, when you are testing out FFS with test syncs do keep in mind that some open programs might cause some problem for FFS during an (attempted) copy operation on file 'x' if you have a document/file open with that program that that program is working with at the time of the sync, though FFS should give a warning notice if this is the case.
On the same theme you might want to not copy 'lock' files that some programs create when the program is actually running. For example, I have two programs that I use very frequently that create such lock files, Treepad and KeePass. Again there are two options if you don't want FFS to copy the lock files over to backup:
(1) Create Filter Exclude rules thus:
\*Keepass\*.lock
\*Treepad\*.*.lck
Or take the sledgehammer approach and set Filters thus:
*\*.lock
*\*.lck
That would prevent any files, anywhere, with the extension ".lock" and ".lck" from being copied.
(2) Just shutdown the programs before doing the compare and sync.
As an experiment open a Microsoft Word document that is included in your left-side sync location. Now do a test sync with that Word document open. Once the sync is done try and delete all the (test) backup files that you just created. You will find that you get 'system warnings' that you are trying to delete 'system files' when what you are trying to delete is Microsoft Word lock files FFS copied over during the sync operation (because you had that document open at the time of doing the sync).
So the point of all this is. I use FFS with Explorer windows open all the time. To date I have never had any issues with doing so. However, some open/running programs might cause some difficulty, so just experiment with test syncs to see what is what and adapt your method of syncing to suit your needs/wishes.
However, might be worth mentioning that I have one program Stickies (PortableApps) that creates a temp file that FFS can't deal with. The warning I get from FFS is:
Error Cannot read file "D:\Stickies\Data\Temp\JET3F9E.tmp".
The file is locked by another process:
Stickies 8.0c [D:\Stickies\App\stickies\stickies.exe]
(1) Create a Filter Exclude rule thus: \*\JET*.tmp In this way FFS won't try to copy the file (and fail).
(2) Just shutdown the Stickies program before trying to do a sync (At which point the temp file doesn't exist and hence no complaints/warnings from FFS.)
So, in the beginning, when you are testing out FFS with test syncs do keep in mind that some open programs might cause some problem for FFS during an (attempted) copy operation on file 'x' if you have a document/file open with that program that that program is working with at the time of the sync, though FFS should give a warning notice if this is the case.
On the same theme you might want to not copy 'lock' files that some programs create when the program is actually running. For example, I have two programs that I use very frequently that create such lock files, Treepad and KeePass. Again there are two options if you don't want FFS to copy the lock files over to backup:
(1) Create Filter Exclude rules thus:
\*Keepass\*.lock
\*Treepad\*.*.lck
Or take the sledgehammer approach and set Filters thus:
*\*.lock
*\*.lck
That would prevent any files, anywhere, with the extension ".lock" and ".lck" from being copied.
(2) Just shutdown the programs before doing the compare and sync.
As an experiment open a Microsoft Word document that is included in your left-side sync location. Now do a test sync with that Word document open. Once the sync is done try and delete all the (test) backup files that you just created. You will find that you get 'system warnings' that you are trying to delete 'system files' when what you are trying to delete is Microsoft Word lock files FFS copied over during the sync operation (because you had that document open at the time of doing the sync).
So the point of all this is. I use FFS with Explorer windows open all the time. To date I have never had any issues with doing so. However, some open/running programs might cause some difficulty, so just experiment with test syncs to see what is what and adapt your method of syncing to suit your needs/wishes.
- Posts: 36
- Joined: 17 Jan 2019
Thank you. This is very helpful
