Help for RealtimeSync please

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Posts: 14
Joined: 29 Mar 2019

languageservicesco

Hi. I feel a bit stupid, but I have spent hours looking at the help and searching through the forums, and I cannot get my head around how RTS works. Would somebody be kind enough to give me an RTS for Dummies guide? The situation I want to cover is of a USB hard drive that is normally connected to my PC. I use this drive to take with me when I am travelling and use it with my laptop. I need it to stay synced with the PC as I work so I can just grab it and go when I need it on the move. I then need it to sync again when it is reconnected. There are 410 GB of files on the drive, so a full sync every time is no use to me, although I understand that it may be necessary on reconnection of the drive.

So, I guess the first question is whether this is even possible. If so, how do I get FFS/RTS to work how I want it to?

Thanks in advance to any kind person who is able to explain this.
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Posts: 2251
Joined: 22 Aug 2012

Plerry

It is really not that difficult.

You first need to create a good/valid FFS sync.
(If you have no experience in defining FFS-syncs, you may first want to experiment using dummy data)
You start by opening FreeFileSync (FFS) and define the sync, e.g. by defining your local to-be-synced folder(tree) as your left root location, and your USB drive root folder as your left location. Based on what you described, you probably want to use the Two-way sync variant. Preferably, you give your USB drive a suitable volume name and you use that volume name of the USB drive, rather than its drive letter.
Run a compare and check the proposed actions. If necessary, change your sync definitions and repeat the Compare step until the proposed actions meet your expectations.
Now run the sync and verify that your sync has worked correctly.
Once done, save your FFS sync as a batch-sync (*.ffs_batch), e.g. in the root of your USB drive.

Now your can define a RealTimeSync (RTS) task.
This is essentially exactly as described in the RTS Manual page under "Example: Automatic synchronization when a USB stick is inserted". In that example, a USB volume name "Backup" is assumed, hence the [Backup] in the folder definition.
If you also want changes in local root folder(tree) to be automatically synced to the USB drive, you need to add the local root folder location as a second folder to be watched in RTS (via the green "+" icon in front of the "folders to watch" list).
Posts: 14
Joined: 29 Mar 2019

languageservicesco

Thanks very much for the reply. I have been using FFS off and on for years, and I have a sync defined that works fine if I start it manually in the normal way in FFS. I have followed those instructions as best I can, but it has never resulted in a sync starting when I connect the drive. So, to summarise, the batch file created from the defined sync goes in the root of the USB drive. The RTS task is then defined to watch both the USB drive and the folder on the PC. I think the thing that is bothering me is whether anything needs to be done so that RTS is running in order for monitoring to take place. Is that what this paragraph deals with?

RealTimeSync will skip showing the main dialog and begin monitoring immediately if you pass an ffs_real configuration file or a FreeFileSync ffs_batch file as the first command line argument to RealTimeSync.exe. This can be used to integrate RealTimeSync into the operating system's auto start:
C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\RealTimeSync.exe" "D:\Backup Projects.ffs_real"
C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\RealTimeSync.exe" "D:\Backup Projects.ffs_batch"

If so, I don't see what this is telling me to do. Where does the ffs_real file come from and where does that instruction get entered? I think that may be the key to my confusion.
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Posts: 2251
Joined: 22 Aug 2012

Plerry

Ah, OK!

So, you have a correctly functioning FFS sync and saved it as a *.ffs_batch file.
(For now, you preferably should not tick-mark the "Run minimized" and "Auto-close" box under "Progress dialog" when saving as a *.ffs_batch file, so you can see FFS is or has been running; later you can choose to change those settings.)

Apparently, you have also defined an RTS task that monitors the USB-drive (from its root down) and a folder(tree) on your PC and that, as specified in the RTS "Command line:" entry, launches FFS to execute the saved *.ffs_batch sync when detecting relevant changes.
If you did not save that RTS configuration file yet, save it as a *.ffs_real file (via the File menu at the left top in the RTS GUI).

Disconnect your USB drive, and then start the RTS task from the GUI by pressing the red RTS Start button (mid bottom).
You have now manually started the RTS task, and can verify if it is working as intended / expected by connecting the USB drive and/or adding or editing a file and wait beyond the selected idle time.
If this works as intended, you have a correct RTS configuration, saved as a *.ffs_real file.

The last step is to start the RTS job automatically, instead of having to start it manually (as described above).
There are (at least?) three ways to achieve that.

- Via a shortcut placed in your autostart folder, executed at your login.
See: Example: Start RealTimeSync on login
- Via a *.bat, *.cmd, *.vbs or any other suitable script file placed in your autostart folder, executed at your login.
Any of these scripts should launch RTS, passing the *.ffs_real file as the first argument.
- By running the RTS task as a service, e.g. launched at computer startup.
See: Example: Start RealTimeSync as a Service

Probably the first option is the simplest, and is essentially described in full in the Manual.
You should save the shortcut in your autostart folder. How/where to find that folder is also described in that Manual section, but in Win10 is commonly C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

According to the Manual it should also be possible to start RTS passing a *.ffs_batch file as a first argument. I have no experience with that, but my (hopefully educated) guess tells me it likely will start monitoring all left-right locations specified in the *.ffs_batch file, use the RTS default idle time and, upon detecting changes, let RTS launch FFS to run the sync specified in the *.ffs_batch file.
Posts: 14
Joined: 29 Mar 2019

languageservicesco

OK, I have done everything and it is clearly running because I get a completion window when a sync is finished. However, I am not seeing what it does. I don't have the boxes checked for run minimized and auto-close, but no dialog is showing. I can play with deleting files and so on and see what happens, but it would be good to see the progress dialog. Am I misunderstanding something?
User avatar
Posts: 2251
Joined: 22 Aug 2012

Plerry

You can check the log file to see what FFS did, assuming you have
tick-marked the "Save log" box when saving the *ffs_batch-file.
Normally you can find the log-file in
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\FreeFileSync\Logs
Posts: 14
Joined: 29 Mar 2019

languageservicesco

Thanks. I think it is working ok, but my PC power supply has failed so I have other things on my plate at the moment! I will come back to this if there are any problems when I get the PC up and running again.