RTS runs even when there is no change

[languageservicesco]

About 6 months ago I set up RTS to sync a USB hard drive to my PC. I use that drive to take with me when I am travelling and using my laptop. It worked perfectly for most of that time, but over the last few weeks I have noticed that it is starting a sync but then says nothing was changed. In the window it says 0 bytes under progress, and on the log tab it says "nothing to synchronize". From reading the help and forum posts, this seems to not be the expected behaviour. Although it is clearly not causing problems, the fact that it runs every few minutes to no effect means there is unnecessary activity both on the PC and the hard drive, and I have to click away the window when it is finished and when it appears initially.

Anybody any ideas why this might be happening and how to resolve it? I have changed nothing in the command line or the batch file since I set it up. When this started, I increased the idle time from 120 seconds to 180, but that didn't appear to make any difference. Using a fully updated Windows 10, 64-bit PC.

[languageservicesco]

I've just been checking, and the interval between when it runs is not related to the idle time.

[languageservicesco]

Have I missed anything or left out information? Is this really a unique problem?

[Plerry]

Your terminology is confusing.
RealTimeSync (RTS) is used to monitor folders for changes,
and upon detection of any changes launches a specified application, normally FFS.
FreeFileSync (FFS) is a sync program that compares the content of specified file locations,
proposes/determines sync actions and ultimate executes the sync actions.

If you have configured RTS to monitor for insertion/connection of a USB-stick/drive
as described in the Manual (Automatic synchronization when a USB stick is inserted), RTS will detect insertion/connection of your USB stick/drive as a "change" and launch FFS (even if neither the content of the USB location nor the content of your local counter-folder(s) has changed since the last sync; RTS has no method to detect if anything was changed while the USB-drive was disconnected).
As launched by RTS, FFS will then do a Compare, and may conclude that everything included in the specified sync is already in sync, and propose/take no actions.

[languageservicesco]

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure where the confusion has arisen, but I will try to clarify. The USB hard drive is normally connected to my PC and RTS is set up so that it will launch FFS when it is inserted or when there are file changes in the monitored folders. This worked fine for nearly 6 months. Just lately, FFS is being launched while the drive is connected and then reports that there has been no change. I understand that it will do a compare on connection and may find no changes, but this is a change of behaviour for when the drive is already connected. According to the documentation, it should only launch if a change in one of the monitored folders is detected. It now seems to launch when changes are made, but also seemingly randomly when no changes have occurred.

[Plerry]

OK, that changes the scope of your question …
Did you recently install some new virus scanner, or some other tool that may incidentally be "touching" your files?
If so, RTS may recognize such events as a change and launch FFS.
After which FFS compares and finds no changes.

[languageservicesco]

Thanks for the response. I haven't installed anything new recently. My setup has been pretty stable for a while now.I am confused though how one part of the system would identify a change while the other part doesn't. Wouldn't RTS and FFS use the same criteria to identify a change? Is there any way of identifying the trigger event, like a log file entry?

[xCSxXenon]

Well FFS doesn't detect changes at all. See if you have restore points turned on for the external hard drive. If there is any modification to a file or metadata, it will pick up and trigger a sync.

[languageservicesco]

It doesn't detect changes as they occur, but FFS detects changes in files when it does its scan to decide which files to sync. My point is that the two programs would logically use the same criteria to decide if a file has changed, otherwise the two wouldn't work together and this forum would be flooded with this issue. I don't have restore points turned on for the external hard drive.

The other point here is that this is a change in behaviour compared to the first 5 months of use.

[Plerry]

... My point is that the two programs would logically use the same criteria to decide if a file has changed, otherwise the two wouldn't work together ...

The two programs do use completely different methods.
From the RTS Manual page:
"RealTimeSync will register to receive change notifications directly from the operating system in order to avoid the overhead of repeatedly polling for changes. Each time a file or folder is created/updated/deleted in the monitored directories or their sub directories, RealTimeSync will run the command line."
Normally the RTS command line will launch a specific FFS sync.

FFS however, scans the left and right folder(s) and its subfolders and compares files based on the selected criteria, so it is a completely different method than RTS uses. Using the compare results and the selected rules, FFS then proposes (and ultimately executes) sync actions.

But, there is no link between RTS and FFS other than that RTS may launch FFS (or any other applications, if so specified in the RTS command line).
RTS and FFS (when working as intended) forming a good combination, rests exactly in the fact that the two use different detection methods (as explained in the RTS manual section) that sort of complement each other.

[languageservicesco]

OK, thanks for that, but this still doesn't explain the situation and why the behaviour should suddenly change. Is there no log entry that can be looked at? Is there a Windows log that would record file changes? I know that would be rather extensive, but I can narrow down the search a lot as it would only be happening in one of two folders and I can look for a very specific time once FFS has been triggered where there have been no changes. I will have a look in Windows, that might be another approach.

[languageservicesco]

OK, looks like I will have to go on the hunt again for a sync program that does what I need it to do. It is getting really irritating having a window popping up every few minutes to achieve nothing. If I knew I could trust it to work properly, I obviously wouldn't need to see the window, but at the moment it isn't working as it should. I have set up some custom views in Event Viewer, and can't find any link between changes to files and FFS being triggered, so unless RTS logs its actions, that seems to be a dead end.

[xCSxXenon]

You can save the batch job so it runs in a hidden window. As for why it is detecting changes when none are made, there is probably a reason unrelated to FFS/RTS. USB ports going into power save mode, Windows defender pinging it periodically, power plan option, etc.

[languageservicesco]

As I wrote above, I don't want it to run hidden when it isn't working properly, and I don't want it running when there is no need for it. I appreciate your response, but none of this explains why it has suddenly changed. I have not changed power settings, and if it was being caused by Windows Defender, I wouldn't be the only one who was experiencing this. I assume as there has been no response regarding a log for RTS that there isn't one, which is a great pity as that would resolve the issue. Whether it is unrelated or not, if RTS can't handle bogus triggers, it isn't useful to me, so I will have to find an alternative. Thanks for your help though.