We are trying to use FreeFileSync to migrate our Windows physical file server to a Windows virtual machine hosted on VMware.
The first synchronization steps have worked well.
Unfortunately, however, FreeFileSync checks the file size on disk rather than just the file size.
Old and new file servers use differently formatted disks.
Each file has a different size after it is synchronized with the new server.
Even with the option "detect moved files" enabled, FreeFileSync always wants to delete everything from the new server and copy it again.
In this case we can never do a final delta sync.
Do you have any tips for me on how FreeFileSync only considers the file size and not the file size on the hard disk?
Ignore file size on disk when comparing data
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I never experienced this, and have run FFS syncs without any problems between FAT, FAT32, NTFS, EXT3 and EXT4 formatted media, each with different data-block sizes. As far as I know, FFS uses the data-size and not the size occupied on disk as the input for its Compare phase.
You could check the actual data-size of files in your old and new location. If those are different, FFS is simply correct in its conclusion. Differences in data-size may be caused by tools adding (or deleting) pieces of data, e.g. attributes. Some AV tools are known to modify data-content and/or file dates. A tool like WinMerge or BeyondCompare may help to determine any such differences.
You could check the actual data-size of files in your old and new location. If those are different, FFS is simply correct in its conclusion. Differences in data-size may be caused by tools adding (or deleting) pieces of data, e.g. attributes. Some AV tools are known to modify data-content and/or file dates. A tool like WinMerge or BeyondCompare may help to determine any such differences.
