Why are files slated for deletion and not updated in a two-way sync?

[dilbert99]

I don't even remotely understand this. I don't want any files deleted, but aren't they supposed to be updated and not deleted? I can't even find a way for the program to show me what files its going to delete, it references them in the bottom right corner, but in the viewing area, showing those files does not appear to be an option. I'm trying to sync stuff, not delete stuff. I can't even find a way to turn off such deletions. In the settings there is an option to create multiple versions of files to avoid deletion, but if we're updating files, then wouldn't that no be considered "deletion" to begin with?

[xCSxXenon]

Check your sync settings. If they are right, FFS must think that they were deleted from one side so it wants to delete them from the other side. Manually copy them over to the other side and it should be fine from there

[dilbert99]

I don't know how to see what files it is referencing, how do I do that? How does it draw the conclusion that files are deleted from one side? I've had it ignore files that were 0 bytes vs multiple MB in size without a problem in the world or a declaration of any sort.

[xCSxXenon]

FFS uses a sync.db file that keeps track of the deletions/moves/renames. In that database file, it says that those files were deleted so naturally it should also delete them from the other side. Not sure what the size filters have to do with anything.
Re-reading your post, you may be talking about FFS wanting to delete and re-copy files instead of moving or renaming them? If so, that is what the sync.db file is supposed to keep track of, but you need to run the full sync at least once for it to get a baseline structure

[dilbert99]

How do I make it stop "keeping track" of deletions? I don't want it to make decisions like that. I'm consolidating (maybe) dozens of different but similar folders that I'm trying to fully consolidate. I had multiple copies of these folders to avoid losing data, but now I find the need to consolidate them due to some hard drive failures (that have caused some files to be corrupted) and to break everything down to one main directory. I have no need for it to "keep track of deletions" and any such action would be extremely disruptive to my goals.

Its the contrast in file sizes that I was merely referencing as a possible comparison of how the program works. A file that has literally no data, versus one that has 3 MB of data, I would think would raise some sort of significant flag, yet the program tries to pretend that the 0MB file, because it was copied or moved more recently, is somehow the "better" copy, even though its a file that was corrupted beyond recognition.

In all my syncs, I have NEVER instructed it to delete files, so I, again, have no idea why it would "presume" the files were actively deleted and were not merely missing from one folder.

[xCSxXenon]

You shouldn't use two-way and should instead use a custom defined sync

[dilbert99]

"custom" doesn't appear to resolve this problem.

[xCSxXenon]

Then you didn't set it up correctly? If you don't set any conflicts to lead to deletion in custom settings, then it won't delete them like you are having a problem with. What do you even mean you can't see what FFS wants to 'delete', and you can only see something in the bottom-right corner? Take screenshots

[dilbert99]

I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't know what's in the bottom right corner of the window of FFA, then that leaves me very concerned about the validity of your claimed assistance. Either way, this is what it looks like.

ffa problems 1.jpg (417.36 KiB) Viewed 2955 times

[xCSxXenon]

If you search me on the forum, you can see the amount of posts I have made and come to your own conclusion on my knowledge. I just wanted to see what it said down there if you aren't able to see it in the compare window. Is it the fact that there are millions of files being displayed in the compare window that you can't see them? Are you using the display filters at the bottom middle after running a compare? You can select/deselect those to only show files that are slated to deleted

[666]

I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't know what's in the bottom right corner of the window of FFA, then that leaves me very concerned about the validity of your claimed assistance. Either way, this is what it looks like.ffa problems 1.jpg

In a two-way sync FFS will delete the file if the file have been deleted on the opposite panel after last sync.
Use custom sync can solve this problem.

Click the green gear.

Snipaste_2021-07-09_17-13-43.png (12.55 KiB) Viewed 2933 times

Then set actions as below.

Snipaste_2021-07-09_17-15-43.png (13.58 KiB) Viewed 2933 times

Hope it works.

[dilbert99]

Thank you to both of you. It turns out, though I can't nail it down entirely, sometimes it will show on the list of files (the files to be deleted) and sometimes it does not.

I do not see how clicking the green gear and going to custom resolves this.

Though it turns out the files it always wants to delete are already in the recycling bin, which, I don't get why its a default that it wants to delete them, as if I wanted them deleted, I'd delete them myself. Seems imposing. Also, it turns out the buttons on the bottom center of the screen showing which types of files to show me doesn't always show the "files to be deleted". I cannot determine why this is the case.

[xCSxXenon]

Recycle Bin should be excluded by default, you must have removed it. Set the filters back to the defaults

[dilbert99]

That doesn't explain; why would it, by default, not copy the recycling bin. Its a folder. Refusing to copy it and identifying it for deletion doesn't conform to the standard rules of, what I would expect, from file syncing software.

[xCSxXenon]

Because the Recycle Bin folder isn't transferrable, they have unique IDs and it will most likely cause the Recycle Bin on the destination to be corrupted and reset anyway

[dilbert99]

I have, on numerous occasions, manually copied recycle bin folders (outside of FFS) and never had any issues as you have described.

[xCSxXenon]

You do mean "$RECYCLE.BIN" right?
It's useless to copy and most people don't want to sync files that they have deleted anyway, so it's excluded by default. If it's copied to a different drive, then restored, it doesn't put it on that drive. The restore location is part of the files in the the Recycle Bin

[dilbert99]

What business does it have automatically deleting my Recycle Bin files to begin with?

This program is starting to scare me. I just did a comparison based upon file size between two very large folders. When selecting "two-way" it decided it wanted to overwrite some of the larger files with the smaller files (that were small because they were previously corrupted) and it wanted to delete nearly 2 terabytes worth of files that were spread over 40k files. None of which were in the recycling bin and none of which were already on both drives. They were only on one drive. Not even the folders existed on both sides. Deletions should NOT be the default (or anything similar to a default) reaction by a file synchronization program.

Switching to "custom two-way" appears to have resolved the overwhelming desire of this program to delete my important files for no clear reason, but it seems like it should be a given that it shouldn't be doing that to begin with.

[xCSxXenon]

The software will only do what it is told you do, which means you must fully understand how it works to avoid data loss. Syncing locations includes deleting data sometimes, there is no default/not default about it. There must be something odd going on in your setup and you don't understand it. It will overwrite older files with newer files, whether the newer ones are smaller, bigger, or corrupted. That's the reason multiple backups are necessary. FFS doesn't delete any Recycle Bins
Maybe this isn't the solution for you, good luck in your endeavors

[dilbert99]

The software will only do what it is told to do, but the programming appears to tell the program to do things that are not clearly disclosed to the user or are not provided as an option for the user to change in the settings windows.

1. Syncing locations does include overwriting files, but there is no option I can find which includes deleting files that are located on only one side of the sync process. If it makes sense, then it should be explained, clearly.

2. I only understand what is right in front of me; if there's some weird variable that is going to outright delete the same data I'm trying to sync, then it should be explained by the program. Why would a sync program not explain something as significant as that?

3. If the program is set to "date and size" comparison, then, yes, that makes sense. It'll overwrite the old with the newer. Which is why I set it to "file size" since somehow some corrupted files, apparently with data loss, had newer dates for some unknown reason. Yet, in spite of it being set to "file size" it continued to deprioritize file size.

4. Yes, it literally deletes recycle bins. Here's a screenshot showing it doing so when I actually approved it.

Inkedffs deleting recycling bin_LI 2.jpg (273.53 KiB) Viewed 2161 times

5. The ultimate issue appears to be communication. This program does things that don't make sense, but also doesn't explain them or give various options in the settings. Many of the things you are saying could be mentioned in the program or be given as clear cut options before it disrupts someone's usage.

[ffsfixer]

I think I understand what the author of this is saying. I recently had a drive start having bad sectors and corruption while it was doing a FFS two-way sync. After that I tried fixing the drive with the NTFS chkdsk /f /r and then I thought the drive was ok. Turned out the drive is bad, turned into a read-only mode. But somehow the FFS database must have shown the corrupted/missing files as what I wanted to delete, and I definitely did not. I have multiple backups of the same files but unknown to me at first when I was syncing it deleted the files from my good backups as well. I am not sure if synctoy would have done the same, that's what I was using previously. I really like FFS but maybe I don't understand it as well, or there should be a HEADS UP, I'm about to delete 10gb of data. Do you really want to do this???