Sync from multiple folders ("virtual folder) to one

[opemeister]

Hi,

I'd like to achieve the following, but I'm not sure it's possible with FFS:

* I have a "master" backup on a large external HDD. Let's say there's one large folder "pictures-master" with a LOT of pictures.
* I also have subsets of the pictures scattered across multiple other locations. E.g. "pictures-1" and "pictures-2" on different partitions, both containing one half of the pictures in "pictures-master"

I want to regularly sync all the pictures-x folders to "pictures-master". Ideally, I would select all the "pictures-x" folder on the left side, the "pictures-master" on the right and use the 'update' sync option. Then, FFS would check, if pictures-master contains the sum of all the pictures-x folders and copy those over that are missing.
Essentially, I want FFS to treat multiple folders as a single 'virtual folder' against which I can compare the master.

Is something like this possible? I can only select multiple sync pairs, but that doesn't seem to solve my issue.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Plerry]

If all pictures in your "pictures-master" are in one-and-the-same directory, you need to use the Update sync variant or a Custom sync variant; not the Mirror variant.

In the Update variant X => Master, if a newer version of a file exists on the Master, those changes will not be synced to X. This may be quite OK if each of your files is only created and edited on a unique X-machine (e.g.: file23 and file67 are always edited on machine 1; file12, file 15 and file 29 are always edited on machine 2; etc.).

In a Custom sync variant, you would need to select:
for the category "Item exists on left side only" choose the action "Copy new item to right"
for the category "Left item is newer" choose the action "Update right item"
for the category "Conflict/ item can not be categorized" choose whatever best suits your use case.
for the category "Right item is newer" choose the action "Update left item"
for the category "Item exists on right side only" choose the action "Do nothing"

But, be aware that you need to run all X => Master syncs sequentially.
If you try to run all in one sync, you will get a (correct) warning that there is an overlap; the overlap of all syncs being the Master location.

[Zenju]

But, be aware that you need to run all X => Master syncs sequentially.
If you try to run all in one sync, you will get a (correct) warning that there is an overlap; the overlap of all syncs being the Master location.

Not anymore: viewtopic.php?t=9874#p36617
(unless there is an *actual* clash of file names)

[opemeister]

Thanks so much, @Plerry for the hint! That solves most of my tasks :)

Testing your proposed solution, I realized that I have one more 'requirement' that I didn't describe:
I want to be able to tell if there is anything on "master" that's not in any one of the other folders. That's what I meant with 'virtual folder' I guess.

The problem with the update or custom sync option is that it - of course - simply ignores new files on the right. If I set it to 'copy to left', than it's also not helpful, because each file on the right will only exist in one of three folders on the left, so it will always want to copy the new file to the other two locations. I basically want to only see files which are NOT present in ANY folder on the left.
I have a shell-scripted workaround for that, but it would be nice if this was possible with FFS as well.

[xCSxXenon]

I want to be able to tell if there is anything on "master" that's not in any one of the other folders. That's what I meant with 'virtual folder' I guess.

Sounds outside the scope of a syncing program