Forever scrolling History of "Failed to download" and "Finished Syncing"

[decoy5657]

I was sucessfully syncing a large number of files between two computers. Replaced one of the computers, manually copied data from the old computer to the new one, installed sync on the new computer and set up the shared folder pointing it to the existing data.

Date Event 
09/03/13 08:44:18 Failed to download LOSSLESS-alac\The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Dawn to Dusk) [alac]\The Smashing Pumpkins_13_Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans.m4a - CloseHandles: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.  

and then one second later it shows

Date Event 
09/03/13 08:45:19 Finished syncing file LOSSLESS-alac\The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Dawn to Dusk) [alac]\The Smashing Pumpkins_13_Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans.m4a added by aatower 

[GreatMarko]

You don't specify which operating system(s) your devices are running, but two thoughts immediately spring to mind

1) The system clock on one of your devices is incorrect - which is why Sync is trying to re-download previously in-sync files

2) It's a permissions issue - which is why Sync is reporting "cannot create file" when trying to overwrite an existing file

[bherila]

I have the same problem, this is on Windows 8 and it is possible that one of the system clocks is wrong. For sure, some of the computers are in different time zones. Will that make any difference? Is it possible to get back into a good state?

[Harold Feit]

Make sure the time zones are set properly on all machines and then synchronize them ALL to the same time server.

All timestamp comparisons are normalized to one timezone.

[bherila]

OK, so I've done this and restarted bittorrent sync on all the machines. However it is still doing this. Is there a way of fixing it other than deleting the folder and making it re-scan 80+ GB of files?

[Harold Feit]

Using what specific version of sync?

[bherila]

This is on v 1.1.48

Thanks for all your help, btw.

[Harold Feit]

Try with 1.1.70 please

[bherila]

I'm seeing  "Client version is up to date" when I check for updates. Where can we get 1.1.70?

[bherila]

I found it, never mind... will test and let you know. Thanks again!

[Tel]

Im getting a lot of these errors too. All windows devices (6 devices all looking at the same folder / secret) are running 1.1.69, all have time syncing SW all looking at the same time server.

 

In all cases, it seems that the file was sucessfully downloaded by another device, then when the last node tries to finish the file and rename the .!sync file to its true extension the file already exists.

 

When it gets really bad I do a search and delete all the sync files.

 

It's possible that the end points broadband speed may play a part as 'David' connection is really slow, whereas 'Howard' is really quick. I wonder is Howard is finishing off the file while David is catching up, then BTS discovers it's already been synced as David sends the last segment (I think your calling it a hash)

[jonjones]

Yeah, I'm having exactly the same error as everyone here: 

 

CloseHandles: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

 

Windows 7, all devices running 1.1.69, syncing eight folders with 275gb of data. It started happening as soon as I relocated the folders to a network drive. I've already confirmed we're syncing to the same timeservers and time zones are set properly.

 

This is what I did to relocate the directories without re-syncing, with directions from the Unofficial BTSync FAQ (I believe):

 

1) Create new directories on network drive

2) Copy over all the files from the old location (perhaps my mistake? I wanted to avoid a re-sync)

3) Copy existing folder Secrets

4) Remove Sync Folder

5) Add Sync Folder

6) Paste in original folder Secrets

7) Point to new directories

 

So it's constant errors now, and I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas?

[harold19]

Does anyone have any idea as to progress on sorting out this problem. It is going to be a showstopper for me -- unfortunate given that Sync is the most exciting software I have encountered in a while.

 

It seems to relate to files which are somehow open (but not locked) - in my case, bits of my firefox profile and also files open in a text-editor. The receiving computer somehow manages to send a changed file (identical but slightly time touched) back to the computer on which the file is open. This then leads to potential data loss as the receiver tries to send outdated files back (in my text editor I see this as a message "an external application has altered your text file - do you want to load the modified file" - if I do so then I lose all my edits since my last save.

 

I am using Win 8.1 on the computer where files are actually altered, and XP on the passive recipient (in terms of all of these files). Both computers are time synchronised to within a second.

 

It would seem to be a pretty serious bug (and one that should be pretty easy to debug) yet this has been going on for some time.

 

Any help much appreciated to enable me to continue using BTS with less trepidation. Below is a snatch of my endlessly repeated log file (in this case part of a firefox profile on a the "receiving" computer which does not use this profile in firefox and yet send unmodified "old" files back to the computer that opened the files.

 

[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Torrent \\?\X:\TheData\Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\C\68\6BEA5m01 status:137 error:<NULL> meta:1 conns:1 io:0
[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Torrent \\?\X:\TheData\Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\B\8C\53ADAm01 status:152 error:PostDownload: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.  meta:1 conns:0 io:0
[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Error downloading file Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\B\8C\53ADAm01: PostDownload: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Force unloading torrent \\?\X:\TheData\Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\B\8C\53ADAm01
[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Torrent \\?\X:\TheData\Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\A\4A\55BA6d01 status:137 error:<NULL> meta:1 conns:1 io:0
[2014-02-14 00:16:02.359] Torrent \\?\X:\TheData\Firefox Profiles\aks7663b.default\Cache\9\F0\5B1E9d01 status:152 error:PostDownload: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.  meta:1 conns:0 io:0
 

Edited February 14, 2014 by harold19

[harold19]

Having just lost a buch of files to this bug, I am having to remove Bittorrent Sync from all of my machines. Several of my files subject to this bug were overwritten by older files from another machine.

 

I do wish they would sort it out, or at least try to respond to work with users -- there is little point progressing this software (or commercializing it, which would seem very worthwhile) when critical bugs (i.e . those that lead to data loss and reputational loss) remain unaddressed.

[GreatMarko]

Having just lost a buch of files to this bug, I am having to remove Bittorrent Sync from all of my machines.

If you've not changed the default SyncArchive settings then you most likely won't have actually lost any files - they'll be in SyncArchive folders!

 

I do wish they would sort it out, or at least try to respond to work with users

The developers DO work with users and DO respond to users - just have a quick look through this forum, and you'll see there are no end of responses from the devs responding to the user base by offering solutions to problems and/or asking for more information/debug logs etc so that issues can be troubleshooted and resolved!!!

 

-- there is little point progressing this software (or commercializing it, which would seem very worthwhile) when critical bugs (i.e . those that lead to data loss and reputational loss) remain unaddressed.

Perhaps you're not aware, but Sync is actually in BETA right now. If you're familiar with how software is made and the development processes involved, you'll understand what software with a "beta" tag means!

 

"Beta" software - whether it's Sync or any other "beta" software - can be expected to have bugs, things not behaving as you quite expect, or other issues which may include data loss. That's what "beta" software is!

 

When "critical" bugs are discovered in beta builds of Sync, the team are quick to release updates. If, after searching this forum, you're unable to find answers/solutions/workarounds for your specific issue, and you believe you've found a "critical bug" that no one else has encountered, please follow the steps in this thread for reporting your issue - this thread also tells you what information is needed by the devs in order to help them reproduce your issue.... but the developers WILL look into your report, and WILL respond to your report.

[RomanZ]

harold19,

 

Every application works differently with files. A bunch of operations (copying, moving, deleting, renaming etc.) is covered behind simple "app saves file" action. This is the main source of issues like yours. 

 

Could you please share which files did you lose? Is it a firefox profile pieces or something else?

 

 

GreatMarko,

 

Thank you for support. Both Sync Support Team and whole Sync team are doing its best to help all users and fix all bugs reported.