Entire Folders Are Disappearing

[Zaurian]

I'm thrilled about the idea of BTSync, as I hate using cloud storage.  I've set up a couple of shares, the largest of which is about 180 Gb.  I have a desktop that is always on, a laptop and an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S4 all attached to this sync folder.  (My plan is to use a Rasperry Pi to sync to an additional always-on disk as well, once I get this going.)

 

The file share began on the laptop. I added the desktop and synchronization took place perfectly.  I then added the mobile devices and things worked fine too (they don't download the files, of course, but have access to them as necessary.)

 

However, entire directories are disappearing on me!  For example, I have a top level folder entitled "Customers".  I edited a file on the laptop yesterday several hierarchies down the tree and re-saved it.  Today the "Customers" folder and about 30 Gb of data has been moved to .SyncArchive on both the laptop and the desktop. 

 

So I started over.  I stopped synchronization and deleted everything from the desktop (I don't think you can take two identical directories and have them sync, right? You have to start with one master image all other clients initially synchronize to?)

 

But I'm getting the same thing.  All kinds of folders and files are initially synchronizing properly, but later they wind up in .SyncArchive with no explanation.  This is very confounding.  I have full read/write access to everything (confirmed by the initial synchronization success.)

 

I have everything backed up, and plus all my files wind up in .SyncArchive so I'm not worried about losing data.  But what could be causing this?  It seems a lot of people are having success with BTSync, and I haven't been able to find much on this topic other than people talking about permissions... are there other things that could cause this behavior?

 

Also, what is the best way to recover from this when it does happen?  On any given machine, should I drag the folder out of .SyncArchive back to the synchronized directory, or should I do this on multiple machines?  I'm assuming I have to do it on one and allow it to synchronize as new files.

 

Thanks!

[Harold Feit]

(I don't think you can take two identical directories and have them sync, right? You have to start with one master image all other clients initially synchronize to?)

This is incorrect for multiple systems that are using full access keys.

If you're using full-access keys, you end up having the two folders merge.

What specific version of sync are you running?

[Zaurian]

I've just started using BTSync, so I've downloaded the latest.  My Windows 7 laptop, WIndows 8.1 desktop and MacBook Pro (OS X 10.9.2) they all report running version 1.3.94.  On the iPhone 5S it's 1.3.35 and on the Samsung Galaxy S4 it's reporting 1.3.21.0

 

On the topic of the folders that have been moved to .SyncArchive, are you suggesting that the best course of action for now would be to drag the contents out of the .SyncArchive folder back in to the actively synchronized folder on all machines if I want to minimize the amount of time things need to be re-synchronized? 

 

Note that, even if I do this, I don't expect it to solve the problem of disappearing folders.  I just had more folders turn up missing on me.  These are in ancient directory structures that I haven't touched in years.  It's odd - for example, I have a folder called "Vendors" with several dozen subfolders.  They all synchronized initially.  Now, only 5 are left untouched, but about thirty or so subfolders have been moved to .SyncArchive.

[Zaurian]

I just thought of something - do you think this could have something to do with the mobile devices?  I set them up as Full Access.  Is it possible that if one of the mobile devices doesn't have the storage capacity to synchronize the entire directory structure that it looks as though certain files or directories should be deleted from the Sync folder for all devices?

 

I've removed the Full Access sync keys and I've set them back up as Read Only.  I'll import the files back on my desktop from the .SyncArchive folder and report back on whether or not this change seems to have had any effect on the disappearing folders.

[Harold Feit]

If you're going to move files out of the syncarchive folder I would recommend using a temporary location outside of your sync folder before putting them back in the main tree.

[Zaurian]

Too late LOL.

 

I already did a move everything from .SyncArchive back in to the main tree on both machines to see how it reacted.  I do have a separate backup of everything, so I'm not overly concerned with losing data - I just want to make sure this is going to work and to understand it thoroughly.

 

I have identified another potential issue.  While copying items from the .SyncArchive folder back in to the primary Sync folder, I get the following error on multiple files (Windows 8.1, 1Tb RAID 1 disk set, NTFS):

 

Source Path Too Long

The source file name(s) are larger than is supported by the file system. Try moving to a location which has a shorter path name, or try renaming to shorter name(s) before attempting this operation.

 

The SOURCE path:

E:\Users\Steve\Documents\- Company PC Documents\.SyncArchive\- XXXXXXXX Information Systems\NMS\Magazine Articles\Government Security News\Retired police lieutenant and systems integrator will describe success of citywide XXXXXXX surveillance at an XXXXX presentation in New York.pdf

 

This is, obviously, a lengthy filename!  Perhaps the location I am putting my Sync folder doesn't help (the "- Company PC Documents" folder).  I should start at the root of the drive.  I'm not sure how BTSync was able to put the file in this location, because I am now unable to delete or move it - I always get this same error.  Could this error also have something to do with BTSync not being able to create files and therefore causing them to be deleted from all members of the sync share?  Although, I somehow doubt this since the original sync procedure is successful.

 

 

[Zaurian]

Just an update, in case anyone else runs across this thread with a similar issue.

 

Making the mobile devices read-only seems to have solved my problem of disappearing folders.

 

I suspect that, as I said above, that when they are set up for Full Access they can wreak havoc on the share if they are unable to store the complete directory structure.

 

It's only been a number of hours since I made the change, but I was having the problem pretty consistently before making this change.

 

I would suggest that the developers look in to this and perhaps make recommendations that large shares not be set up as Full Access on mobile devices.

 

If I do run in to the problem again, I'll report back here on this thread.

 

Cheers!

Z

[herry]

Hi, I have a problem:

happen in downloading the file "BTSync.exe" from this site ,Kapersky delete it as a virus of Trojan while download is finished.

everytime, what should I do?

[GreatMarko]

Hi, I have a problem:

happen in downloading the file "BTSync.exe" from this site ,Kapersky delete it as a virus of Trojan while download is finished.

everytime, what should I do?

 

herry, your post very off-topic to the subject matter of this thread! However, if you've downloaded BitTorrent Sync from official sources, and your AV software is detecting a threat, it will be a "false positive" - Sync downloaded from official sources it doesn't contain any viruses/trojans. See the Virus Total analysis for proof.

 

If your problem persists, please consider making a new post in the Sync Troubleshooting forum, rather than posting in a thread which deals with an entirely different topic.