markymark77 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 I've tried BitTorrent Sync 1.3 and 1.4 and have to say that whilst it's a great idea I'm more than a little underwhelmed by it's ability to actually synchronise files. I have a Pi running rasbian linked to 2 x Macs, a Windows machine, an Ubuntu box, an Android phone and an iPad. Most of these devices have an issue with Sync 1.4.75. The Pi is incapable of synching anything with special characters in the filename (fresh install). I also have to run a cron job to keep an eye on btsync as it crashes so often. The iPad app crashes on a regular basis (New iPad, few other apps installed) The Windows machine blue screens then reboots if I allow Sync to run for too long (Win 7, fresh install). Deleted files sometimes reappear....?? Last straw was my phone (Nexus 5) trying to melt it's way through my pocket after Sync tried to download a huge folder of files even though Auto-Sync was disabled.... The only fully successful and stable sync happens on a small document folder between the two Mac machines. If it was just the Pi then I'd put it down to my mediocre grasp of linux but it's pretty much every device! This sort of behavior is fine for beta software but it's not advertised as 'beta' so what am I missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICE Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 This sort of behavior is fine for beta software but it's not advertised as 'beta' so what am I missing? Sorry if i can't help you, but just to clarify:You are missing, that this IS a beta software, see http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/17782-bittorrent-sync-faq-unofficial/ where it says "...Please do bear in mind that BitTorrent Sync is currently just a "beta", and therefore it may not currently have all the features/functionality/behavior that you'd ideally like to see!" It might help if you start creating debug logs, as support will most likely ask you for those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 The funny thing is that this beta status GreatMarko insists on is not mentioned anywhere at all on the official web site:http://www.bittorrent.com/intl/en/sync Everything there and during setup gives you the impression of a finished product. I don't think it's fair to hide behind the "beta" status if the user is not alerted to it anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatMarko Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 The funny thing is that this beta status GreatMarko insists on is not mentioned anywhere at all on the official web site:http://www.bittorrent.com/intl/en/sync Everything there and during setup gives you the impression of a finished product. I don't think it's fair to hide behind the "beta" status if the user is not alerted to it anywhere. ChrisH, please see Introducing Sync 1.4 (which is also linked to directly from the main website http://www.bittorrent.com/sync/ directly below the main download button) and note the very first line of that article: "New in Sync 1.4 Beta" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 I'm just saying that as a normal user that just goes to the website, downloads the app and installs it, you never read "beta" anywhere. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the documentation and blogs and whatnot, but nowhere prominent. It doesn't even say beta anywhere in the app itself. So I still think it's unfair to expect the average user to know he is using an unstable beta product.Bittorrent can't have it both ways. Either they make it very clear it's a beta product and then it's okay to use that as an argument if there are changes and errors, or they don't and it isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanZ Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 @markymark77As GreatMarko mentioned - the product status is Beta, so there are some issues happening to it. If you are willing to help us with your issues - we'll be happy to find out what happens to your Sync - and make it better. @ChrisHIIUC you say that people does not read docs that's why they are unaware of the fact Sync is beta. Fair enough (though not that good for people). I'll check how we can make it more clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 IIUC you say that people does not read docs that's why they are unaware of the fact Sync is beta. Fair enough (though not that good for people). I'll check how we can make it more clear.Well, it's always easy to blame the user (I'm a product manager myself - I know). But I would certainly say you don't exactly advertise the fact anymore. It's not mentioned in the (official) FAQ, it's not mentioned anywhere on the product page, it's not mentioned in the 1.4 blog post (http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/08/26/introducing-bittorrent-sync-1-4-an-easier-way-to-share-large-files/) and like I said it's not even mentioned in the app itself. And if the new 1.4 UI is as easy-to-use as you claim in the aforementioned blog post, frankly the average user should not have to read the docs in the first place ;-) So yes, I should you should make it more clear. A simple "beta" after the version number on the download pages and in the app itself should be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanZ Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 @ChrisHIt is an issue of a renovated web-site, will be fixed soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markymark77 Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 As far as I'm concerned, making it absolutely clear that this is Beta software is a missed opportunity... Most average users now expect software to just work. Modern operating systems, smart phone apps and mobile OS's have changed user perception of what is acceptable. Your average computer user also has Android or an iPhone and expects to see the same stability and usability that they see on their mobile OS. BitTorrent Sync has so much potential, it was widely reviewed and publicised with lots of positive feedback. This obviously leads to people downloading and installing BtSync. If it then doesn't work, only a minority (fellow geeks!) then go to forums etc to deal with their issues. Most would un-install and revert back to Dropbox/Box/iCloud etc. Personally, I'd prefer to have the core product sorted before upgrading the UI. The new interface is nice but it's interfacing software that doesn't seem to work properly. That's a mistake in my eyes.... I've gone back to other sync software for my music libraries, Dropbox for my documents and I'll see how BtSync goes with my photo library. I can't have my phone crashing or deleted files reappearing so BtSync has been removed from my phone and iPad and I'll try again when the forums look less noisy... Keep up the good work, it'll be a great product at some point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markymark77 Posted October 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 @RomanZ Can we have a go at fixing my main issue, deleted files reappearing.... I've posted here http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/31990-correct-sync-behaviour/ I've seen this issue mentioned on the forums before but there doesn't seem to be a solution. Perhaps you can help us with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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