Two Problems: "destination Folder Is Not Empty" Loop And Junctions

[ratavaz]

Hi all,

While testing BittorrentSync I've found out two problems that it seems I cannot solve, hope to find some help here.

 

I'm in the process of moving from Cubby to BitTorrent sync and as such I'll have to sync a bunch of folders already synchronized and having exactly the same content.

I need to sync folders spread all over my HD, thus I'm not going to use the default "BitTorrent Sync" folder but prefer to create and sync single specific folders.

 

As a test I've tried to sync a test folder called "TestBittorrentSync" located in Desktop of both my main Windows PC and my Windows laptop. Both test folders are perfectly identical, containing a few test files and an additional folder.

 

I've followed the following steps

1. In my main Windows PC have added to BitTorrent Sync the Desktop\TestBittorrentSync folder with the "Add Folder" button
2. In my main Windows PC have copied the share link (Right Click Menu/Share.../Copy)
3. In my laptop have selected "Option\Manual Connection..."
4. In the dialog box have added the link that I got from at step 2 and pressed next
5. In the following "Connect to folder" dialog have selected as a destination "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\TestBittorrentSync", as I said before the folder already exists and has the same content as the one in the original PC.
6. When I click on "Next" a warining dialog appears saying "Destination folder is not empty and files could be overwritten. Add anyway?".
7. If I select "OK" the dialog appears again, and keep appearing whenever I click on "OK". The only chance of leaving the loop is clicking "Cancel" but of course the folder is not connected.

I have found just few references to similar problem but no solution to it and no clear indication if it's a known bug and/or if a workaround does exist.

Can anyone help me or show me the right way to do it?

 

The second problem is that if I add a Junction in a synced folder, it seems that the junction is ignored by Bittorrent Sync and it is not synced, neither for a junction folder and its content nor for a file.

Again, it's not clear to me if it's a known bug, if syncing junctions is not an available feature or if is there any trick to address this issue.

 

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

Best Regards

Paolo

\

[AlexanderD]

ratavaz, We've created a support ticket (#25017) for you. Let's proceed there.

Best regards,
Sync support team.

[kitchensync]

I also have this problem.

 

And I went through an arduous account-creation process that didn't know the earth is "globular" or "globe" in shape,  nor the correct spelling of Barack Obama, to say so.

[bicman11]

So, I did a crazy hack to make this work (and it seemed to, but I can't really verify 4.85 gigs of files).  Here are my steps if anyone wants to try.

 

This is all because clicking "ok" on syncing a non-empty folder won't work.  For this we'll assume Computer 1 and Computer 2 have a folder with identical data.  We'll call it folder1.

 

1. Remove any references to folder1 in BTSync.

2. Add folder1 to BTSync on Computer 1.

3. Copy the share link.

4. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 1 (so it doesn't start syncing until you're ready).

5. Rename folder1 to folder2 on Computer 2.

6. Add folder1 (which is now empty) to BTSync on Computer2 (via the share link).

7. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 2.

8. Copy the .sync folder from folder1 to folder2.

9. Either delete or rename folder1, so you can rename folder2 back to folder1.

10. Now that you have your computers set up how they should be (with BTSync references AND all of your data) you can restart BTSync on both computers.

 

The indexing time will depend on how much data you have, but it should be substantially less than actually transferring the data.

[cjvs]

So, I did a crazy hack to make this work (and it seemed to, but I can't really verify 4.85 gigs of files).  Here are my steps if anyone wants to try.

 

This is all because clicking "ok" on syncing a non-empty folder won't work.  For this we'll assume Computer 1 and Computer 2 have a folder with identical data.  We'll call it folder1.

 

1. Remove any references to folder1 in BTSync.

2. Add folder1 to BTSync on Computer 1.

3. Copy the share link.

4. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 1 (so it doesn't start syncing until you're ready).

5. Rename folder1 to folder2 on Computer 2.

6. Add folder1 (which is now empty) to BTSync on Computer2 (via the share link).

7. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 2.

8. Copy the .sync folder from folder1 to folder2.

9. Either delete or rename folder1, so you can rename folder2 back to folder1.

10. Now that you have your computers set up how they should be (with BTSync references AND all of your data) you can restart BTSync on both computers.

 

The indexing time will depend on how much data you have, but it should be substantially less than actually transferring the data.

Had the issue on my QNAP nas with 2.0.105 too. Your way worked and saved me a lot of data copying! The only difference being that I did not shut down the computer, but quit the app on computer one (mac) and switched off the app on the qnap in the app center.

[WebAsh]

So, I did a crazy hack to make this work (and it seemed to, but I can't really verify 4.85 gigs of files).  Here are my steps if anyone wants to try.

 

This is all because clicking "ok" on syncing a non-empty folder won't work.  For this we'll assume Computer 1 and Computer 2 have a folder with identical data.  We'll call it folder1.

 

1. Remove any references to folder1 in BTSync.

2. Add folder1 to BTSync on Computer 1.

3. Copy the share link.

4. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 1 (so it doesn't start syncing until you're ready).

5. Rename folder1 to folder2 on Computer 2.

6. Add folder1 (which is now empty) to BTSync on Computer2 (via the share link).

7. Shutdown BTSync on Computer 2.

8. Copy the .sync folder from folder1 to folder2.

9. Either delete or rename folder1, so you can rename folder2 back to folder1.

10. Now that you have your computers set up how they should be (with BTSync references AND all of your data) you can restart BTSync on both computers.

 

The indexing time will depend on how much data you have, but it should be substantially less than actually transferring the data.

 

Great little 'hack'. This worked perfectly.

[ratavaz]

Hi,

I've been in contact with BT and provided them some logs.

It seems they have found the problem and are going to fix it in one of the next releases.

 

In the meantime I've also found an easier alternative, at least for me, to the procedure described by bicman11.

If the folder you want to sync is listed in the main screen of BitTorrent sync (but not yet connected), when you click on the "Connect" button at the right of the name the folder will be created in the default BitTorrent Sync folder.

If you CTRL+Click on the "Connect" button, the dialog to choose where to place the folder will appear (just like when you enter the link doing a manual connection). If you select a folder that already contains the one you want to sync, the "syncing a non empty folder" dialog box will appear but this time by clicking OK everything will work as expected and no loop will be triggered.

 

To me it is the easiest way right now 'cos I selected the option so that my folders do not get automatically synced when I add one.

 

Watch out, in the latest version, the "Connect" button is visible only when you pass over it with the mouse.

 

Hope it will help.

Paolo

[JJMcKay]

Here's what I had to do when I got the message on my Android device (Nexus 6).

 

 

1. Using an Android file manager app, I renamed the folder in a custom location that I was trying to sync to something else. e.g., "reddit_sync" to "reddit_syncx"

 

2. I made a new folder with the name of the original in the same location. e.g., "reddit_sync"

 

3. Then I proceeded to connect the folders again. I used the QR code from my desktop BitTorrent Sync application. Since they are both empty at this juncture, it should connect successfully.

 

4. Then move (or copy if you're paranoid) the files back from the folder you renamed in step 1 into the connected new one.

 

 

Voila. Things should start syncing.