Initial Setup With Robocopy /mir - Junction Issues Moving Lots Of Files To Archive


EricM

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I just detailed a separate issue in this post:

 

http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/40825-initial-setup-with-robocopy-mir-lots-in-archive-and-cant-proceed-rename-file/

 

 

I have 5 repositories/folders for data in BTSync.  3 synced with 0 issues.  2 did not.  This is the other one which contains my Lightroom data.  All 3 machines were seeded as follows:

 

Robocopy {Machine 1} {Machine 2} /mir

robocopy {Machine 1} {Machine 3} /mir

 

On Machine 1 and 3, I use junctions to move the Backups and Pictures folders to separate drives:

 

08.11.2015-16.42.png

 

 

 

Machine 2 does not use junctions and is used just as a backup/always on peer node:

 

 

08.11.2015-16.40.png

 

 

 

I stopped BTSync almost immediately:

 

08.11.2015-16.46.png

 

 

The .sync/Archive folders contained:

 

Machine 1 - empty

Machine 2 - 2,107 files, 185 folders, 23.5GB

Machine 3 - 1,279 files, 43 folders, 28.2GB

 

The pictures folder is just supposed to contain folders named with dates for names:

 

  • Lightroom
    • Pictures
      • 2015-04-20
      • 2015-04-21
      • {...}

Somehow, Machine 1 contains the following:

 

  • Lightroom
    • Pictures
      • 2015-04-20
      • 2015-04-21
      • Pictures
        • 2015-04-20
        • 2015-04-20.Conflict
        • 2015-04-21
        • 2015-04-21.Conflict
    • Pictures.Conflict
      • 2015-04-20.Conflict
      • 2015-04-21.Conflict

 

Machine 3 has:

 

  • Lightroom
    • Pictures
      • 2015-04-20.Conflict
      • 2015-04-21.Conflict
    • Pictures.Conflict
      • 2015-04-20
      • 2015-04-21
      • Pictures
        • 2015-04-20
        • 2015-04-20.Conflict
        • 2015-04-21
        • 2015-04-21.Conflict

 

I have log files, but do not see how to attach them.

 

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@EricM

Unfortunately, due to some issues in WinAPI Sync does not work well with Junctions - so it is highly not advised to add to Sync any paths containing Junctions. Use only real paths.

 

As a result, Sync is going to create a .conflict duplicate for every entry (file and folder). Although it should not remove any files to archive - unless you start deleting .conflict files and folders.

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Thanks RomanZ.  I thought I had read the forum thoroughly regarding the use of soft links and it was stated several times that symbolic links were not supported and junctions were?  I will work on my folder structure, maybe by mounting a partition as a folder.

 

I have spent a lot of time on this.  I really wish there was a guide for more advanced users to read.  Soft/hard linking, the process BTSync uses to determine whether two files are identical, how to decipher a log file, etc.

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I split the 1 BTSync folder into 3.  One for the Windows folder with the 2 junctions (with the junctions folders added to the ignore list) and the other 2 pointed at the physical targets of the junctions.  Machine 2 and 3 received robocopy /mir data from Machine 1.  

 

After all 3 machines were finished indexing, they reported to be in sync.  All archive folders are empty.

 

Junctions are so common to users' data folders that this should be a priority.  I'm not blaming BTSync (even the occasional Microsoft utility has issues with junctions), but junctions are supposed to be transparent to programs.  

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@EricM

Windows API behavior is sometimes inconsistent towards junctions. Of course, we'll see if it is possible to make a full scale support in future. If no, we'll take care to deliver proper message to the user.

 

Although, for now we can only warn user with an article in our Help Center.

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