move ".sync" hidden folder outside the synching folder

[nicopizza]

I do not really know if there is a setting for this... or if this question has already been asked. Sorry if one of these is the case.

I use Resilio (Home personal version) to sync some folders between my PC and a WD Mycloud EX4100.

At the same time, the same folders are synched to my Onedrive account (through symbolic link)...

Now, it often happens that Onedrive keeps spinning trying to sync the files (probably "TEMP" files or others) in the ".sync" hidden folder.

Since Onedrive MS support is rather pathetic (they are not able to let people exclude files and folders from the sync process... duh!), I was wondering if it is possible to move the ".sync" hidden folder to another position (and tell Resilio to look for it in that other position), so that Onedrive does not sync it.

Thanks for any help!

[Andy+]

This seems not possible since is fixed in the binary.

[nicopizza]

Thanks for the reply.

Maybe it could be a feature requested... shouldn't be a big deal to tell the app to search for the .sync folder somewhere outside the folder it is synching.

[jdrch]

Moving the .sync folder would not only be hacky, it could get really messy if you (or Resilio Sync) lost track of where the folder is. A better method is to disable archiving and versioning within Resilio Sync and use Volume Shadow Copy snapshots for that purpose instead. I have the same setup in which my Resilio Sync folders are also backed up to OneDrive, and that's what I do. See the 1st and 3rd top level bullets here on how to pull that off.

FWIW, the .sync folder, in my experience, has always caused far more problems than it solves due to share wasted space. It's basically a solution for people who don't have a proper backup system setup, and Sync's archive functionality is literally the 1st thing I disable on every new Resilio deployment. I'm not saying Resilio should get rid of the feature, as it's good for some people.

[nicopizza]

Do you mean that I could actually disable a setting inside Resilio Sync and the ".sync" hidden folder would be gone?

If this is the case, where can I find this setting?

Should I disable it both ways (in the Resilio Sync app in my PC and in the NAS)?

Thanks!

[jdrch]

48 minutes ago, nicopizza said:

Do you mean that I could actually disable a setting inside Resilio Sync and the ".sync" hidden folder would be gone?

If this is the case, where can I find this setting?

Should I disable it both ways (in the Resilio Sync app in my PC and in the NAS)?

Thanks!

TL,DR: No, you can't disable the .sync folder's existence as that's where Resilio Sync stores synced folder metadata, but you can prevent Resilio Sync from putting any actual previous or deleted files in it (which is what is causing the problem you're having). You will have to make this change on every synced folder on each peer device you want the change to take effect on.

1st let me explain what the .sync folder does. Besides metadata, it stores previous versions of synced files transparently so they can be recovered in case you accidentally delete or overwrite something. IIRC per the documentation, it also helps speed up syncs resulting from file renames or relocations within the synced folder.

Now, all that said ... in the options for each folder in Reslio Sync UI folder list there is a Store deleted files in folder archive checkbox. If you uncheck that box, Resilio Sync will stop storing additional previous versions in the folder. To remove the existing previous versions, you'll still have to manually enter the .sync folder for each synced folder and delete the contents (since the files are stored transparently, you can use any file management tool you like) thereof.

You will have to do this for each synced folder you want the .sync folder to be gone for on each peer device, as the .sync folder and the context of its contents are entirely local (i.e. although they live within synced folders, they themselves are not synced).