Sync errors

Important: make sure that by default a sync doesn’t throw any error. Below you will find the most common causes for sync errors and tips on how to solve them. Don’t simply ignore all errors, or at some point you might risk dismissing new errors about files important to you.

When an error happens, a sync tries to continue until the end, processing all remaining files. If one of the bases is disconnected, the sync stops. See Logs for a list of errors that can happen.

To view the error message, click the error badge that appears on the right side of the sync item. The Activity log window opens, which contains all messages related to the file operations performed during the past syncs, as well as all errors. (The Activity log window can also be opened from the Window menu in the main menu bar, or from the status item menu.) Selecting a log shows a detailed message in the text area at the bottom of the window.

Errors can be marked as resolved from the context menu of the Activity log window. Errors are automatically marked as resolved when starting the sync again or when they are removed after they have reached the maximum log age. When all errors for a sync item are resolved, the error badge on the right of the sync item disappears again.

If there are any unresolved errors, the status icon shows an exclamation mark. If all errors are solved, the icon is reverted to the default one.

Notifications

SyncTime always sends system notifications when an error occurs as well as when a sync completes successfully. By default, macOS hides notifications automatically after a short amount of time. To keep notifications visible until explicitly dismissed, you can change the notification type from Banners to Alerts in the System Settings.

Note: system notifications sent by an app are automatically hidden by macOS if the app is already active.

System files

A common source of errors are hidden system directories like .DocumentRevisions-V100, .Spotlight-V100, .TemporaryItems, .Trashes or .fseventsd. These directories are usually located at the root of a device or in your home directory.

If the error happens on the source, it probably means that you’re trying to backup the entire filesystem (including system directories like /Library or /System which usually don’t hold personal files), your entire home directory, or the root of an external volume. SyncTime doesn’t have enough privileges to access system directories and is not designed to do a full volume backup; it is recommended that you only backup selected directories inside your home directory. If you still think that you need to backup directories containing one of these system items, you can either exclude hidden files or selectively exclude the system items by using filters.

If, on the other hand, the error happens on the destination, it usually means that the destination is the root of an external device: in this case, in order to avoid these system-created files, you can create an empty directory on the root of the external device and select it as the destination.

Privacy settings

Another source of errors can be missing permissions for accessing privacy related files like your Photos library, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders and user directories like Desktop, Documents and Downloads. When accessing these locations for the first time, macOS shows a system alert asking for permission.

In case you denied any of them, you can enable them in the System Settings under Privacy & Security. To avoid syncing Contacts, Calendar and Reminders, you can exclude the Library directory with a filter.

Conflicts

One-way syncs with multiple sources and two-way syncs can produce a conflict error when, between syncs, a file is modified on more than one base, in which case it cannot be determined which file should be preserved.

A source of unexpected conflicts are .DS_Store and .localized files which are automatically created by macOS. Thumbs.db and Desktop.ini are created by Windows. Usually the best solution is to exclude them with a filter.

A conflict error allows you to understand the cause by showing the modification date and size of the relevant files on disk and in the snapshots (for two-way syncs). To resolve the conflict, choose which file you want to keep in the Finder and copy it over the other file, and run the sync again.

Network volumes

Some network volumes require authentication before being able to read or write files. The lack of correct authentication can result in a permission error.

If you connect to a network volume automatically, for example when starting up your Mac, it can happen that a sync is started before the authentication process completes. This can result in your Mac only being able to read files and can cause write errors apparently unrelated to authentication.