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When pausing a sync process, can I restart the computer and the sync will pick up at the same point?
No, after restarting the Mac you’ll have to restart the sync as well. That means that the source and destination will be compared again, but files that have already been copied during the previously cancelled sync will not be copied again.
I am innundated with pop-up windows asking me to conform changes to one synch or another. how cam i turn these off?
What you’re experiencing is an issue that unfortunately happened with one of the latest updates which incorrectly reset the option “Skip confirmation dialog” (as you can also see from recent website comments and the release notes for the correcting update on the App Store page). You have to restore the setting manually in the Advanced sync settings.
Why am I having to confirm changes all the time, I am getting pop ups every time and its very troublesome, is it a setting thats wrong this has only stated after updates
What you’re experiencing is an issue that unfortunately happened with one of the latest updates which incorrectly reset the option “Skip confirmation dialog” (as you can also see from recent website comments and the release notes for the correcting update on the App Store page). You have to restore the setting manually in the Advanced sync settings.
I think there is another issue that existed before the update and seems still there in new version. The script configured in “Once all syncs are completed” would work once, then change back to “No custom script”.
This brings up a good feature to add: in “Connect volumes automatically”, add an option to disconnect only the destination volume. Right now the option “Connect and disconnect when completed” would disconnect both source and destination. In my setup the sources are locally attached hard drives that need to stay connected, the destination is a network share that needs to disconnect when it’s done (otherwise the Mac mini I use as file server wouldn’t sleep).
It’s correct that the “Once all syncs are completed” is executed only once (as the name itself says). It’s also documented here: Action after sync completion.
Depending on the kind of script that you are running, it could be an option to set the script as the final action of an individual sync item (in the Advanced settings).
Thank you for your suggestion about the automatic volume unmounting. I will need some time to think about it.
After upgrading to the latest version, the custom schedule no longer works. I have two jobs, one configured to run at 1:00am every day and another at 2:00am. Now both of them would run at 12:00am AND their individual times, no matter how I try. I can’t have them run at the same time because they would create two remote mounts.
I’m using the paid version.
You’re right, the latest update introduced an issue that causes custom schedules to run at midnight. I just submitted an update to Apple that should fix the issue and should be available within the next few hours on the App Store. Thanks for alerting me.
After latest update, SyncTime doesn’t follow a schedule that I set up. I set it up to make a sync at 4 pm every day, but after the update it make a sync always when I start my laptop at the morning (1st sync) and then at 4pm as planned (2nd sync). Previously it was working properly, with only 1 sync, at 4 pm. There are no settings that I can see to prevent it from starting sync on startup. Please help.
You’re right, the latest update introduced an issue that causes custom schedules to run at midnight. I just submitted an update to Apple that should fix the issue and should be available within the next few hours on the App Store. Thanks for alerting me.
Performed the latest update to version 4.11 (157) on approximately May 1, 2024. Noticed a possible bug: My scripts now show the confirmation dialogue box and do not complete in my blind overnight backups. In the morning I must confirm every change to complete each script.
Your help pages do directly say that the “confirmation dialogue” is ON by default. But over the last couple of years this is the first time that my setting choice of “Skip confirmation dialogue” has not been carried over automatically after an update.
Otherwise I am still quite happy with how this program works.
Update 4.11 was published not on May 1 but on May 4. If you enabled the option “Track moved files” before version 4.11, you also had the choice of separately showing or hiding the confirmation dialog for moved files, but now with the 4.11 update there’s only “Skip confirmation dialog” which controls both the confirmation dialog for moved files and the one for removed, overwritten and added files. If you had enabled the confirmation dialog for moved files but disabled the confirmation dialog for removed, overwritten and added files, then the 4.11 update automatically disabled the “Skip confirmation dialog” option. You can enable it to hide both confirmation dialogs again.
Update: After having a closer look at the update code, I noticed that the “Skip confirmation dialog” option was indeed disabled in most cases due to an error. I sent another update that should be approved by Apple very soon which will solve the issue for users who didn’t update yet, but it won’t restore the previous setting if you already updated (you’ll have to revert the setting manually). I’m sorry, that shouldn’t have happened.
My paid version of the Synctime app has disappeared from my Mac (can’t find it using Finder, Spotlight, etc). When I try to download it from the App Store, it only gives me an option to Update. When I click update, I get an error message saying: Unable to Download App. “SyncTime” could not be installed. Please try again later. I have tried 100’s of times and always get the same error message. What is the solution?
That sounds like an App Store or macOS issue. I would suggest to follow these steps: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102331
If you end up contacting the Apple Support, they will most likely tell you that you have to contact the app developer (me). You can tell them that you already did, and that I told you that I cannot do anything to solve errors appearing in the App Store app, which is outside of my control.
I get the following sync error – how do I mute/avoid this error – I don”t really need it or want it to set the custom file icon
Error setting metadata for /Users/user/Library/CloudStorage/ProtonDrive-username@proton.me
Couldn’t set the custom file icon.
SyncTime.SyncTimeError 1
You can try to remove the custom icon on the source folder or exclude custom folder icons from syncing: How do I solve the error “Setting the custom file icon failed”?
How can I restore sync items manually from a system backup?
You may find the information you need here: How can I create a backup of SyncTime itself?
Purchased Sync Time today – works great…
I use a portable disk drive to copy my media from my home computer to the computer in my motorhome. (Both are mac mini)
I have Sync Time on my home computer – but do not have a copy on my motorhome computer, therefore, I’m back to doing rsync in terminal on the motorhome.
Do I need to buy a second copy of Sync Time for my motorhome computer – or, can I simply copy the app from the home computer and paste into the motorhome (in which case I’d simply copy it to the portable drive to bring it to the second mac mini).
Thanks – rsync seemed slow and bulky in comparison…
I would suggest to log in to the App Store on the other Mac as well and download SyncTime from the App Store, so that it correctly recognizes when there are updates available (you won’t have to pay twice: you should just see a download button if you already purchased it). Alternatively, you can just copy it to the other Mac, but you may not get automatic updates.
I would like a feature that would filter all mac os hidden files, like Thumbs.db, .DS_Store etc.
Even though I have”hidden files” selected, I still get error messages in the log with these files
The option to filter hidden files should be applied to .DS_Store files. Thumbs.db, on the other hand, is not automatically treated as hidden by macOS, and you should be able to see it in the Finder. Your best option would then be to add a filter for that file name: Filters.
When ever I try to sync to my nas, I get an metadata error copying the file if any tags are present. I have to remove the tag in order to get it synced.
Is there a way to have synctime optionally ignore any tags that are present?
Assuming that the errors are caused by the tags being unsupported on your destination drive, I could add an option to ignore extended file attributes (which included tags) in the next update.
Hello
Since one of the last updates, the icon in the menu bar in macOS 10.15.7 has become an exclamation mark. It looks quite unattractive. Could you please change that?
The exclamation mark in the status bar icon means that there are some unresolved errors. Did you see them? (I agree that it doesn’t look attractive, but I have yet to find an attractive icon to signal errors.)
Hello again, my second post corrected a typo. And I found your search at the bottom of the contact page. Too late in the order for me to see 😉
Sorry, Rüdiger
Hello Mr. Kick,
the GUI to SyncTime is both simple and with enough features. Good job 😉
I tried rsync in the past and was astonished that a backup from the FTP-Server left 80,000 files from 500,000 unbackuped. For the main tool for syncing in the UNIX world not so good.
I was not able to find out what the reason for it was.
I tried it with two hosting providers.
Now with SyncTime and FTP Mounter Lite I found that files and directories with UNICODE names are not backuped. A similar problem can be when the server allows in his filesystem two files test.png and Test.png. Case sensitive.
Do you know this problems and will you handle them?
Thank you for your work
and support!
Rüdiger Cordes
An idea: it would be nice when you offer a search through your support topics. I am not willing to read all 697 topics of the past if my problems are already mentioned.
I hope you understand this 😉
I am a programmer too, so I understand your situation very well 😉
You’re correct that when syncing from a case sensitive to a case insensitive volume, for two source files that differ only in the case of their names one of them will end up overwriting the other one. What would you expect in such a scenario?
After some trial and error, the problem with the special characters in file names on a FTP server seems to be an issue in macOS. I have already reported the problem to Apple and asked in various developer forums (including the Apple Developer Forum) if anyone knows the problem and possibly an alternative, and hope for some help soon. Since the Finder can handle it, there is apparently an alternative way.
How do you run a preview? Windows Filesync allows you to first compare all of the files then it shows a list of all files including those that are the same or which one is the newest in a side by side comparison so that you can unselect any that you do not want to copy. Does this do that?
A confirmation dialog is shown by default when running a sync. You can see that by looking at the homepage. If in doubt, you can also download SyncTime Lite for free from the App Store.