Contact

If you want to report a problem or suggest a new feature for the next version of SyncTime, please write a comment on this page. Every feedback is welcome!

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689 Replies to “Contact”

  1. Hello,
    At the destination tab can you add to option “when a file on the destination already exists” with two choices? One only if time stamp is different and one only if size is different.
    Do you use hashing to calculate if a file changed?

    Thank you for this great app.

    1. As it turns out, with a Synology NAS you need to enable both AFP and SMB services in order to correctly sync the modification dates. I have added this to the help page about Sync errors.

  2. I am unable to download the current update from the Mac app store. I get the message, “We could not complete your purchase.” Then the update is cancelled. I am running Mac OS Mojave, 10.14.6. Please advise.

  3. Just using Synctime for a week or so and I’m impressed! But one thing I can’t figure out. I want to exclude something from my desktop sync and tried to use the filter option, but I just don’t understand how to get this done. Do I have to use + and select the files I want to exclude? Hope someone can help me with this.

  4. How do you clear errors in the SyncTime window? I have folders set to sync in the background, and an error is noted in the application. I have reviewed the issue on the file system and corrected it. How do I make the error indicator go away?

  5. Hi,
    found an pretty annoying bug when setting everything up.
    After duplicating a “sync item”, lets say item_1. then edit the settings and assign a new group. The item_1 disappears. Now the problem occurs when duplicating another “sync item” item_” in the list. It always shows the information item_1 and not the one actually selected.

    Fix: Change group to another and then come back to the group.

  6. Hi, is there a way to get SyncTime to copy files that are “locked” without generating the error message that “Could not delete file from target”? Right now, I am having to copy these manually one at a time after SyncTime (or run a second synchronization program that is more complicated but copies the locked files, but that doubles the amount of time it takes for me to run the sync, which matters, since my folders are nearly 4TB is size).
    Sometimes SyncTime then gives further errors that it is unable to copy other perfectly normal files, once it has been tripped up by the locked files.
    This happens on one of my backup drives, but not on the other two. The other synchronization program I am trying out has no problem with any of the 3 backup drives, but is a more complex program to use. Thank you

    1. The most recent update introduced a new option “Unlock locked files before overwriting or removing them” that should fit your use case.

  7. I have SyncTime 3.2.2 that backs up my files every night.
    In the Activity Monitor I notice that the memory keeps growing. It is about 1GB.
    There seem to be a memory leak.

  8. I am about to move my Photos library off of my internal drive. That would mean it is no longer backed-up with Time Machine. I am looking for a convenient way to maintain a backup of the Photos library on a network drive.

    At this moment Sync Time treats the Photos library as a single (file) object but on disk it is “just” a directory structure. Would it be possible to have Sync Time to sync the Photos library in the way the command-line tool rsync would do?

    Thanks for considering,
    Peter.
    🙂

    1. You currently cannot select a package (such as the Photos library) as the source, but you can select its parent folder, then exclude that folder and include only the file you want to sync. The thought behind it is that folders can be easily created in the Finder and in the open panel when selecting the destination, whereas if you would be able to select another type of file, you would have to first copy it manually before being able to select it as the destination. You can read more about this here: Filters.
      But your use case led me to think about this and I decided to allow selecting file packages in the next update.

  9. Hello,

    The icon of SyncTime desapear from the down bar in computer.
    How can i restore it in order to run SyncTime?
    Thanky you.

    Álvaro

    1. SyncTime is a status bar app, it is not visible in the Dock. You can show its window from the status bar menu which you can open by clicking the SyncTime icon at the top right of your screen.

  10. Hi, I am currently testing SyncTime and have the problem that with an initial Syc (approx. 31GB photos) the app stops after approx. 1 hour without an error message. The MacBook Pro goes into standby … after I reactivate the MacBook, the sync continues. With my previous backup app, the MacBook only goes into standby after completion. There is also no error message in the “Activity log”. The sync stops and just continues after logging in to the MacBook. So of course (mine) the sync cannot be completed.

    What do “.DS_Store” mean?

    Thanks for your feedback
    Michael

    1. Apparently there have been some changes to the way sleep is handled: it seems that now it’s only possible to prevent sleep if the Mac is connected to an external power source. I will correct this in the next update. Here you can find out about .DS_Store files: Filters.

  11. Hi Nicolas,

    Regarding my comment on the timestamps in my review, for me I would prefer to have an option to turn off the timestamps as it give me a couple of minor annoyances:
    – If I want to restore a file or folder I have to rename it back to its original without the timestamp
    – If I recall correctly, changing the name of the file effectively resets the ‘Date modified’ for the file, which again can be an issue when restoring any files.

    Otherwise he app is great an well worth the purchase upgrade.

    1. I think there is a misunderstanding about the option “Keep overwritten/removed files”. In a one-way sync, the destination will contain the same directory structure and filenames as the source. Only when a file is copied from the source to the destination and that file already exists on the destination, or when a file is removed on the destination, the file on the destination is moved to the backup folder indicated by that option and the timestamp is appended. That timestamp ensures that each filename is unique so that you can have all the old versions of each file in the same directory. If you want to restore the latest version of a file, you have to copy the version saved in the destination folder back to the source, and if you want to restore an even older version, then yes, you have to copy one of the versions from the backup folder and manually remove the timestamp.

  12. Hi,

    Just love SyncTime, simple, very fast etc. Just missing one thing…..and that’s an option to sync at a certain time and waking up my Mac. I just want to sync once a day at a certain time! Most sync/backup programs have this option. Also need to wake up the computer in order to sync at the time configured. Hope this is possible soon?

    Good luck with this great program.

    Regards,

    Ben

    1. As far as I can see, Mac App Store apps are not allowed to wake up the Mac from sleep.
      Regarding the automatic syncing at a specified time: unless you have a specific scenario that you’re willing to explain to me, I prefer not to add such an option currently. Having to think about the best time to run an automatic sync and knowing that it will be run periodically at that time would put me under stress, because I would either have to finish my work before that time or, if I need more time, cancel it and start it manually later. So I have the impression that either way, if your intention is to run a sync always after finishing your work, it is better to start it manually. The default time for automatic syncs currently is midnight, as indicated at the bottom right of each sync item.

  13. great piece of helpful software, I was easily willing to pay and bought it yesterday! I’m struggeling to get the following task described in the definition part (exclude part) and ask kindly for support:

    I have a folder full of files, sub-folders and many different file-types. I would like to instruct syncTime to ONLY copy an specific kind of files, but NOT all other files and NOT the sub-folders etc. – is there a way? I tried for an hour with different expressions to exclude or include, but get not managed it…

    Kindest regards, Chris

    1. You can add the source folder itself under “Following files” in the Exclude tab so that everything is excluded by default, then add the extension of the file type that you want to copy in the text field “Filenames containing any of the following expressions”, click the arrow on the right and select Include. You may find this help topic useful: Exclude files.

  14. Hi, I am using sync time to sync a folder on my Mac to a Western digital my cloud drive connected to the network. I use a wired 1GB connection.

    Synctime was working fine and sync is done in back ground until I tried Cyberduck app, I noticed that the speed is much higher and I am not sure of the reason.

    using sync time (connected as AFP) it takes 2hours to copy my 14GB folder, with Cyberduck (connected as FTP) it takes 10 mins.

    I am not comparing the 2 applications as the usage is totally different but the question is only regarding the transfer speed. does it have something to do with the connection protocol?

    1. SyncTime relies on the Finder for copying files, so it should have the same speed as when you manually copy files in the Finder. There are other file transfer methods implemented by these other apps that can be faster. You can possibly gain the same speed with SyncTime when mounting the remote volume in the Finder by using apps like Mountain Duck or Rclone.

  15. How often will your app sync when set to “auto”?

    I have two OneDrive accounts on my Mac, both operating in full offline mode (so that my files are always local, and automatically uploading when changes are made).

    I’ve basically set your app so that a specific folder on one of OneDrive accounts will sync to that on another OneDrive account.

    1. You can read more about what the Automatic schedule does when clicking on the help button (with the question mark) beside that option. You may also want to check out the option “Once synced, keep synced in background” in the Advanced tab.

  16. I’m testing SyncTime Lite to make sure your app will work for my purposes before buying. Everything has been perfect except one issue I was hoping you could help me with.

    When I do a one way sync from one computer to another computer using a network connection, the tags don’t sync properly.

    When “pushing” files to another computer (SyncTime is running on the computer with the source folder), during the initial sync, tags are transferred correctly. If I only change the tag color on the source and sync again, the tag change is reflected in destination which is also correct. The problem occurs when I remove the tag completely on the source (no color). When I then do a sync the tag on the destination is not removed. In fact, the confirm dialog window doesn’t even show that a change needs to be made.

    When “pulling” files from a computer (SyncTime is running on the computer with the destination folder) if the only change to the file is that the tag has changed, no changes are made to the destination regardless of whether it was just a change in tag color or the removal of a tag.

    If I perform a sync where the folders are on the same computer or going from a computer to or from an external hard drive, then the tag is always updated on the destination. This is what I’m looking for to happen across a network connection.

    Is there a way to have the syncing of tags work the same way across a network as they do going to and from an external hard drive? Is this maybe something that works in the full version of SyncTime and is just a limitation of the lite version?

    I really like your app. I just need it to update the tags when syncing across a network and it will be perfect for my needs.

    Appreciate any insight you can give.

    1. It seems that macOS doesn’t always recognise tags. The newest 3.1 update fixes this issue by using a slightly slower but more reliable method of retrieving tags.

  17. Hi I really like SyncTime as I find it very useful.

    Feature Request:
    I would like to be able to run a sync at a specific time
    – eg. upload files to dropbox at 1 am and sleep the computer or turn off the screen when done.

    Regards, Mark

    1. Scheduling a sync item at a specific time is something I will think about and possibly implement in one of the next updates.

  18. Hi.
    2 Questions.

    1. I have a bunch of external drives I now want to use as backup drives and will buy a single 8TB drive and want to use the smaller drives as backups to the new 8TB drive. Can SyncTime do this? Cn SyncTime manage a source 8TB drive, and backup files to several drives which together are also 8TB. I do not want to use software raid JBOD because this will increase failure possibility, JBOD is not as safe. I want SyncTime to manage on the fly, and push files to drives, independable, so if only 1 of the backup drives are connected, the files backed up to it are still readable, this is why I don’t want JBOD, I want individual drives to be still readable as normal, SyncTime will just manage where each file will be saved to but it does not use drives as STRIPED. As far as I understand, SPAN is also just the same as STRIPED so I dont want this either.

    Can SynTime Help in this situation?

    2. There is no explanation on this, what is the feature under General/Groups? Can this feature help with above request? Example: Tag folders in the source and SyncTime will create a backup job and look for all files/folder with this tag, and backup to destination. So rather than backing up a file/folder or drive, we are backing up a group of files/folder with a certain tag. Is this possible. Is this what groups feature is?

    1. SyncTime just copies files from a source folder to a destination folder just like you could do in the Finder, so no RAID or STRIPED. Whatever you select as the source will be copied to the destination and if there’s not enough space it will raise an error. You can create many of these so-called sync items, so you could create several ones, each one with a different source folder within your 8TB drive and one of your smaller external drives as the destination. Each file copied to the destination is an exact copy of what you find on the source, so it’s perfectly readable and writable.
      For an explanation of what groups are for, please have a look at this help topic: Sync item groups.

  19. When a source folder contains a file which has the Locked attribute check box checked, SyncTime generates an error when running a sync operation, although the files are copied correctly to the destination folder. How can these error messages be disabled? If this issue can be resolved, I will purchase the Pro version.

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