Chronosync won't do identical backups

[macstatic]

I find that my backups done with Chronosync aren't always identical to the source drive.
Yes, they appear to contain all the files of the source (phew!), but if I've renamed, deleted or moved files around on the source I end up having all of that in addition to the files with the old names, the files which have been deleted stay in their old place and the moved files also stay in their old place.
I've had the backups document configured as follows:

[x] Synchronize deletions
[x] Archive replaced files
When deleting files: [delete immediately]

So shouldn't this mean that the old files on the backup drive should all be moved over to the "Archive" folder on that drive, and the rest of the actual backup should have the exact same files as the source drive?
I'm using Chronosync 4.5.5. (purchased license) on OSX 10.6.8.

 

[EconTech]

Can you tell me if you're reusing the same sync document or creating a new one each time you run the backup? You need to be reusing the same sync document for ChronoSync to handle deletions properly. If you'd like deletions synced immediately with new sync documents, consider using the 'Mirror' sync operation with 'Sync Deletions' enabled. If you choose to run this, be very careful as it will delete anything on the destination that is not on the source to make the destination a mirror copy of the source.

Also, ChronoSync doesn't recognize a 'Move' or 'Rename' operation. It sees this as a file/folder being deleted in one location and a new file/folder appearing in a new location in the sync tree. If you need to rename or move large files or folders, you can avoid the data transfer by performing the same file/folder rename/move operation on the destination target before syncing. If you do this, then the data won't be transferred. Only file and folder attributes will be synchronized.


Regards,
Ryan

 

[macstatic]

I've been reusing the same sync document each time, but I may have created a brand new one when things didn't work as I expected.

I wasn't aware of the "Mirror" sync operation; all I've been using is "Backup left to right" and "bootable left to right". So Mirror is sort of like cloning the drive, except cloning duplicates the whole drive I assume (not just the files, but the invisible stuff as well) whereas "Mirror" only duplicates the exact same files/folders (leaving the underlying system specific stuff alone)?

Yes, I've been renaming and moving things around as far as I remember for those files that don't get deleted on the destination drive. So I should probably do a "Mirror" once in a while then, to clean things up and ensure I have an identical backup.
Renaming/moving large folders on the destination drive to reflect any changes on the source drive is a good idea. I found this out myself after spending hours doing backups where there were no new files or other changes. Thanks for your suggestions and help!

 

[EconTech]

I wasn't aware of the "Mirror" sync operation; all I've been using is "Backup left to right" and "bootable left to right". So Mirror is sort of like cloning the drive, except cloning duplicates the whole drive I assume (not just the files, but the invisible stuff as well) whereas "Mirror" only duplicates the exact same files/folders (leaving the underlying system specific stuff alone)?

There are two main types of sync operations in ChronoSync, a ‘Backup’ and a ‘Mirror’.

A Backup sync operation will only copy items from source to destination if the destination contains an older copy than the source.

A Mirror sync operation will copy items from source to destination if the destination contains a different (can be older, newer, whatever) copy than the source.

Also, when 'Sync Deletions' is enabled in a backup sync operation, deletions are not synced during the first run of the sync document. This allows ChronoSync to collect a history of the items on both targets so it knows what to delete. Also, only deletions made after the initial sync run with 'Sync Deletions' enabled will be deleted from the destination.

In a mirror sync operation, items are deleted immediately, and not only this, but anything in that destination target folder that isn't in the source folder will be deleted, even if it was never synced by ChronoSync in the first place. This is done to make the destination a 'Mirror' copy of the source.

The system ‘cloning’ you’re referring to is the Bootable sync operation, and it’s offered as both a ‘Bootable Backup’ sync operation and a ‘Bootable Mirror’ sync operation for different needs and purposes. The 'Bi-Directional' sync operation in ChronoSync functions like the 'Backup' sync operation above, only it copies items to both targets.

If you have any other questions or problems, feel free to open a support ticket at http://econtechnologies.com/support/open-ticket.php. We're here to help!


Regards,
Ryan

 

[macstatic]

Great! Seems like mirroring is what I'm after when doing backups then. Thanks again, and thanks for a great tool!

 

[jakobox2]

"In a mirror sync operation, items are deleted immediately, and not only this, but anything in that destination target folder that isn't in the source folder will be deleted, even if it was never synced"

Not sure if the program has changed or something since this was posted in 2015, but the above statement is absolutely not true. Just tripple checked by running a test with some text documents myself.

Chronosync is a great app, but Econ does a horrible job of explaining how it works ?