Is Acrosync one way only? It only uploads to the remote? It would be nice if it were two way, so it was more like Dropbox. I could start on my laptop, sync to the remote and then move to my desktop computer or my iOS iPad to make further changes.
We actually implemented two-way sync in an earlier version but decided to pull it out, because we felt that two-way sync based on rsync was not safe. You may delete a file by accident. If deletion propagation is on, then you will lose the backup on the server. If the deletion propagation is off, then the deleted file will be re-downloaded from the server which means you can't delete any file.
I think your decision to not allow two-way sync for the general case is correct. However, there is a non-backup case that may more nearly approximate what Paul was looking for and that you might want to consider over time. It involves a very specific directory (no subdirectories) or, more often a specific list of files, and a desire to mirror that collection among several machines (in one typical situation, "home", "office", and "travel". In those situations, the only intentional way to delete a file would be to eliminate it from that enumerated file list, not by removing it from one machine, and the frequency of that would be low. Obviously, that is a different mode/ style of doing things than "backup" (or "upload" or "download").
For the backup case, historically-serious backup systems (there aren't a lot of those around today, IMO) use versioning, s.t., the most recent copy of foo.xyz gets that name, the most recent different one is foo.xyz.1, then foo.xyz.2, etc. The number of versions to be kept is user-selectable, but the presence in the backup directory of foo.xyz.1 without foo.xyz indicates a deleted file and there is typically a utility to remove the earlier versions by after some minimal (user-specified too) length of time has passed. That would take you are lot further into the backup and restore business/direction than rsync has typically gone, but might provide a way to do it if you wanted to.
I apologize if the wording gave you the impression that Acrosync supports two-way sync. The paragraph before the one you quoted clearly states that what is supported is *automatic upload*.
And I don't think one needs to replicate every Dropbox feature in order to replace it. Sometimes what really matters is the ability to upload changes instantly, for instance, when you want to edit source code under Windows but have to compile it under Linux. Acrosync is a perfect replacement to Dropbox for such use cases.
While I agree Wording is a bit vague but Dropbox describes themselves as "Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. " they've added features API and app direct access but two way sync and sharing is what Dropbox, Spideroak, Box, BTsync, owncloud.. Etc.. So You could see where comparison to dropbox would make one think two way sync. So Instead one may want to write that you can replicate some features of dropbox for use with niche use cases.
If you search "untitled folder mac" you'll find quite a few discussions about this mysterious folder being created. It is very unlikely that Acrosync will ever create this folder if it doesn't exist on the source.
If you can't figure out why this folder was created, you can just exclude this folder by adding an exclude pattern of untitled*folder (in the 'Don't sync these files/dirs' input). '*' is needed because space is a separator for multiple patterns.
gchen, thanks for the suggestion I will create the exclusion and see if that will help
However I still think it must be something with acrosync.
I have two QNAPs and betwen them I never get this folder also try other replication app (most likely not based on rsync) and no folders as well
I will try to write script and see if the direct script will create these folders as well then it will be MAC rsync issue, otherwise I am afraid it is Acrosync problem
In any case love the product I purchased it few days ago and it is exactly what I was looking for. I could write manual script but this is so much nicer
Take care
PS: I will post my findings but if exclusion will work then I am fine with that workaround
This is quite an old post and I see the Dropbox description on the front page has changed, does acrosync now provide a real Dropbox repalcement with all the features that Dropbox offers, i.e. two way sync and propagating deletions?
If yes, which options do I need to chose to set that up?
Comments
For the backup case, historically-serious backup systems (there aren't a lot of those around today, IMO) use versioning, s.t., the most recent copy of foo.xyz gets that name, the most recent different one is foo.xyz.1, then foo.xyz.2, etc. The number of versions to be kept is user-selectable, but the presence in the backup directory of foo.xyz.1 without foo.xyz indicates a deleted file and there is typically a utility to remove the earlier versions by after some minimal (user-specified too) length of time has passed. That would take you are lot further into the backup and restore business/direction than rsync has typically gone, but might provide a way to do it if you wanted to.