My main computer is a backup device for my family phones and computers and my Wife has a laptop and a work computer where she when she has time work on her book.
So on my backup I ignore Delete on the Book folder and then it is synced to both Work computer and Laptop.
What is interesting is that the Work computer on my backup PC says Syncing 95%, 0B.
I tried removing the 2 files from the Work computer but for some reason did syncthing not sync but when I moved them back did 1 of the 2 files stop saying it was out of sync but the second is still showing as not in sync when the file on the laptop, my backup and her work pc are 100% identically.
I then tried removing them from my backup device aka moving them away, waited till the Work pc deleted them, and added them back and yet even after this and the work pc is now fully synced does backup device still show as 1 item out of sync as screenshot above shows.
Now off course the Laptop which is atm not on shows 2 items out of sync instead of up to date but I hope it will just see files are there or update and be fine-
Any idea how to fix it and why it is only the actual backup device that claim her work machine was not in sync when it was?
Unfortunately, a bit too much info was redacted from the screenshots to properly diagnose the problem. Details about the operating systems on each device would also be very helpful.
Just a quick tip about turning Syncthing into a backup system. Even with ignoreDelete, if an issue occurs on the “Work computer” that results in truncating a file to zero bytes, it’ll be mirrored to your “backup PC”.
Okay, both are Windows devices, so odds of an illegal filename issue are small.
Different filesystems permit varying character sets in filenames – e.g., on Windows you cannot use a colon (:) symbol in a file or folder name, but it’s fine on Linux and macOS.
Check the file permissions to make sure that the user running Syncthing has the ability to read and write to the out-of-sync file and the folder it’s in.
Totally understandable. Just some food for thought:
IP addresses…
If the IP address(s) are within a private network range – e.g., class “C”: 192.168.x.x being the most popular default used in home networks – there isn’t really anything to abuse because millions of homes and businesses around the world use the same pool of IP addresses, so they don’t map to any given person and/or geographical area (there are dozens of other ways users already leak personally identifiable info ).
In addition, one of Syncthing’s handy abilities is connecting devices that are separated by layers of network hardware and software without burdening users with manually entering network addresses. Unless you’re only using local discovery or manually entering device addresses, your devices are sharing their IP addresses (for whichever network interfaces Syncthing has been told to bind to) with the discovery servers.
Syncthing folder names…
The folder name in Syncthing is just a user-friendly label not tied to a function and/or connection. Naming multiple folders with the same label is no problem in Syncthing). It’s fine to redact it, but it’s better to just temporarily change it instead because it’s often helpful for understanding a forum post.
(Personally, I find reading that a Syncthing folder is labeled “Music” easier than keeping track of “the folder with 10,273 files in it” as I’m diagnosing a problem.)
Filenames are much trickier because they can often contain personal info – unless all of your filenames are UUIDs (in which case, I’d be jealous of your extreme memory recall abilities ).
There are a number of earlier posts on this forum that involved out of sync issues caused simply by a filename problem. Being able to see the filename in a screenshot helps diagnose the problem in seconds instead of hours of messaging.
(Sorry for the longer postscript than the potential answer to the problem. I’m hoping that this will help others also asking for help, to help those of us trying to provide the help. )
All Machines can write and read from the folder that is being synced, the funny thing is this is not the only folder being synced between my wife work machine and laptop, but it is only her folder for her book with at first 2 files being funny.
The IP address shown is the physical address for her work place not her internal one as I am at home on my own PC which is the backup one, and she work like 15 minutes drive away.
So in this case you can use the IP to trace back to the physical address it was assigned to if you know how off course.
The Folder in question is labelled Book Link for obvious reasons it links her book writing to all her devices lol.
Filename: “13 A change in the weather.docx”
for some reason the box above shows it as: “~$ A change in the weather.docx” no idea why.
Anyway thats the name of the file the other file it complained about was: “~WRL0003.tmp”
And I just noticed on the book folder there is a file called: “~$ A change in the weather.docx” and is 1kb I will just go and check if it is on the work pc 2 when I get a chance and get back to you.
And I will also when she get home get her to open her laptop to check it for same file.
Because the file with the full name is there and correct in date, time, size and content on all 3 devices this is getting very curious, I actually thought the weird stuff was Syncthing truncating so I never double checked the folder until now when I was getting the full name for you.
The ~$ thing is a temporary file created by MS Office while editing its files, so that you can’t open and edit them on different machines at the same time. These temporary files are hidden by default in Windows.
So I make a .stignore on my backup at which root, as Each folder or folders backed up are in the same main folder, so do I go by the folder that has .stfolder directory or end I don’t need it on the 2 other machines.?
Let me explain better.
I have a folder named wifename backup
In there is a folder named
Phone
Book link
Web page
Print please
Her phone link to each directory picked to sync in a folder made under Phone folder for her phone model just so it’s easier when she changes phone to separate what she want to keep on the new one I did the same for myself.
Her laptop and work PC have 3 links one for each of those 3 folders.
So do I go to the Book Link and make the .stignore file
Yes, either manually create/edit the .stignore per Syncthing folder – e.g., C:\Syncthing\.stignore would sit alongside the marker folder C:\Syncthing\.stfolder.
Via Syncthing’s web GUI, click [Edit] for a folder, then the “Ignore Patterns” tab to view and edit the corresponding .stignore file.
.stignore can be used on just one endpoint, or both. This is handy for example if there’s a device that has 500GB of music files sharing with 2 mobile devices with less storage capacity and users with differing musical tastes. One smartphone might have ignore patterns that exclude all classical music while the other smartphone is only interested in soundtracks. The sending PC has a single “Music” Syncthing folder and no ignore patterns, leaving it up to the receiving end to decide what to accept.
Good so far…
Nope, you got it. Either version works. A pretty good start.
The pattern ~$*.doc* would match something like ~$ History of the World.documentary.mp4, which might or might not be an issue.
Separate patterns can be easier to manage even if they seem inefficient. But for reference, this…
~$*.doc
~$*.docx
… could be rewritten as this by specifying a set of alternative patterns:
~$*.do{c,cx}
And for good measure, case-insensitive to cover A.doc, A.DOC, A.docx, A.DOCX, A.DoC, etc.:
(?i)~$*.do{c,cx}
So tying it all together:
(?i)~$*.do{c,cx}
*.tmp
I don’t recall ever encountering a file that started with a tilde (~) being anything but a temporary file, so I often use the following patterns:
*~
*.tmp
.*.swp
A few more tips:
Microsoft Windows creates a desktop.ini in every folder where the view in Windows Explorer has been customized. Generally not something that’s wanted on another computer.
Thumbs.db is where Windows Explorer keeps thumbnail images for a folder.
There are a number of great posts on this forum with recommended pattern combinations that cover a variety of use-cases.
Okay I have created the .stignore in the book link folder only on the backup pc as it is the only one needing it, I have also removed the 2 temp files on the backup I know it means the other 2 will remove theirs but I don’t think that will be a problem all should be set.
I also used your pattern adding desktop.ini and Thumbs.db.
Let’s hope it fixes everything.
Or should I do this on the 2 client sides aka her laptop and office 2 I shouldn’t think so as they are the ones uploading and receiving updates via the backup so she can work on her book at work and then later at home if she so chooses.
I will also add the 2 things you suggested to the 2 other of her folders as they are windows folders the phone (backup side not phone side) is android and set to receive only no send it is pure backup so no need for it there.
It sounds like your backup PC is being used to sync files between the your wife’s “laptop” and “office 2”, so having .stignore just on the backup PC should be fine and make it easier to manage.
I just noticed that I had inadvertently flipped the ignore pattern for all files that begin with a tilde (~) because in some cases I do ignore files that end with a tilde (often seen on Unix/Linux systems). This is the correct pattern for files that start with a tilde:
Just want to mention one thing which might save you from trouble in the future… You keep referring to the PC and the data on it as “backup”. Remember that a synchronized copy is NOT in itself a backup. Consider the case where any of your devices it hit by ransomwhere. The encrypted might be synchronized before you realize.
Syncthing is not a backup program. It is a synchronization program.
I know, reason my PC atm is acting as a backup is because I can’t afford a server.
My plan in due time is to have a server for everything including streaming my movies and tv shows to all devices no matter where in the world, VPN, and have syncthing to “backup” to the server in case of devices getting lost.
Orignally Syncthing was just for our phones hence not a big issue, but my wife wanted to work on her book everywhere so I made it work on that 2.
Anyway my server will do regular backup of well the backup in several copies for just the instance of what you refer 2.
But I know what you mean, funny is syncthing is actually one of the best “backup” solutions I ever found, all my phones important data such as pictures and so forth are sent to my PC from where I can move it to a better area for backup.
The laptop was on the other day and on it until I added that .stignore list claimed like “bakcup” pc the temp files was missing but what is strange is that my “backup” now has the problems of showing several temp files from her work PC not syncing with her laptop.
As I even have times where “backup” pc shows yellow triangles complaining about this.
I have tried to copy over the files to laptop and to my pc and remove the ignore files in hope of it going 100% then adding them back and remove the temp files.
As I have removed them from the backup machine as they shouldn’t be there for obvious reasons. The work PC is fine on both ends as far I know.
So laptop and work pc shows up to date, and on backup does the work pc show up to date so does the actual folder. I have not yet tried adding the .stignore file to the work pc but I doubt that will fix it.
Anyway any ideas on how to fix this as it should work.
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