BT Cloud Windows Client version 21.8.9

[RTL]

@henryfm  @PaddyB  Well used Spreadsheet Compare and it says there are no differences. Ticked all the options to check for. 

The Files

BT Cloud compared to Desktop "A" file.

BT Cloud compared to Laptop file.

BT Cloud and Laptop Files

Will try the test later if I get time.

[David500]

I've only noticed that v21.8.9 is available and have installed it, but having a problem with the backup stopping with "BT Cloud - Unexpected error" which I was getting in the previous version. I've found the following in the error log:

2021-11-21 21:19:28.070 +00:00 [INF] NotifyError: BT Cloud, File size exceeds the 9.8 GB limit., { SourceContext: "Sncr.Cloud.UI.Platform.ToastService" }
2021-11-21 21:19:28.070 +00:00 [DBG] LegacyDisplayToastContent BT Cloud File size exceeds the 9.8 GB limit., { SourceContext: "Sncr.Cloud.UI.Platform.ToastService" }
2021-11-21 21:19:28.109 +00:00 [DBG] ClientStatus Pause, { SourceContext: "Sncr.Cloud.Model.Workflow.Data.ClientStatus" }
2021-11-21 21:19:28.109 +00:00 [DBG] ClientStatus WaitResume, { SourceContext: "Sncr.Cloud.Model.Workflow.Data.ClientStatus" }

and then this window pops up:

The syncing has stopped and when resumed it just repeats as above.

[RTL]

@PaddyB  @henryfm 

Well looks to me like my sync is working but not like Henry's. I only ever see one file in the Cloud and in my PC's folder.

Using Desktop A, Desktop C and Laptop for this test.  I created this Excel file at 19:33 on Desktop A and let it sync up. 

I then checked the file was in the Cloud and the other two PC's. I  then entered the details at Desktop C. Saved it and closed Xcel at 19:53.  Checked it was in the Cloud and then entered more data using the Laptop  and saved it at 20:11.Checked the others had it and also the Cloud.   Repeated it again from A twice at 20:21 and 20:54.

For all instances there was only one file in the PC folder and the Cloud. All that was happening was the time stamp changing.

Excel File

Cloud status for the whole test showing the relevant file.

Final status and Properties of the file on the PC's

Desktop A.

Desktop A

Desktop C

Laptop

Laptop

[henryfm]

@RTL 

Well John, your postings 9 and 11 on this thread provide more light than illumination, but at least with posting 13 you provide a simpler and hence more comprehensible approach than posting 10.

Posting 9 explains in detail a complicated way of creating a file apparently to test synchronisation; there is no indication of what illumination the Belarc software provides to help understand what's going on. It seems to provide an analysis of the computer hardware, nothing to do with synchronisation.

In Posting 10, an existing file seems to have been renamed as TEST_16_Nov (presumably its creation date) on 21 Nov and allowed to sync. It then gets messy with modification dates. Posting 11 shows 3 synced copies of the file, and that they were internally the same.  So much better with Posting 13 where a new file was created and then modified as it synced to different machines. Whether Excel, a free version, notepad or wordpad shouldn't matter - it's simple.

Then you show that BT Cloud has synchronised the same file to DT A, DT C and LT. Just as it should be  - but wait. What's happened to the older versions of Test_Sync? When BT Cloud downloaded the latest version to a client, has it deleted the old version and replaced it by the new? Not good practice for traceability; in the good old days, the old version would be renamed as a Conflicted version and the new one downloaded as the 'top'version.  Maybe the old versions are available on the BT Cloud web, but uncontrolled deletion of a file is not good practice. If a mistake was made in editing, it's good to be able to go back. If inadvertently files of the same name were created on diffferent machines, one would get lost to the ether.

I've created a file to try a similar exercise, but so far (after restarting sync) the file has not uploaded - several antique files have uploaded unnecessarily, and several have downloaded to create incorrect conflicts, but the test file has not uploaded.

BTW John, have you sorted out the problem of having different versions of BT Cloud? For me, V21.8.9, the version appropriate for this thread, works as it does on W10. As versions 21.4.10 and V 21.8.9 have diffferent ways of handling sync, giving me different problems, it's as well to have the latest version throughout.

[henryfm]

@RTL 

The conflicted files that got created on your system on Postings 3 and 4: are they on your client PCs or on BT Cloud Web? Are they newer or older than the non-conflicted versions? Posting 4 uses the Belarc report rather than the more specific File Explorer for the clients.

[RTL]

@henryfm  @PaddyB   I think we are in dissimilar situations here. I only use SYNC and have nothing set in BACKUP.

My setup

In this post in message #38, JTS1 stated the differences between Sync and Backup.  I only use Sync so won't get "old files" saved.  If I did accidentally delete a file it's not a problem---you can retrieve it from the Dustbin in BT Cloud. And  I also run backups on my PC's so can retrieve from them as well since the BT Cloud folder content is on my "C" drive.

I have the 21.8.9 version of BT Cloud currently on all four PC's.

[RTL]

@henryfm  @PaddyB   The conflicted files have the data--the non-conflicted one is 0 Bytes.  They are on my PC's and the Cloud.  Your explanation earlier about it not being populated etc could be valid but it has never done that before. If I had been on a different Edge version that didn't exhibit the problem when I installed 21.8.9, I'd have been none the wiser!! 

Conflicted File

Edited.:- Forgot to mention that the TEST file dated 21st. Nov. wasn't being synced. To do the Spreadsheet Comparison I had downloaded the file from BT Cloud to an external USB disk so it used that date.

[henryfm]

@RTL 

I am only using sync - backup would not give conflicted files as its a one-way process.  Backup can't conflict with sync as it would be from a different folder on the client PC - e.g. BT Cloud and BT Cloud (1) - to a different repository on the cloud (labelled DESKTOP rather than SYNC on BT Cloud web)

Your observation of an incorrect conflicted file being marked during the backing up phase of files from one client is a new feature of V21.8.9. With V21.4.10, I was using SYNC but from only one PC, so that it was effectively a backup of the main computer. The intention was that when the incorrect identification of confilicted files problem had been resolved, I'd add the laptop again. However, I found that SYNC was incorrectly marking conflicted files on the one computer - the most recently created version of a file was being marked as conflicted so that opening the recent file in Excel (for example) I'd not get the  version with the most recent update. Generally, I use the laptop for one main application. Temporarily setting the laptop to sync, the files from last year have downloaded surplanting the ones created this year which are now marked as conflicted. i.e., the incorrect identification of files as being conflicted isn't a problem of just one computer, but both my PC and LT.

I'm impressed that your system apparently synced the .pdf files to the cloud in the short interval between creation and being populated. I'm still wating for the test files I created on both PC and LT to replicate your test in posting 13.  I am monitoring the syncing process to pause/stop before serious damage occurs!

[RTL]

@henryfm   

"Then you show that BT Cloud has synchronised the same file to DT A, DT C and LT. Just as it should be - but wait. What's happened to the older versions of Test_Sync? When BT Cloud downloaded the latest version to a client, has it deleted the old version and replaced it by the new? "

That seems to be what is happening.

"Maybe the old versions are available on the BT Cloud web"

Definitely not. Even checked the Dustbin.

For my files I don't normally use Save.  If I was going to change the file data, I open it up and at the end do a Save As with that days date. For instance, I have just loaded Fish Tank Maintenance 15th November---entered the data for today and then saved the file as Fish Tank Maintenance 22nd November. In this way the "old file" is retained. Every so often I'll delete some of them--but they would still be in the Cloud Dustbin if I needed to retrieve one. 

[henryfm]

@RTL @PaddyB 

Ah, we start to see an explanation for our different experiences. Basically, to create Conflicted files, you need 2 or more versions of a file with the same name. If it's a spreadsheet file, you need to be using Save rather than Save As and giving a new name. So your normal usage is not at risk of creating Conflicted files. It's difficult to understand why your Test_sync file has not created Conflicted files, whether correct (old version) or incorrect (new one) as BT Cloud seems to want to do at present.  Are you forcing up/down-load or  just letting Sync do so in its own time? Are other versions present on BT Cloud web as previous versions of the files synced to DT A, DT C and LT?

I admit that I usually use Save for my spreadsheet files. Maybe I should use Save As, but if you have a reliable online backup system (whether pure backup or a sync sytem) it should not be necessary. In particular, if I'm using sync and want to open the file on the other PC, I don't want to have to check what timestamped name is current; I just want to open the file. But then there is a risk of Conflicted files. No problem if the system is working correctly, i.e. the newest version is the active version. Big problem if the active version is set in aspic, the current version when BT Cloud 21.8.9 was activated.

For spreadsheet or word processing documents, your routine using Save As and time-stamping could work. It does NOT work for other utilities. Thus, for my Access database tasks, the core file gets updated every time a record is added or changed. The file itself is not saved afresh when Access is changed, only modified but of course its modified date is updated. So BT Cloud should synchronise the Access files, marking the OLD version as a Conflicted file, not the NEW version.  The problem with V21.8.9 is that an old version of the file can now be downloaded as the active version with Sync being used effectively as a backup for one PC.

The example cited in Posting 5 relates to my web page. During the year, building up to and reporting results after the prestigeous Round Rotherham event I create information about the event, and afterwards various results pages. Necessarily, I have a set of standard web pages that I edit, save and upload to the web site host. Pages are of course linked so not only do I keep the same file names (by using Save), I have annual subfolders in which there are standard file names, year after year. Changing a file name would involve a tedious and error-prone task of changing links in other web page files. Standard file names apply for .htm and also some .pdf files. The current misbehavoiur of BT Cloud means I have to be careful to ensure that last year's results don't get uploaded to this year!

I still await (a) my PC and LT getting round to uploading (as the first step in synchronising) my test files, as mentioned in Posting 14 - the log files show that BT Cloud loves to check and recheck ancient files rather than looking at recent creations to see if they need to be synced - and (b) the promised return phone consultation with Stephen from BT Cloud support to provide my supporting evidence from the .log files