Up-to-date DIRs on a NAS

I have a couple (maybe 4) directories (maybe 4-5 levels deep) that I
would like to have accessible and up-to-date on the NAS for all
computers and phones to see them.
Mostly text, VERY little pictures or other binaries.
One of these is DIRectories is my E:\TEXT directory (moved from
%user/homepath%) where I want to exclude all unnecessary program-created
dirs, like 3DMark, HiSuite, GOM, PCMark etc. that that are only
pertinent to 1 machine

I have 2 win10 computers, a Raspberry and a NAS on my home network (and
2 android mobiles).
The NAS is reachable where ever I am, so I'd rather have those DIRs on
the NAS (or rather sync'd to it)

I've tried MS SyncToy, but that is a manual operation every time a
change is made (and not for android).

Any good good idea how to do it? It would have to be FREE, as I'm
unemployed and can't afford any costs

So anything automated/always scanning for changes...


Ideas??

TIA


--
-----------------------------------------------------
Thomas Wendell
Helsinki, Finland
Translation to/from FI/SWE not always accurate
-----------------------------------------------------

tumppiw wrote:

I have a couple (maybe 4) directories (maybe 4-5 levels deep) that I
would like to have accessible and up-to-date on the NAS for all
computers and phones to see them.
Mostly text, VERY little pictures or other binaries.
One of these is DIRectories is my E:\TEXT directory (moved from
%user/homepath%) where I want to exclude all unnecessary program-created
dirs, like 3DMark, HiSuite, GOM, PCMark etc. that that are only
pertinent to 1 machine

I have 2 win10 computers, a Raspberry and a NAS on my home network (and
2 android mobiles).
The NAS is reachable where ever I am, so I'd rather have those DIRs on
the NAS (or rather sync'd to it)

I've tried MS SyncToy, but that is a manual operation every time a
change is made (and not for android).

Any good good idea how to do it? It would have to be FREE, as I'm
unemployed and can't afford any costs

So anything automated/always scanning for changes...

https://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/index.html

While you can run it manually (should there be changes between the
scheduled runs), you can configure the sync jobs for when you want them
to run. Could be once a day, once an hour, every 10 minutes, etc. The
granualarity for the sync job is up to you. While the scheduling
minimum for a sync job is 1 day, the sync job can have a repeat interval
of x days, x hours, x minutes, and/or x seconds. It is not an on-demand
(real-time) monitor to instantly sync a file copy when the source file
happens to change. Most doc programs don't save backups until every few
minutes, anyway, and that is only when the doc is open and gets changed.

No mention how you access the Android phones/tablets. If they are
mounted as a drive (i.e., they get a drive letter when you connect, say,
via USB) then SyncBack Free can get to the paths the USB drive lets you
get to.

SyncBackup Free is their freeware version hence it has some missing
features. One is use of the VSC (Volume Shadow Copy) service. VSC
ensures a file gets backed up even if it is inuse or locked. That
feature alone became a requirement in what I wanted to sync to online
storage, so bought their SyncBack Lite payware version. VSC is not
enabled by default when you create a sync job. You have to go into
Copy/Delete - Advanced options to enable VSC per sync job.

As I recall, they are phasing out the Lite version and going with their
SE and Pro versions. If you don't have any files locked in the source
folder(s) then the free version should be sufficient for you.

I remember looking at several file sync programs a few years back.
Another choice was FreeFileSync; however, I chose SyncBack Free over
FreeFileSync (too long to remember the reasons). Some users have a
preference of open source software (FreeFileSync) over proprietary
software (SyncBack).

Since FreeFileSync also uses the Task Scheduler to run its sync jobs, it
is also not an on-demand sync tool. However, just how often do you need
the files synchronized? A few minutes, several minutes, or even an hour
seems sufficient. If you are collaborating with other authors on
editing documents, you shouldn't be relying on sync jobs to get the most
recent version of a file to all concurrent authors of a file.

VanguardLH wrote:

By the way, if you want to stick with SyncToy (which has l-o-n-g been
abandoned), it does have a CLI (command-line interface), so you can run
it from the command prompt, like for a scheduled event in Task
Scheduler.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2504...-in-windows-7/
https://www.technlg.net/windows/sync...line-switches/

VanguardLH kirjoitti 29.5.2019 klo 7.23:
tumppiw wrote:

I have a couple (maybe 4) directories (maybe 4-5 levels deep) that I
would like to have accessible and up-to-date on the NAS for all
computers and phones to see them.
Mostly text, VERY little pictures or other binaries.
One of these is DIRectories is my E:\TEXT directory (moved from
%user/homepath%) where I want to exclude all unnecessary program-created
dirs, like 3DMark, HiSuite, GOM, PCMark etc. that that are only
pertinent to 1 machine

I have 2 win10 computers, a Raspberry and a NAS on my home network (and
2 android mobiles).
The NAS is reachable where ever I am, so I'd rather have those DIRs on
the NAS (or rather sync'd to it)

I've tried MS SyncToy, but that is a manual operation every time a
change is made (and not for android).

Any good good idea how to do it? It would have to be FREE, as I'm
unemployed and can't afford any costs

So anything automated/always scanning for changes...



https://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/index.html

While you can run it manually (should there be changes between the
scheduled runs), you can configure the sync jobs for when you want them
to run. Could be once a day, once an hour, every 10 minutes, etc. The
granualarity for the sync job is up to you. While the scheduling
minimum for a sync job is 1 day, the sync job can have a repeat interval
of x days, x hours, x minutes, and/or x seconds. It is not an on-demand
(real-time) monitor to instantly sync a file copy when the source file
happens to change. Most doc programs don't save backups until every few
minutes, anyway, and that is only when the doc is open and gets changed.

No mention how you access the Android phones/tablets. If they are
mounted as a drive (i.e., they get a drive letter when you connect, say,
via USB) then SyncBack Free can get to the paths the USB drive lets you
get to.

SyncBackup Free is their freeware version hence it has some missing
features. One is use of the VSC (Volume Shadow Copy) service. VSC
ensures a file gets backed up even if it is inuse or locked. That
feature alone became a requirement in what I wanted to sync to online
storage, so bought their SyncBack Lite payware version. VSC is not
enabled by default when you create a sync job. You have to go into
Copy/Delete - Advanced options to enable VSC per sync job.

As I recall, they are phasing out the Lite version and going with their
SE and Pro versions. If you don't have any files locked in the source
folder(s) then the free version should be sufficient for you.

I remember looking at several file sync programs a few years back.
Another choice was FreeFileSync; however, I chose SyncBack Free over
FreeFileSync (too long to remember the reasons). Some users have a
preference of open source software (FreeFileSync) over proprietary
software (SyncBack).

Since FreeFileSync also uses the Task Scheduler to run its sync jobs, it
is also not an on-demand sync tool. However, just how often do you need
the files synchronized? A few minutes, several minutes, or even an hour
seems sufficient. If you are collaborating with other authors on
editing documents, you shouldn't be relying on sync jobs to get the most
recent version of a file to all concurrent authors of a file.



Thanks, I'll try those two out. Once a day sync should be sufficient
for me.

To clarify, 99% of work are done on the Win10 computers (1 desktop, 1
laptop), but I'd like to have all devices see the files.

For nor, I've been doing manual copying to the NAS or between the W10
computers, but to remember to do it....

(For some strange reason, OneDrive doesn't work properly, ie. I have to
manually copy changes to the OneDrive directory, then it copies them to
the MS OneDrive net service)


--
-----------------------------------------------------
Thomas Wendell
Helsinki, Finland
Translation to/from FI/SWE not always accurate
-----------------------------------------------------

tumppiw wrote:

(For some strange reason, OneDrive doesn't work properly, ie. I have to
manually copy changes to the OneDrive directory, then it copies them to
the MS OneDrive net service)

OneDrive used to be just synchronized storage between a folder on your
PC to your OneDrive account. What you put in the OneDrive folder was
all that got synchronized to your online account. Later Microsoft
decided to emulate Google Drive (now called Google Backup & Restore) to
include the user's data folders (Documents, Pictures, Desktop, etc).

Are the files you change located in one of the folders monitored by the
OneDrive client on your PC? Look in the OneDrive client's settings,
Account tab, Choose folders to see if where you are changing your files
is a path monitored by the client.

Although the OneDrive option says "Choose Folders", the set of folders
is fixed. You really cannot add your own folders. I have docs, like
tweaks for the OS and software and for my hardware and software, stored
under C:\References, but I cannot /choose/ to add that folder to the
OneDrive sync. You get to /choose/ from those folders that Microsoft
considers "important".

In contrast, I can add any folder that I want to get synchronized in
Google Drive's client. So, I can add my C:\References folder, and my
C:\Batch (batch scripts), and folders on other drives.

Storage quotas:

OneDrive - free account: 5 GB
OneDrive - paid account: 50 GB @ $2/month
OneDrive - Office 365: 1 TB @ $70/yr Personal
1 TB/account (6 accounts) @ $100/yr Home

Google Drive - free account: 15 GB
Google Drive - paid account: 100 GB @ $2/mo
200 GB @ $3/mo
2 TB @ $100/yr

I started at 15 GB with Google Drive. I've had the service for a few
years. My storage quota is now up to 115 GB but I've paid nothing. I
don't know if the gradual increase was due to high reputation over that
time or me storing photos (albeit at reduced resolution) despite they
claim such storage doesn't count against my storage quota (but maybe
they up it to store the photos).

I use OneDrive only because, well, it was already there in the Windows
10 installation. I've used it before in Windows 7, and back then only
files that were in the local OneDrive folder got synchronized to my
OneDrive account. The OneDrive client doesn't sync every folder. You
have to look in its settings to see it the folders that Microsoft
decided are important and where are the files you are changing.

VanguardLH kirjoitti 29.5.2019 klo 21.19:
tumppiw wrote:

(For some strange reason, OneDrive doesn't work properly, ie. I have to
manually copy changes to the OneDrive directory, then it copies them to
the MS OneDrive net service)

OneDrive used to be just synchronized storage between a folder on your
PC to your OneDrive account. What you put in the OneDrive folder was
all that got synchronized to your online account. Later Microsoft
decided to emulate Google Drive (now called Google Backup & Restore) to
include the user's data folders (Documents, Pictures, Desktop, etc).

Are the files you change located in one of the folders monitored by the
OneDrive client on your PC? Look in the OneDrive client's settings,
Account tab, Choose folders to see if where you are changing your files
is a path monitored by the client.

Although the OneDrive option says "Choose Folders", the set of folders
is fixed. You really cannot add your own folders. I have docs, like
tweaks for the OS and software and for my hardware and software, stored
under C:\References, but I cannot /choose/ to add that folder to the
OneDrive sync. You get to /choose/ from those folders that Microsoft
considers "important".


This USED to work also with your own choosen directories..



In contrast, I can add any folder that I want to get synchronized in
Google Drive's client. So, I can add my C:\References folder, and my
C:\Batch (batch scripts), and folders on other drives.


Maybe I'll try getting this to work again (for some reason, it didn't
work last autumn when I built my new machine)



Storage quotas:

OneDrive - free account: 5 GB
OneDrive - paid account: 50 GB @ $2/month
OneDrive - Office 365: 1 TB @ $70/yr Personal
1 TB/account (6 accounts) @ $100/yr Home

Google Drive - free account: 15 GB
Google Drive - paid account: 100 GB @ $2/mo
200 GB @ $3/mo
2 TB @ $100/yr

I started at 15 GB with Google Drive. I've had the service for a few
years. My storage quota is now up to 115 GB but I've paid nothing. I
don't know if the gradual increase was due to high reputation over that
time or me storing photos (albeit at reduced resolution) despite they
claim such storage doesn't count against my storage quota (but maybe
they up it to store the photos).

I use OneDrive only because, well, it was already there in the Windows
10 installation. I've used it before in Windows 7, and back then only
files that were in the local OneDrive folder got synchronized to my
OneDrive account. The OneDrive client doesn't sync every folder. You
have to look in its settings to see it the folders that Microsoft
decided are important and where are the files you are changing.



--
-----------------------------------------------------
Thomas Wendell
Helsinki, Finland
Translation to/from FI/SWE not always accurate
-----------------------------------------------------

tumppiw wrote:

VanguardLH:

In contrast, I can add any folder that I want to get synchronized in
Google Drive's client. So, I can add my C:\References folder, and my
C:\Batch (batch scripts), and folders on other drives.

Maybe I'll try getting this to work again (for some reason, it didn't
work last autumn when I built my new machine)

See my thread titled "File History". Looks like OneDrive, Google Drive,
and maybe File History may not be compatible with each other. There
exists a race condition that can lockout some files from one of the
backup clients.

Make sure that what OneDrive syncs are folders not including for those
that Google Drive syncs, and forget using File History as it is
unreliable (and looks to be getting phased out). By default, in Windows
10, OneDrive will include folders that Google Drive will also sync.
When Google Drive used to use a temp folder to cache the files in a
folder sync, OneDrive and Google Drive cooperated with each other. When
Google Drive went to using a .tmp file, OneDrive would lock the file
while it was synchronizing a folder which screwed up Google Drive.

Since OneDrive is locking up the .tmp file used by Google Drive,
OneDrive might also be causing lockups during its sync on files that are
included in File History. You'd think Microsoft would make sure
OneDrive and File History would be 100% compatible with each other, but
I wouldn't bet on it.

Configure OneDrive (included in Windows 10, by default, and may be
active, especially if you're using a Microsoft account in Windows
instead of a local/offline account) to not sync all files and folders
(which only means some special folders Microsoft decided are important).
Just have it sync on specific files and folders (which are in the
%userprofile%\OneDrive folder). In OneDrive, disable the "Sync all
files and folders" option and just select the ones in your OneDrive
folder under "Or sync only these folders". In Google Drive, make sure
to not include the %userprofile%\OneDrive folder.

You really cannot get rid of OneDrive in Windows 10. Well, you
shouldn't get rid of it. Some apps in Windows 10 will not use local
storage. They mandate the use of cloud storage via OneDrive. For
example, the Windows 10 OneNote app only uses OneDrive. If you want
your notebooks to be local and merely sync'ed to your OneDrive account,
you must use OneNote 2016 (but which Microsoft has discontinued
development and pronounces you should use their "better" OneNote app
despite it is highly crippled compared to their OneNote 2016 program).

These sync clients used to cooperate for me under Windows 7; however,
the OneDrive client back then (and what you still get for Win7) only
syncs on files and folders in the OneDrive folder, not elsewhere, and
that overlap in the Win10 version of OneDrive farks over Google Drive
(after they change to using a .tmp file that gets locked by OneDrive
during a sync).

In your OneDrive account, check your storage quota size. If it is a
free account, you have 15GB (I thought new accounts only got 5GB, but
Microsoft has changed to match Google).

If you have a Google account, check your Google Drive storage quota.
Those free accounts start with 15GB. I've had a free Google account for
many years, and they've upped my storage quota to 115GB without me
paying anything to them. Don't know why, but it's why I rely on Google
Drive for an online sync of my Documents and other folders rather than
the smaller OneDrive storage quota.