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Author Topic: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits  (Read 9266 times)

peter.s

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Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« on: April 02, 2014, 09:36 AM »
repub of http://www.bitsdujou...ry-pro#comments82213 :

S(yncovery, ex VeryComplicatedAncientNameIDon'tEvenRemember), has been on offer here quite some times; in the past, I refrained from buying, since even half-price was "too much" for me, considering the "competition", which was half-price of that - obviously, that was a big, big mistake of mine, and I'll happily buy today.

Above, that was the executive summary, here's the longer story:

I

Most users do a lot of renaming of folders, and of moving files into other (sub-) folders (renamed beforehand, or not). Then again, they synch (if they are smart; years ago, I was foolish enough to NOT synch, an booh, some day I lost some data I very much cherished, and which I never ever then could replicate).

Now there are quite some synch tools out there, some even for free, and for years, I have been using Vice Versa Free, which, graphically, is the most beautiful, and the most "functional" (= by immediate "acting about things", i.e. by actiong about subsets of files, manually, by right-click menu, and this implies the graphical presentation of folders and files there which is absolutely outstanding), not overall, see below) synch tool I ever encountered, and I trialled them all (= between 0 and some 200$, that is).

Now, why didn't I just BUY VV Prof., for living happily ever after? (= Is 60 bucks for the perfect synch tool too much? OF COURSE NOT!)

Bec that folks simply refuse to implement monitoring renames and moves of files, or renames and moves of folders (which from the programming pov is NOT that difficult to implement; I did some 80,000 lines of code in my amateur-programmer's life, so I've got at least some MINIMAL credentials to speak out here).

Two (or three) effects arise from this refusal:

- wear-out of your hdd's (= of course, it makes a difference if your synch tool is "smart" enough to just rename/reassign 30,000 pics in the target directory, or if it insists on copying/deleting 30,000 files, for hours, as will do my (graphically beloved) VV and 90 p.c. of S' competitors out there

- NO synch tool of my knowledge does verification of source file and target file (i.e. by check sums et al), so when S just really synchs perhaps 200 really new files, instead of doing idiotic "synching" of 30,000 files of which in fact 28,800 are already there in the target directory, your risk of getting broken files, in your "safe" repository, with S, will be divided by 1,000 (or by several hundred, to be exact ;-) )

- As I say here, I've done a lot of manual work within VV Free - why? Simply bec of my wanting to minimize those two aforementioned probs with synching - but anytime I do so, I'll do, for multiple minutes, completely unnecessary, manual work, by having VV Free on one screen, and my file manager on the other, in order to replicate, at least, all possible folder renames in my target (parent) folder/target hdd/stick/whatever, in order to then minimize the real synching: THIS IS CRAZY LABOUR! And which S will from now on spare me if it functions well!

II

Similar effects (i.e. for points 1 and 2, no means to avoid point 3 above) arise from VV's (and most other competitors') refusal to do delta copying, i.e. if you've got a 1 giga OL (Outlook) db file, it WILL make a difference if the synch tool of your choice just replicates the changed parts of that file (= which is "delta copying"), or if it will replace that 1 giga file, as a whole, again and again and again.

And yes, S DOES delta copying... and very few competitors out there do (a partial/"easy" synonym for delta copying would be "incremental synching, but a correct use of that term would apply to backup tools only).


III

And now it's time to share my experience with "GoodSync", bought here, some time ago, half-price. Well, I don't want to do diffamation, so I'm obliged to tell you that it was "GoodSync2Go" (i.e. so there's a chance the original "GoodSync" is any better), BUT I had installed "GS2Go" on my main usb stick from which I run my 6,000 (or is it now 7,000?) lines of code of AHK macroing, without that stick never ever failing me: So why it fails my, every other minute, with "GS2Go"?!

In fact, I paid "GS2Go" here 15$ plus VAT, which is "nothing", BUT I *GOT* NOTHING, too!

In fact, GS is another one of those, very rare, synching offerings that claim to monitor file/folder renames/moves, for synching.

Well, sue me, "GoodSync", but I call you "BadSync" now - in fact, here and there (i.e. less than 10 p.c. of such files), such a folder rename/move was tracked indeed by "GS2G", and my files to be synched got a mention "renamed to xyz" when then I started the GS synch (and were then, I suppose, properly processed), but about 90 p.c. or more of my "moved" files - most of the time, not really moved, but just within a renamed/moved folder/sub-folder - were faithfully copied anew by GS, and which then were faithfully deleted in their respective folder of origin (as said, about 29,800 out of 30,000, or make it 10 p.c., i.e. 27.000 - all this abysmal).

And for such a "result", I had been prepared to live with with GS's gui, which is, from my humble pov, the worst I ever encountered (not just graphically: also, have a look at their not "opening" any other folder (= not even by option), above just 1,000 files listed, and which could you cause much probs, incl. data loss and all, within their source files' listing)...

And yes, I tried to discuss those probs with that people... without any success... they did not even answer me anymore...

And that explains why, being "proud" (in fact, ashamed: I'd been a fool by buying!) owner of GS, I had reverted to VV Free, and then I did all my necessary synch work, about 1 times a month (whilst it should be done every 2 or 3 days, let alone advocates of doing it daily, which of course is best!), within VV Free, for hours each time...

IV

So why didn't I buy S not full-price, between bits offerings? Bec, after my experience with "GoodSync", I lost my faith, partially, in developers' claims: Better lose 30€ (= 30$ plus VAT) with anything, than 60€, with some other offering that possibly doesn't live up to those claims, right?

This being said, I rate the risk, with S, to not fulfill its claims at about 5-10 p.c., not more, and I'll happily:

- buy upgrades then, full price (i.e. about same price as half-price here, today, for the full product), and

- will tell you that S will have entirely lived up to its feature claims, next time it will appear here on bits,

if, and that's my 90-95% very strong expectation, S is capable of faithfully monitor my folder renames and all that.

And yes, I just would be entirely happy if S tried to optimize its GUI... just have a look at VV in order to get brilliant ideas. ;-)

Btw, aforementioned VV probs are replicated with SyncBack, another commercial (and otherwise "renowned") synch tool, but which is worthless for me bec of these probs it comes with.

V

There's another aspect to consider in synching, which is "versioning". Well, of course, real versioning is quite another task, but some sort of "simili-versioning" should be possible with every paid, good synch tool: Not just "overwriting" of previous "saves", but replicating those, either by an automatic numbering system within the original target folder, or by automatic shifting of those previously "saved files" into an automatically created sub-folder within the target folder.

No need to say that this is the core difference between most free synch sw tools, and the paid ones, and it seems that S executes this task in the very possible optimized way (i.e. sub-folders, upon request). Such a feature only is really important for really important files (and will "eat" lots of unnecessary hdd space on your target medium of it's done "either-or, globally", so my wish for S, to become really perfect, would indeed be, allow users to specify, within a synch job, to specify which ones of your multiple folders/sub-folders will be replicated-with-replication-of-the-previous-saves, and which ones will just overwrite the previous savings - if S introduced such a individualisation of target folder treatment within the same synch job, it would be something really perfect - outstanding from the "competitors' crowd" it is even today (if, by all chance, it processes renames/moves correctly)).


So you see, Syncovery will be the very best "individual" synch tool there is (i.e. in the non-corporate range, for individual users and with affordable prices) if both its delta copying and its renames/moves monitoring will function as advertized, and so 30 bucks for this will be an absolute treat.

In every sw category out there, we've got a "winner", and we've got all chances that Tobias' offering here is very well the winner in t(his) categoy.

As said, I'll buy this presumably in-a-class-of-its-own tool today (and my given name "Schleifer" stands for burying bad sw), and I'll be eager to give S a rave review whenever it just does what it pretends to to, next time it'll appear here! ;-)

(And yes, I understand that for some users, compatibility with this online storage offering of that might be important, too, but then, CORE functionality and its perfect realization is my subject, and it very well appears that Syncovery Pro is the leader of the pack, for that core functionality every paid synch tool should have in the year of 2014 - bec in the year of 2525, we'll all be dead, and we've got a right NOW to profit from what's have been technically possible even years ago... and Syncovery Pro seems to be the only offering out there that really delivers. So what's 30$... even plus VAT? ;-) )
When the wise points to the moon, the moron just looks at his pointer. China.

peter.s

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2014, 01:54 PM »
Ok, I did my first steps with Syncovery now, and I would like to share my experience, the bottom line being, buy as soon as possible, even full price, it's the very best sync tool out there when we speak of "consumer sw", i.e. of all those tools between 0 (free) and about 200$ or even some bucks more (i.e. I don't know the "prof. / corporate" programs in the higher 3-digit, or in the 4-digit price range, but I intimately checked almost everything "below" that quite other sw category.

(And yes, for "GoodSync", I only can speak for the "2Go" version, but that one (and their "customer service") is so bad that I can simply not imagine the "regular" version might be THAT one better, and "2Go" was like throwing my dollars into the loo.)

Now, let's start again from the beginning. There are some "prof." sync tools (the most "relevant" of them being ViceVersa Pro (as said, very beautiful imo), and BestSync (which is reputed "even more stable stan VV", according to some)) that all have one point in common: Paying users have been begging, for years, for "intelligent" processing of file AND folder renames AND moves, TO NO AVAIL. (Why this is an important feature, see above, and yes, I admit it, if I rename 1200 jpg pics (in groups, e.g. by FreeCommander, an almost-splendid file commander which I always prefer to most paying ones, which I own, too), then move them, from some inboxes into (intermediate or final) target directories, then, technically, it's not THAT important if they are recognized, by Syncovery, as renamed and/or moved, or if some dumb competitor just copies 1200 "new" files (of which not a single one is new in fact), then deletes 1200 "old" ones, but for serious work, let alone corporate settings, this can make a VERY BIG difference, of many hours, let alone the above-mentioned file consistency problems... but even for 1200 .jpg pics, it's a RELIEF to have them just renamed/moved within the target directory: IT'S NEAT, YOU KNOW?! It's work as it should be done, instead of crappy detours, and yes, I'm aware that not everybody will follow me here... ;-)

Now for Syncovery, which is in a class of its own. My very first tries had been desastrous, but I beg you, don't let you be put off by such misleading, false experience, and please let me explain to you how to avoid such beginner's mistakes, in order to wholly profit from Syncovery from day one on.

First of all, the help file is not outstanding yet, and you will have to search for "tracking", in order to get to the relevant help page, "Smart Tracking" (= if you search for "smart tracking" instead, no hit will show up).

Then, I'm not fond of its profile set-up, divided into "Step 1...6", i.e. into 6 consecutive dialog frames: Some "help" is right there, but not enough help for a Syncovery beginner, and there is no "Help" button, and pressing F1 will NOT give you any context help.

Now don't take me wrong: Yes, for me, (functionally sub-standard; standard for synch sw being set by Syncovery!) ViveVersa has got some visual value I can only describe with difficulty: For me, it's one of the most beautiful Windows programs, just like I consider Storyist (Mac only, unfortunately), the most beautiful sw out there currently (and considering neither my own nor FreeHand 4 ain't available anymore), but then, the term's of "design" is twofold: visual, AND functional, and on that latter aspect, VV (I'm speaking of the free version here) is brilliant, too: Its preview pane is "View: All, Matched,
Unmatched, Newer and Older, Excluded", and then, there is "Method: Align Source and Target, Augment Target, Refresh Target, Update Target, Update and Force Target, Prune Target".

I convene for these "Method" options, you first will have to have a brief look into the help file, but from then on, everything will become soooo easy! Whilst in Syncovery, that succession of 6 dialog frames, even with additional frames, depending on your options, well... I'm not really fond of such a gui choice, and which clearly set me astray. Hence my begging for some better way to this in Syncovery, and yes; I'm aware that in VV, there is a distinction between "general option" and then "compare what with what", and then "how to compare that", whilst in Syncovery, everything is done within the respective comparison profiles". Also, you should be aware of that help file recommandation that for any working rename/moving monitoring, there should only be ONE profile accessing the folders in question (if I understand that well), so my initial, multiple profiles d: > s:, d:\1 > s:\1, d:\2 > s:\2 weren't perhaps the very best idea of doing things here - in fact, since with Syncovery, any unnecessary copy-plus-delete now will have come to an end, integral synching of the whole hdd will be much less of a problem than with "competitors" before, anyway...

Now let's assume you have some working directories on drive c: or d: (but even synching from usb stick i: to usb stick j: or whatever will work without fault), so in "Step 2", your synch direction will be "Left to Right". Then, in "Step 3" dialogue, there's a real problem. According to Tobias, the (very kind and helpful) developer, even "Standard Copying" will work, more or less, for correct checking of renames/moves (and that's why even for that radio button, the check box "Detect if files have been moved" is NOT greyed out"), but I cannot back up this: In fact, for me (again, Syncovery beginner, so I might have made other mistakes there), this setting was a horror experience (= as bad as with GoodSync2Go: totally worthless).

No, forget "Standard Copying" for the time being, brashly opt for "Smart Tracking" (or then, "Exact Mirror", of course), and you will see that the button "Configure" will not be greyed out any more, in that very "Step 3"; of course, you will check the "Detect if files have been moved" check box (and which includes renames, too; I had big doubts about this, but it works tremendously fine). Also, you will check the radio button "Adjust location on right-hand side".

You will click on that (now activated) button "Configure", and for "Moved Files", you'll check "Right Side", and for "Deleted Files", you'll either check "Delete permanently", or "Move into folder for deleted files"; for "Conflicting Files", I currently have set "Do nothing / label as conflict", and notwithstanding my comments on the visuals of VV, I can assure you that it's a delight to visually check the Syncovery preview; just compare with the total mess in GoodSync, and you'll immediately grasp how superior Syncovery's visuals are (and even from a functional pov that is ;-) ); for the last tab there, "Detect unchanges files on the right-hand side" seems to be the appropriate option.

And with those settings/options (subject to possible optimization hints from Tobias), you'll get a perfect result, and it's a joy to check for this fine and outstanding program's intentions in the preview pane. For the corporate world, Syncovery offers some special versions, and I'm perfectly aware now of the interest of such versions: You can safely assume that even for several hundred dollars/euros, there's nothing superior on the market out there.

Syncovery is one of my best software buy ever, and even at its original price, it would have been a steal.

My kudos to this brilliant, functionally totally outstanding program, even if both the gui and the help file stay unchanged, and even though that would be, marketing-wise, a shame. ;-) There are few sw categories in which one single offering makes the competition pale; thanks to Syncovery, synching is one of those select few.


And here for my unavoidable going-on-your-nerves P.S.: I did some programming again, this Easter Sunday, and again with listening, again and again, to one of the very best pieces of music available on YT, Lisa Stansfield at Ronnie Scott 2003 - Google's YT currently being Google's ultimate apology for serving us such crap as cnet downloads as first hit. ;-) (And yes, people interested in ace sax performances should also have a look into http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=AdOxkcBLMPE and especially into the title "Amerika" there, or, cut out from there, here: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=F38zkeS3CKI )
When the wise points to the moon, the moron just looks at his pointer. China.

tomos

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2014, 03:07 PM »
but even for 1200 .jpg pics, it's a RELIEF to have them just renamed/moved within the target directory: IT'S NEAT, YOU KNOW?! It's work as it should be done, instead of crappy detours
a big plus one there :up:

Then, I'm not fond of its profile set-up, divided into "Step 1...6", i.e. into 6 consecutive dialog frames: Some "help" is right there, but not enough help for a Syncovery beginner, and there is no "Help" button, and pressing F1 will NOT give you any context help.
-
I dont have Syncovery installed on this machine, but IIRC you are talking about the Wizard setup. It's a while since I created a new profile, but there is a method (I presume it's called 'Advanced') where all those steps are accessible via tabs within the dialogue. Using this method, you can check out all the options at your leisure (will take a while - I think there are even more options than when setting profile up via wizard).

Re the naming of profiles: you can group profiles (into collapsible groups) by have the same word or letter at the beginning of the profile name, followed by a space.
I tend to group them according to drive, e.g.
F to Y
F Project#1
F IQ
F Project#2 monitored

-
they will all collapse to
+F

It does good monitoring of files (new version copied when you save file). Also partial file backup for larger files has been very dependable for me.

TBH whenever I set up a new profile, I'm still slightly overwhelmed by the options ;-)
I think I only have four or five active/scheduled profiles. Others then that get activated or run manually when I'm working on a different project, or when I attach an external drive.
Tom

m9833

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2020, 05:05 AM »
I came across this post today, while searching for the differences between Syncovery Pro & Vice Versa Pro. The reason being that Syncovery Pro is on sale at BitsDuJour today. Despite the age of this post, it has been helpful for me in understanding some differences between these two excellent programs.

tomos

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2020, 02:30 PM »
I came across this post today, while searching for the differences between Syncovery Pro & Vice Versa Pro. The reason being that Syncovery Pro is on sale at BitsDuJour today. Despite the age of this post, it has been helpful for me in understanding some differences between these two excellent programs.
Yeah, they complicated things a while back with a third version (Standard\Pro\Premium). See here for their respective features:
https://www.syncovery.com/matrix/
Tom

m9833

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2020, 02:22 PM »
Thanks tomos. I was looking for such a comparison table just now and your post saved me from further searches.  :up:

Based on the table, I believe the professional version should be perfect for me. The little experience I had since yesterday after downloading the trial version made a good impression on me. I might even use it over my beloved Vice Vera Pro, because of the smart detection of renamed and moved files and folders.

tomos

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2020, 05:01 AM »
Good.
I got the bdj offer as was cheaper than an upgrade. (Note I bought it many years ago.)
The "smart detection" and monitoring combined with block file updating (or whatever they call it) is really nice. The control one has is incredible (but with all the options can also be a little overwhelming).
Tom

tomos

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Re: Why I'm going to buy Syncovery Pro today, at bits
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2020, 05:10 AM »
The offer has been extended ~ twenty hours left:
https://www.bitsdujo...ry-pro#comments82213
Tom