Author Topic: Super Flexible File Synchronizer Mini-Review (Read 165,342 times)

tomos · « **Reply #25 on:** April 15, 2009, 08:58 AM »

Quote from: Curt on April 15, 2009, 06:38 AM

So, how is the company going in general? Are they bug fixing and feature updating and such? Does anyone know?

yes, very regular updates/fixes

mwang · « **Reply #26 on:** April 26, 2009, 05:20 AM »

V4.xx is now not only very capable (which it was from the start), but also very stable. Sync profiles are also easier to manage.

Due to some stability issues and Unicode compatibility issues with SFFS, I went back to hand-made BC (Beyond Compare) scripts and batch files for scheduled sync'ing when BC3 was released. Relying on a 3rd-party scheduler (BC3 doesn't have one) and various scripts and batches (for BC3 scripting isn't capable enough) nevertheless made maintaining several sync/backup jobs difficult. So I tried SFFS again recently (about two weeks ago), and haven't had any issues so far. Its rock solid now, running non-stop on my system.

I still prefer BC3 for manual operation, and its Linux ver. is just as useful. The interface is perfect for me, and the ability to align differently-named folders/files is a godsend. For scheduled sync/backups, however, SFFS is the better choice.

tomos · « **Reply #27 on:** February 18, 2010, 10:06 AM »

Version #5 is coming out soon - see below for details - partial file versioning for files over .4MB which can be combined with zipping & encryption

NEW FORUM (yaaaah)

http://www.backupcreations.com/forum/
there seems to be some sort of partnership with this new(?) online backup site (well, they will use a version of SFFS & SFFS has forum on their site). They here.

New Features In Version 5 (Preview now available for Windows)

Support for Google Docs
You can now synchronize with Google Docs! The functionality is described here.

Embedded SQL Database
An embedded Firebird SQL Database Server is now being used for the reference databases. This adds only 2 MB to the download and it does not need any configuration. It is used for SmartTracking, for the Destination Cache and for storing the checksums for Partial File Updating. The SQL server communicates directly via its DLL file, so there is no TCP/IP or other interprocess communication that would be seen by Firewalls. Embedded Firebird runs as part of the Superflexible or ExtremeSync processes.

Firebird is a great improvement over the old database structure, especially in terms of reliability and scalability. It can store an unlimited number of file entries and other data without becoming much slower. A separate database file is created for each job (like before). Old databases are automatically converted.

Differential Versioning Backup
You can now combine Partial File Updating with Versioning, Zipping and Encryption and use it with any backup storage location, including FTP and other Internet Protocols.

Checkboxes to choose:
- tab sheet Special: "Partial File Updating" (without Remote Service)
- tab sheet Zipping: "Zip Each File Individually"

The option "Filename Encoding" on the Versioning tab sheet is automatically active in this use case.

The Zip file sizes can now be limited too so that large files can be split (only in conjunction with Partial File Updating). The transfer can be stopped any time and zip parts already uploaded won't be lost.

Be sure to keep all zip files on the destination as they may all be needed to reassemble the file upon restore. Any older version can be restored by choosing the desired target date in the Restore Wizard, or by right-clicking the file in the Sync Preview and choosing the desired version. The option "Keep multiple files" is implied and does not need to be checked. It cannot be used to limit the number of older versions. All older versions must be kept on the backup.

A method to limit the number of older files that need to be kept on the backup storage is currently being developed and suggestions on the best strategy are welcome.

Block-level copying is applied to files which are at least 400,000 bytes in size. The granularity of the differential backup is determined dynamically for each file, based on its size. The smallest block size used will be 2048 bytes.

Each partial backup includes an MD5 checksum for each file, so that restored files can be verified to be 100% correct. You can see this in the file MD5.TXT that the partial zips contain.

http://www.superflexible.com/history.htm

Darwin · « **Reply #28 on:** February 18, 2010, 03:00 PM »

Thanks for posting this, Tom. I've been using the preview for quite a while (not sure when I started - at least a month or so ago) and I haven't had any problems with it, though my synchronizing needs are pretty basic (haven't tried partial file versioning and haven't tried the scheduler).

J-Mac · « **Reply #29 on:** April 19, 2010, 05:43 AM »

Hey Tom, Mike:

I'm still using Version 4. I never hear anything about updates or new versions - I have to continually check the web site to see when updates are available. Is V.5 out yet?

One more question: are either of you using SFFS with Amazon S3 online data storage? I use Jungle Disk for that now but since they were purchased by Rackspace they very much want users to switch to using Rackspace's Online Disks instead of the Amazon S3 Buckets. Twice now with updates they changed mine over to Rackspace and I went through a lot of crap to get it all back to S3. So I'd love to dump Jungle Disk and use SFFS. Apparently SFFS can be used with Amazon S3 but I don’t think it has a UI to browse your files and folders there directly. Or at least it doesn’t in V.4 - maybe V.5 has changed this.

Anyway if wither of you are using SFFS with S3 I would appreciate some comments on that.

Thanks!

Jim

Darwin · « **Reply #30 on:** April 19, 2010, 05:56 AM »

Sorry, Jim, I'm not using SFFS with S3. SFFS is still very solid here... As far as updating goes, I was in the same boat - checking the download page to find out if any were available. With the beta of v.5 there is a "check updates" feature from the help menu. Just FYI, author has stated that v.4 licences will work with v.5 (ie, it's a free upgrade).

J-Mac · « **Reply #31 on:** April 19, 2010, 06:34 AM »

Free? Wow - that's amazingly generous! So V.5 is working good for you? Stable?

Thanks!

Jim

CleverCat · « **Reply #32 on:** April 19, 2010, 06:36 AM »

Wouldn't be without it!

Darwin · « **Reply #33 on:** April 19, 2010, 01:06 PM »

Quote from: J-Mac on April 19, 2010, 06:34 AM

Free? Wow - that's amazingly generous! So V.5 is working good for you? Stable?

Yeah, sorry, I managed to miss the "5" when I typed SFFS above. I've been running SFFS 5 preview for months with no problems at all.

Here's the posting about the upgrade (hope I've interpreted it correctly!):

http://www.backupcreations.com/forum/upgrade-options-t105.html

urlwolf · « **Reply #34 on:** April 19, 2010, 01:50 PM »

I'm a SFFS fan. Since I'm on linux now, I had to find an alternative.
The best backup tool I found by far is storebackup. And yes, it beats SFFS for me.

No gui, though.

J-Mac · « **Reply #35 on:** April 20, 2010, 03:57 AM »

Quote from: urlwolf on April 19, 2010, 01:50 PM

I'm a SFFS fan. Since I'm on linux now, I had to find an alternative.
The best backup tool I found by far is storebackup. And yes, it beats SFFS for me.

No gui, though.

But it is for Linux, not Windows, correct? I guess I'll get to try it if/when I try Linux. (Actually more of a "when" methinks!)

Thanks!

Jim

tomos · « **Reply #36 on:** April 27, 2010, 12:25 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on April 19, 2010, 01:06 PM

Quote from: J-Mac on April 19, 2010, 06:34 AM
Free? Wow - that's amazingly generous! So V.5 is working good for you? Stable?

Yeah, sorry, I managed to miss the "5" when I typed SFFS above. I've been running SFFS 5 preview for months with no problems at all.

Here's the posting about the upgrade (hope I've interpreted it correctly!):

http://www.backupcreations.com/forum/upgrade-options-t105.html

Mike, have you installed the beta separately from your V.4 install - or on top of it?

Re the upgrade cost he does say
"any license includes at least two years of free upgrades and updates" so it may depend on when the license was bought...

tomos · « **Reply #37 on:** April 27, 2010, 12:34 PM »

Quote from: J-Mac on April 19, 2010, 05:43 AM

are either of you using SFFS with Amazon S3 online data storage? I use Jungle Disk for that now but since they were purchased by Rackspace they very much want users to switch to using Rackspace's Online Disks instead of the Amazon S3 Buckets. Twice now with updates they changed mine over to Rackspace and I went through a lot of crap to get it all back to S3. So I'd love to dump Jungle Disk and use SFFS. Apparently SFFS can be used with Amazon S3 but I don’t think it has a UI to browse your files and folders there directly. Or at least it doesn’t in V.4 - maybe V.5 has changed this.

I'm still using a pretty old version of Jungle Disk (2.10a - I was wary of updating after the change of ownership cause it wasnt at all clear to me how it would work and/or cost)

I dont think SFFS allows you to browse files on S3 (I'm sure that would have been written big in the new features!)
Are there currently any other ways of showing S3 locally?

( Fairly Off topic:- have you reasons you dont want to use Rackspace storage ? )

Darwin · « **Reply #38 on:** April 27, 2010, 02:19 PM »

Quote from: tomos on April 27, 2010, 12:25 PM

Quote from: Darwin on April 19, 2010, 01:06 PM
Quote from: J-Mac on April 19, 2010, 06:34 AM
Free? Wow - that's amazingly generous! So V.5 is working good for you? Stable?

Yeah, sorry, I managed to miss the "5" when I typed SFFS above. I've been running SFFS 5 preview for months with no problems at all.

Here's the posting about the upgrade (hope I've interpreted it correctly!):

http://www.backupcreations.com/forum/upgrade-options-t105.html

Mike, have you installed the beta separately from your V.4 install - or on top of it?

Re the upgrade cost he does say
"any license includes at least two years of free upgrades and updates" so it may depend on when the license was bought...

I installed the beta over top of v.4 (a long while ago) and have not had any trouble since.

Here's what the developer says:

Quote

Yes, v5 will be a free upgrade if you have v4, including all revisions. It will take the same registration codes as v4. Independently, any license includes at least two years of free upgrades and updates.

My reading of the above is that it won't matter when you bought your v4 license. He does state that his mention of the two years of upgrades and updates is independent of his first statement, that if you have a license for 4 you're good for v5, too. Very generous, really, as I purchased v3 at least three years ago and was given a free upgrade to v4 in March of 2008.

Darwin · « **Reply #39 on:** April 27, 2010, 02:22 PM »

PS I tried to use SFFS to sync my Roboform data with Roboform's online backup service (https address) and SFFS couldn't handle it. It did ask for my login credentials and I've confirmed that it's set up correctly. Don't know if this is to do with Roboform wanting to get people to buy their own GoodSync software as well? At any rate, I mention this in reference to the S3 query. I *suspect* that this will be an issue with S3 as well, though I have no way to test it.

tomos · « **Reply #40 on:** April 27, 2010, 02:32 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on April 27, 2010, 02:22 PM

PS I tried to use SFFS to sync my Roboform data with Roboform's online backup service (https address) and SFFS couldn't handle it. It did ask for my login credentials and I've confirmed that it's set up correctly. Don't know if this is to do with Roboform wanting to get people to buy their own GoodSync software as well? At any rate, I mention this in reference to the S3 query. I *suspect* that this will be an issue with S3 as well, though I have no way to test it.

hmmm

Just thinking I could test it by setting it up (SFFS => S3) and then simply continuing to use Jungle Disk to check the contents of the S3 'Bucket' & see if the backup is actually working (you could go this route as well Jim)
as to when I might get around to trying that, I cant say :p

J-Mac · « **Reply #41 on:** April 28, 2010, 05:16 AM »

Quote from: tomos on April 27, 2010, 12:34 PM

I dont think SFFS allows you to browse files on S3 (I'm sure that would have been written big in the new features!)
Are there currently any other ways of showing S3 locally?

Yes - check the Amazon Web Services forum. There is a free client that seems to be all the rage there. They sell a more advanced version but maintain a free version also.

Quote from: tomos

( Fairly Off topic:- have you reasons you dont want to use Rackspace storage ? )

Yes. Rackspace hasn’t been as reliable as S3 - there have been several outages since the takeover; with S3 I have a network drive defined on my machine and I can browse, upload/download directly from there instead of going through the JD client - can't browse your files online at all with Rackspace. And there is the fact that Jungle Disk converted my S3 "Legacy" backup to a Rackspace online disk with the update to V3 - that is a no-no here! Don’t f**k with my data without asking! Plus my Amazon S3 account is in my name, not Jungle Disk's like a lot of folks. So if JD goes away overnight my data is still there and accessible. Plus JD pushes the fact that Rackspace is cheaper but in reality the costs are virtually the same for me. I don’t download/move my stuff around that much.

Thanks!

Jim

Darwin · « **Reply #42 on:** April 29, 2010, 11:49 PM »

Just FYI, I note that GoodSync is billed as being able to connect to and synchronize with Amazon S3.

mcurran · « **Reply #43 on:** May 22, 2010, 12:53 AM »

J-Mac: I love SFFS. I've used it with Amazon S3 for a year+. I use it for regular scheduled backups and also for versioning when I'm editing/writing big projects (save file frequently, back up every 10-15 min., keep 20+ copies, all to a bucket for temporary intensive backups, then delete later).

My MSXML 6.0 got corrupted and it prevented me backing up to S3 (this was before ver. 5 which doesn't require it). But Tobias was extremely helpful and informative. The preview ver. 5 totally fixed the problem (no longer requires MSXML 6.0).

Thanks for the tip about the free client to browse the files.

J-Mac · « **Reply #44 on:** May 22, 2010, 02:35 AM »

Thanks mcurran. I'll have to get ahold of Tobias and ask him what's up.

BTW, that was the Cloudberry Explorer I was referring to in the other post. Is that what you are using?

Thanks again!

Jim

mcurran · « **Reply #45 on:** May 26, 2010, 09:38 PM »

Quote from: J-Mac on May 22, 2010, 02:35 AM

Thanks mcurran. I'll have to get ahold of Tobias and ask him what's up.

Jim: Glad to hear that you'll be pursuing SFFS. I'm looking forward to checking out SFFS's new feature: syncing with Google Docs.

Quote

BTW, that was the Cloudberry Explorer I was referring to in the other post. Is that what you are using?

I hadn't heard of Cloudberry before (thanks for the name, I had tried a quick search in response to your comment below re the free client, but didn't stick with it). I had been using S3 backup (maluke.com) for browsing my S3 buckets and directories, but have been wondering what else is out there.

Quote

Yes - check the Amazon Web Services forum. There is a free client that seems to be all the rage there. They sell a more advanced version but maintain a free version also.

Let us know what happens w/SFFS.

-- Cheers, M

J-Mac · « **Reply #46 on:** May 26, 2010, 09:54 PM »

mcurran,

Here's the website of the Cloudberry Explorer developers: http://cloudberrylab.com/ . It's pretty decent and it's free!

Also here is a link to a review of the various Amazon S3 Clients at the labnol site: http://www.labnol.org/internet/amazon-s3-clients-roundup/8286/ . It's about a year old but most of the info is still valid.

Jim

mcurran · « **Reply #47 on:** May 26, 2010, 10:15 PM »

Thanks very much!

tomos · « **Reply #48 on:** June 18, 2010, 09:42 PM »

I installed Cloudberry and I set up SFFS to backup directly to Amazon S3,
and
it is all working a treat

very easy to setup the online backup in Super Flexible - when you edit your 'profile' there's an internet button there, you just need your login details after that.

SFFS Pro, version: pre-5.00 Build 52

For the record, this was prompted by two things:

I realised that files backed up to S3 using JungleDisk's Network Drive, these files can only be easily recovered by JungleDisk (I am still using an older version so this may have changed). When I explore these via Cloudberry I just see a maze of folders with random numbers - I'd prefer to have the same file structure as what I'm backing up (or at least a logical one).
Second, my backups weren't working the last couple of days - I had been using SFFS to backup my local backups onto JungleDisk's Network Drive. I presumed JungleDisk was at fault, but eventually (after setting up backups direct from SFFS to S3), I purely accidentally found out that the problem was with Amazon - for some reason they no longer recognised my credit card but they didnt think to inform me that they had a problem and simply stopped the service. I will be contacting them to ask WTF they thinking of! (Also I'll have to look at changing SFFS settings so as I get a warning message if backup fails. The Jungle Disk tray icon normally changes if the connection isnt working properly, but this time it didnt seem to recognise whatever Amazon did as a problem...)

tomos · « **Reply #49 on:** June 19, 2010, 01:08 PM »

Quote from: tomos on June 18, 2010, 09:42 PM

I installed Cloudberry and I set up SFFS to backup directly to Amazon S3,
and
it is all working a treat very easy to setup the online backup in Super Flexible - when you edit your 'profile' there's an internet button there, you just need your login details after that.

SFFS Pro, version: pre-5.00 Build 52

I stopped Jungle Disk completely now - it was acting up this morning repeatedly trying to move some file, it was fine on restart but I dont need it no more anyways...