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[Dave_A]

I have tried several other backup/sync programs since my last post. Most behave exactly like ECSync with my NAS drive, and all are inferior to ECSync. I've finally found one that does work correctly, though it seems slightly slower than ECSync - maybe that's the reason.

Though I initially found the ECSync interface difficult to get to grips with, I now find it to be much better than the competition. Unfortunately I will have to put up with a less versatile sync program, as ECSync doesn't read my NAS drive properly.

[Thomas]

Dave,

I'll make some test soon and let you know about my results. But give me a while because I just moved and it's vacation time, too.

Thomas

[Thomas]

Dave,

I tried a NAS drive here and everything is working fine. How do you access the drive (under what name) and what error is displayed?

Thomas

[Dave_A]

Thomas,

Thanks for looking into this. What NAS drive did you try?

My NAS drive is sold by Envisage Solutions, and consists of an enclosure made by SumVision with a 500GB disk. It only supports FAT32. Configuration and Samba administration is done with Internet Explorer.

Normal access is exactly the same as accessing shared directories in other network PC's (My Network Places\Entire Network\Microsoft Windows Network\my network\STORAGE\folder name); I can copy, delete and move files with no problems using Window Explorer. Problems only arise when I use backup software such as ECSync! which copy across almost ALL files, even those which haven't changed (strangely, it recognises that a small number of files haven't changed, but I can't see any reason why these files aren't copied while most others are). This means that a synchronising backup of a 6GB directory which should be lightning fast, with, say, only 3 files changed, takes hours. Might as well just do a directory copy with Explorer.

I am presently using Synchronize It! (Grig SW), which does the job, but it doesn't have as good an interface as ECSync! and doesn't seem as controllable.

Dave.

[Thomas]

Dave,

In fact I don't know where this enclosure comes from. But I have an idea:

If you are using NTFS on your computer and FAT32 on the NAS there is most probably a time difference between both systems.

1st, please have a look at the changing date and time of some files that should not be copied. How much do they differ (even seconds count)?

After copying some files with ECSync!, do the time stamps differ? How?

Thomas

[Dave_A]

Thomas,

I first tried copying across a single folder with about 20 graphics files. Time stamps on the FAT32 NAS drive were all apparently within a second of those on the original local drive. Doing a new ECSYNC! compare showed none to copy. OK so far.

Next I tried doing an ECSYNC! compare between my Data partition (8GB, lots of nested folders, thousands of files) and my recently backed up (yesterday, using Synchronize It!; very few files have changed since) folder on the NAS drive. This showed many hundreds of files to be copied.

Finally I tried doing an ECSYNC! compare between one of the sub-folders in my Data partition (1 level down from top level) with 56 files and a sub-sub-folder with 20 files, and the corresponding sub-folder on the NAS drive. This showed 48 files to be copied in the sub-folder (8 ok) while NONE of the 20 files in the sub-sub-folder needed to be copied.

A check with Windows Explorer showed the date stamps of corresponding files in both sub-folders are the same within 1 second.

Interestingly though, the ECSYNC! compare seems to find that most files don't even exist on the NAS drive, and these are the ones it wants to copy, even though I can see they are there with Explorer. In fact, I just let it synchronise again, and afterwards it still said it wanted to copy the same files again.

So, I don't think it is anything to do with time stamps.

Dave.

[Thomas]

Dave,

There are 2 settings that allow a time lag before a file is recognized as changed:

Settings, Default Settings and Settings, Profile Settings. At least the Profile Setting for the curretn profile must be set to at least 1 second if used with FAT. What about these? What if you set it to a higher value?

Can your NAS be set up with a time zone?

Thomas

[Dave_A]

Thomas,

I just checked; my NAS is set to Greenwich time zone, though it had the wrong date and time. I reset this, feeling optimistic, but again, a compare of 2 top-level folders with subfolders, that I know are vitually identical, shows "16269 newer files, 765 newer folders".

I tried setting a 1 hour time lag in both default and current profile with no effect either.

It is clearly something to do with my NAS drive (ECSync! works great between local drives) as several other backup utilities have the same problem. It is just strange that one package works OK, though I don't like it's interface.

Dave.

[Thomas]

Dave,

Is it possible to connect the drive to a local USB port instead to the network (just to see if it behaves different)?

Thomas

[Dave_A]

Thomas,

According to the NAS "User Manual" this should be possible: "driver installation is not required for XP, simply connect via USB and access the data via My Computer". However, all I get is "Unknown Device", and no access via USB.

Thanks for pursuing this.

Dave.

[Thomas]

Dave,

All this sounds very strange to me. Perhaps someone else reading this has an idea?

Thomas