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FTP over HTTP Proxy or SOCKS

Posted on February 14, 2013 by in Advanced, FAQ, Windows Tips

One of the new features in Syncovery version 6 is the ability to connect to an FTP server via an HTTP Proxy as well as SOCKS. This feature is somewhat hidden in the software, so here’s how to find it.

If you are using the FTP protocol, then on the Internet/FTP dialog, change the FTP library to 2. Then on the Proxy tab sheet, you will see the option to use an HTTP Proxy or to use SOCKS to connect.

If you are using SSH/SFTP, Web Tunneling and SOCKS is also supported via the Proxy tab sheet. In that case, use library 1 (SFTP).

Amazon Glacier Backup

Posted on January 5, 2013 by in Best Practices, FAQ, News

Since version 6.20, Syncovery can upload files to Amazon Glacier. To set up Glacier as the destination, click on the Internet button for the right-hand side and choose Glacier as the Internet Protocol.

Amazon Glacier is intended for long term archiving and backup with the expectation that most operations are uploads and not downloads. Downloads should be a rare exception, since they can be extremely slow. To download a file, Syncovery needs to initiate a job with Amazon Glacier, and even with small files, it takes at least three hours for Amazon Glacier to retrieve the item. The same is true for file listings. Therefore, Glacier cannot be used for two-way synchronizations. It is intended only for backing up and archiving.

Please be aware that there is a download fee from Amazon if you download more than 5% of your data per month (or something like that). It seems that in some special cases, the download fee can be extreme. If you intend to make a full backup and restore for testing, please read the fee schedule closely, and also read articles such as this one:
Is There a Landmine Hidden in Amazon’s Glacier?

Two methods to use Glacier

  • Choose S3 inside our software, and use a lifecycle rule in S3 to move files to Glacier to reduce costs. See the Amazon Web Services Blog
  • Choose Glacier directly in our software. The rest of this article describes this method.

Because there is no quick way to get a file listing from Glacier, Syncovery maintains a local database with the information of all the files on Glacier. This database is automatically maintained and it is independent from the checkmark “Cache Destination File List”. Therefore, with Glacier, there is no need to use the caching option. The local databases used for Glacier are separate for each vault, but shared among all profiles. When you create a new profile that accesses an existing vault, it will alraedy know the vault contents, if the vault has been used on the same machine.

Glacier also cannot rename items which have been uploaded. When you rename or move files on the local side, they have to be uploaded again.

In version 6.20, the download process is still inefficient if you need to download many files. It will initiate the download job for each file and wait for it to complete, then download the file, and then proceed to the next file. You can specify a number of files to copy in parallel in this fashion (on the Files tab sheet), but the limit is 30. So, you can download up to 30 files in 3 to 5 hours, but downloading 300 files will take 30 to 50 hours. This limitation will be removed in a future update.

In light of this, if there is a chance you will need a complete restore, it may make sense to use “Zip Packages” with many files per zip archive, instead of uploading individual files.

This information will be updated as support for Glacier is optimized and more experiences are made with Amazon’s new service.

Mountain Lion Compatibility

Posted on July 25, 2012 by in Best Practices, FAQ, News

A Mountain Lion compatible update of Syncovery is now available. The version number must be 6.03 or higher.

To be able to continue using your old configuration and profiles, please use at least version 6.04 or higher.

The migration wizard should appear automatically, or you can invoke it via the File menu. You can also manually import config files via the File menu.

Since version 6.04, no special action is required any more to migrate your settings.

Upgrading

Posted on May 18, 2012 by in FAQ

You can update or upgrade Syncovery by installing the latest version from our site. Older versions do not have to be uninstalled – you can simply install the new version over the old one.

You can also use Help->Check For Update inside the program to check if a newer version is available.

To upgrade from Super Flexible File Synchronizer, also simply install the new version. It will automatically ask you if you want to migrate your profiles and settings from the previous product. If this question does not appear, you can choose “Migration from V5…” from the File menu inside Syncovery (in Advanced Mode).

Syncovery version 6 uses different registration codes from previous versions of the product. To get your upgrade, please go to http://syncovery.com/upgrade/.

In some cases, the Windows installer may require a reboot. If you must avoid a reboot, make sure that the application is closed before installing the update, and stop all jobs and stop the scheduler. Right-click the tray icon and choose Quit. Use Task Manager to make sure that no Syncovery, SuperFlexible or ExtremeSync processes are running.

Creating Profile Groups

Posted on March 6, 2012 by in Best Practices, FAQ

You can create profile groups by naming your profiles as shown in this example:

Backup Home
Backup Office
Backup Music

This will create the group “Backup” containing these three profiles because the first word in the profile names is identical.

Then you can easily select them or choose them with checkmarks (Windows only) and start them all at once.

Be sure to check out the right-click menu that you get in the Profile Overview. It contains options to start the profiles in various ways, such as:

  • Run in Attended Mode
  • Run in Unattended Mode
  • Run in Background

Can I decrypt files encrypted by Syncovery with other tools?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by in FAQ

Yes.

Files encrypted with ZIP-compatible AES encryption can be decrypted with ZIP tools from various vendors, including WinZIP and PowerArchiver.

How can I make sure the scheduler starts automatically?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by in Best Practices, FAQ

Method 1 (using the Background Scheduler – recommended)

The background scheduler is configured to start automatically when you save a profile that uses a schedule. You can also check the Auto-Start option on the “Tools and Settings” menu from the Scheduler tab sheet.

Method 2 (using the Syncovery Service – Windows only)

The main advantage of the Syncovery Service is that it runs even when no user is logged on. However, it is more difficult to set up and since it runs as an invisible service, it is less intuitive. For example, it can’t prompt the user in case an FTP password has changed, or when there is a SmartTracking conflict.

Using the service can fix some “Access Denied” problems because it normally runs with more privileges than the main program GUI.

You will find more information on the service here.

How to do Outlook Synchronization or Backup

Posted on February 28, 2012 by in FAQ

One-way copying of Outlook Files

If you do a one-way sync or backup, it is quite straightforward. You just need to know where the Outlook files are stored. A typical path for Outlook files is:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

or, on older Windows versions:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

You can synchronize all files in this folder, or just the .PST file (specify *.PST in the File Masks field). Note that the .OST files are not needed because they contain only temporaray data.

Two-way copying of Outlook Files

First you need to know that this software cannot merge different emails from two computers and generate an Outlook database that contains emails or contacts from both sources. Syncovery always treats Outlook files as a complete entity, so it can only replicate the complete state of your emails from one computer to another. This is ideal for backup purposes. Large Outlook files can also be copied on a block level to speed up the transfer.

If the destination computer contains emails that are not on the source system and you copy the Outlook file from source to destination, then the email that were only on the destination computer are lost.

This problem can be overcome by adhering to a strict policy where you always synchronize the two computers before switching to the other one and receiving emails there. If you switch computers and receive emails before synchronizing each time you switch, then you get a mixed state which this program cannot resolve.

Copying PST files while Outlook is running

On Windows XP or later, Syncovery can use Volume Shadowing to copy locked files. Make sure that the software is running on the same machine where Outlook is storing its files. Volume shadowing does not work over the network.

What are the recommended settings for FTP with SSL?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by in FAQ

In most cases, you just need to choose “Explicit TSL” on the Security tab sheet of the Internet/FTP dialog.

If there are connection problems, first try changing the SSL version to: SSL v3 (also on the Security tab sheet).

Finally, some servers require the “Auth Cmd” setting to be set to TLS rather than Auto.

Copying open / locked files, such as Outlook or SQL databases

Posted on February 28, 2012 by in Best Practices, FAQ

  • On Windows, the software can copy locked files by using the Volume Shadow Copy Service that is integrated into Windows. This feature is automatically used when needed. It can be configured on the tab sheet “File Access”.

  • On Macintosh or Linux, open files can always be copied unless “Database-safe mode” is chosen on the File Access tab sheet.

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