Syncovery Support Forum

Hi,

When creating a profile in Syncovery 9.47g for QNAP, I can't find an option to use rsync. I've checked the Program Settings as well (in case the option isn't available within profiles until an rsync binary path is specified), but I couldn't find anything there either.
Is rsync support a Windows-only feature? Or is it available on Linux but not the QNAP release?

I'm currently using BackupPC to back up my PCs to my NAS, and Syncovery for backup of my NAS (including the BackupPC data) to B2, but I noticed that if BackupPC starts a scheduled backup while Syncovery is busy copying the BackupPC data then Syncovery can get hung up and I have to restart the service (including 'kill -9'ing any remaining Syncovery processes).
So I was considering maybe using Syncovery for PC backup to the NAS as well, and I'd prefer to use rsync for this if possible.

Alternatively, if anyone can recommend any Syncovery profile settings that might avoid this hang issue then that would be great! (As ideally I would continue using BackupPC and Syncovery together)

Thanks!

Hello,
rsync is only available in the Windows edition of Syncovery.

I recommend using SSH/SFTP as a replacement. In contrast to rsync, SFTP is a documented protocol that is supported by Syncovery very well. rsync, on the other hand, is just a tool and not a documented protocol, therefore hard to implement. What Syncovery for Windows does is invoke rsync.exe via command line. But that is not a seamless kind of integration and it's not likely to be implemented in the Linux versions of Syncovery.

Ok, thank you for the response.

It is true that the rsync protocol isn't captured in an RFC or something like that. FWIW BackupPC just invokes rsync as a child process (although they have a slightly modified version), but like you said that isn't the nicest way of integrating a protocol!

Does Syncovery support SFTP extensions that allow rsync-style incremental updates? Or is this where the Syncovery remote service would come into play? I guess I can see how Syncovery can track changes when it's on the left hand side (i.e. pushing the data to a server) but not when it's on the right hand side (i.e. pulling the data from a client machine), so I appreciate any recommendations there.

Can you recommend any areas I could look into that might address the issue with Syncovery getting stuck when clashing with BackupPC? I've of course been looking into this on the BackupPC side as well, but haven't been able to find any relevant options.

Thanks again!

Hello,
yes, block-level copying is supported via SSH/SFTP. If you just "push" data (upload via SFTP), then there isn't any remote module needed.

You can just choose "Block Level Copying" on the Special tab sheet in the profile, using "Checksums".

See also
https://www.syncovery.com/block-level-copying/

Regarding hangs, please make sure you have the latest Syncovery version. When a profile hangs, please right-click and choose "Diagnose Activity" and send the report to support@syncovery.com.

Then try to cancel the job. After it's stopped, please also send the log file to support.

A new checkmark from the tab sheet "Files" -> "More" might be useful:
-> Skip Files Whose Size Is Changing

This could help avoid trying to copy files which are currently being written to by other software.

Sorry about the delay, busy week!

I already have Skip Files Whose Size is Changing selected, but the issue still seems to occur. I've actually seen the profile get hung up again, but after I disabled BackupPC's scheduler. I've gathered some diagnostic info so I'll email that to the support email.

Thanks for the link about block level copying. The backup scheme I'd like to put in place would involve the NAS pulling data from my PCs, so I'm not 100% sure if block level copying will work but I'll give it a try.