Huge File Problem

benn600 · 09-01-04, 03:36 PM

I have had a major thing happen and I think it has happened before. Every file in my ActiveSync directory was deleted and therefore, I lost all of my school documents. I am really getting angry because I need those documents. I would like a program which copies EVERY single file into a folder and doesn't delete the past 100 file editions. I don't care if I have to devote a hard drive to this - I need something that will backup every single edition of files and never delete them. For example, when activesync notices a file change, this program would also notice the file change and would backup the new version. Then, if this happens again (which it probably will), I will be able to go back and get a pretty new version. Thanks!

HostileJava · 09-02-04, 03:40 PM

http://www.symantec.com/goback/

That may do what your looking for, I'm a little confused as to what your after.

benn600 · 09-02-04, 03:45 PM

I actually sort of solved my own problem. I am now saving files in the file store and when I need to access the files, I simply copy them individually to my desktop. Does anyone know of any programs (free would be nice) that will sync file store with a folder on my computer?

imported_Pony99CA · 09-02-04, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benn600

I actually sort of solved my own problem. I am now saving files in the file store and when I need to access the files, I simply copy them individually to my desktop. Does anyone know of any programs (free would be nice) that will sync file store with a folder on my computer?

Check out MightySync. I don't think it will keep multiple copies of the files, but you can do that yourself. Just create a new folder before you sync and copy the files from the synced folder to the new folder.

If you don't want unchanged files backed up, there are probably plenty of backup programs on the PC which will do that. Just run one before you sync.

As for losing the files in the first place, I've never heard of ActiveSync doing anything like this -- unless the user did something wrong like deleting them on the PC or Pocket PC and then synchronizing. Files don't just disappear. Maybe if you tell us exactly what you did before losing the files, we could figure out what went wrong.

Steve

benn600 · 09-02-04, 08:48 PM

I'm going to try to recall exactly what happened. It was the morning and I decided to sync before school (which I don't usually do-in the morning). I put my iPAQ in the cradle and it synced just like normal. I did nothing different. (Now that I think about it-this could have been the problem-I have my documents on a mapped network drive and if, for some reason, my computer didn't connect, activesync might have saw now files and deleted them on my iPaq). The other thing that might be the problem is that I remember long ago with my 3600 ipaq that it said no more than one folder deep in My Documents. Well, I have /My Documents/School Name/Class Name/Type of documents/Document.doc which means I have three folders deep in My Documents. This hasn't caused problems for about two weeks, though.

Anyway, back to what happened. It said 12 items to sync in folders (I thought that was a lot because I have like 12 total and didn't edit them all that night. I might have edited one, but I probably synced before I went to bed). It then said unresolved items. I clicked resolve and I forget what it did but I don't think it unresolved them. I disconnected it and reconnected it. Then, it said like 23 items to be synced (probably about how many files in My Documents). I let it finish syncing and about 2 hours later, while in class and attempting to recall documents, I notice that all that is remaining is /My Documents/School Name/Class Name... All the type of assignment folders and documents inside of them were deleted. I have no idea what happened.

Just about 10 minutes ago, I tried something with Activesync. I had previously disabled file syncing. I deleted the PocketPC folder on My Computer, where the files are synced. I then enabled file syncing again and it deleted all the files. It's like it remembers that I had that folder full of files. Luckily, I was doing this as a test and I was prepared for this exact result. Besides, I now store all files in the file store (Which is a good size for documents - 6mb). I don't really have file syncing enabled now.

Another interesting NOTE:
It did not delete /My Documents/Audio Recorder/ .mp3's which is where Resco Audio Recorder stores recorded audio. This is only one folder deep. I'm wondering if there is a small bug in Activesync which used to be true with older ipaq's and they did a work around but the problem is not totally solved. I am pretty much satisfied as of now and know that this should never happen again. I was able to get notes from friends and type them in again -- but that took a lot of time. Thanks for the suggestions so far and I will consider this problem SOLVED.

imported_Pony99CA · 09-02-04, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benn600

I'm going to try to recall exactly what happened. It was the morning and I decided to sync before school (which I don't usually do-in the morning). I put my iPAQ in the cradle and it synced just like normal. I did nothing different. (Now that I think about it-this could have been the problem-I have my documents on a mapped network drive and if, for some reason, my computer didn't connect, activesync might have saw now files and deleted them on my iPaq). The other thing that might be the problem is that I remember long ago with my 3600 ipaq that it said no more than one folder deep in My Documents. Well, I have /My Documents/School Name/Class Name/Type of documents/Document.doc which means I have three folders deep in My Documents. This hasn't caused problems for about two weeks, though.

Anyway, back to what happened. It said 12 items to sync in folders (I thought that was a lot because I have like 12 total and didn't edit them all that night. I might have edited one, but I probably synced before I went to bed). It then said unresolved items. I clicked resolve and I forget what it did but I don't think it unresolved them. I disconnected it and reconnected it. Then, it said like 23 items to be synced (probably about how many files in My Documents). I let it finish syncing and about 2 hours later, while in class and attempting to recall documents, I notice that all that is remaining is /My Documents/School Name/Class Name... All the type of assignment folders and documents inside of them were deleted. I have no idea what happened.

OK, here's what I think happened. If your mapped drive with the synchronized files wasn't connected during the first sync, ActiveSync probably assumed that the files were deleted and deleted them on the iPAQ (as you mentioned).

On the second sync, maybe the mapped drive was connected. ActiveSync saw that "you" had deleted the files on the Pocket PC and deleted them from the mapped drive. Oops!

I don't think it has anything to do with nested folders. That restriction is for the file open dialog, I think, not ActiveSync. I think there's also a restriction on not syncing Outlook subfolders, but that only applies to PIM items, not files.

Anyway, if you want to synchronize outside of the My Documents folders, check out Mighty Sync.

Steve

HostileJava · 09-04-04, 11:05 AM

You could try this app as well, I'm not sure it will do exactly what you want thought:

http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=3472