Synchronizing two PCs

[jeknepley]

I want to have two IM5 installations, on two different PCs, to be identical. One is my master and the other a backup.

I have synchronized (using GoodSync) the backup to the master per the IM5 Help System's "Traveling with IMatch" section: database, settings, presets - the works. The two respective PC drives containing the managed files and folders on each PC are synced as well. In all cases the syncs are 1-way - from the master to the backup with any files on the backup that aren't on the master deleted.

Here's the part I don't understand. If everything has been synced, why does the backup go through a phase of Reading Metadata and Adding/Updating Files? Even immediately after every element (DB, settings, image files/folders) has just been synced?

I'd have to guess that although GoodSync is telling me that the Image file & folders are in sycn, the backup PC has some extra files lurking - else why would it be adding some to the DB? Any other possibilities anyone can think of?

[jeknepley]

Looks like GS's "sync" of the image files & folders is the problem. Changed a few settings and I'll try this again. The total number of files on the two PC's reported by Windows Explorer was quite different, but now it's less than 1,000 (out of over 320K). I'll report back later.

[jeknepley]

I discovered the source of the problem and fixed it - but have no clue why it happened to begin with.

The problem (extra files added to the backup PC's installation) was caused by the backup copying already existing folders/files once the freshly synced DB & settings were loaded and IM5 restarted. This resulted in duplicates of some files.

The duplicated copies were easily recognized. I removed them from the database using the IM5 Remove option and achieved my goal of two duplicate installations. I then modified the Background Processing options to turn background indexing off to hopefully have better control of this problem should it happen again.

As I stated - problem solved but no idea why the copying of some subfolders (this copying would start as soon as the synced DB was opened). ?

[Ted]

I would make a guess that what is causing your initial problem is that IM5 looks at the hard disk the images are on and knows it is not the same disk (there is a s/n of the drive that is not shown, and every drive has a unique s/n) - therefore it has to reread and verify all images.  Once done, then only the changed files will need to be read.

I have seen similar things happen in my system where I have two PC's sync'd (with GoodSync).  In my case I do a two-way sync because I make changes on either PC.

[Mario]

Each hard disk has a unique media serial number, and IMatch uses that serial number to identify each drive. This is how IMatch can handle removable media (where different media are in the same drive). See Relocate in the IMatch help for more info, and how to tell IMatch that you have moved your files to another computer / drive / Media.

[Ferdinand]

I don't know how Goodsync works, but if it results in a later date and time stamp on the backup machine then I expect that IMatch will want to rescan such synced files.

[Mario]

If the 'last modified' timestamp in the file system is newer than the timestamp recorded by IMatch when it indexed the file, the file is consider as updated and IMatch will rescan it. Usually this timestamp does not change when you copy files, but the GS software may handle this differently It should not, it it's sole purpose is to synchronize data between computers. In many cases the built-in RoboCopy command in Windows with it's many options does a good job and no external software is needed. I use it a lot.

[jeknepley]

Since I started this post, I should attempt to close it out.

First of all, the bulk of my problem was operator error. I didn't have all of the GoodSync options set properly (GS is used in syncing the IM5DB file, the various settings files stored in photools.com Program Data folder, and the image files/folders). Once this was done properly all of my problems disappeared.  GoodSync itself gets a clean-bill-of-health!

As for the two PC's separate drives and relocation problems, I straightened that out months ago. There are zero problems there. Each PC's HDD has matching drive letters and volume id's to avoid the IM5 relocation issue. A small freeware program, Hard Disk Serial Number Changer, did the id change easily.

The data base sizes, as displayed in the Info & Activity panel, are:
.....File Size 7.98 GB
.....Folders 8,051
.....Files 254,679
.....Total Size 1.64 TB
and GoodSync & IM5 handle this large amount of data perfectly in their respective areas  - it's just the operator who causes problems

As of now, I can sync my backup PC to the master (scheduled daily) and, in the process, achieve identical carbon-copy setups on both PCs. The data is also stored in a Synology NAS with all of my other backups for good measure.