Open files - very confused!

[andythompson]

Hi,

I'm using ViceVersa to synchronise a shared network disk with my laptop. The network disk is typically in use by several people at once.

ViceVersa is running on the laptop, so I understand that using Volume Shadow Copy to copy open files on the network share will not work in this scenario. However, when I tick the 'try to open files in use by other applications box' in advanced settings, it successfully copies files that are open and in use (Word, Excel, SketchUp, etc.)!

I find this confusing, as I thought it wasn't possible without using VSS. I note that the help file says to be careful when using this method, so are there any drawbacks to doing this? I have noticed a few occasional conflicts where VV reports files have changed in source and target when I know that they have not, and wondered if this was due to the above.

Some clarification on this feature would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy Thompson

(By the way, VVEngine and scripting is excellent!)

[TGRMN Software]

Hello

the option 'try to open files in use by other applications box' can cause conflicts if a file gets changed while it's being copied.... the VSS option creates a shadow of the disk , it's a different option. In the next release we'll disable the possibility to use try to open files in use by other applications box with a tracking database.

thanks
_________________
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[andythompson]

Thanks.

Can this be mitigated by unchecking 'copy files even if timestamp changes after initial comparison'?

Also, do you mean that you will enable the feature to copy open files using a tracking database (you said disable, but it reads like you mean enable )

Thanks.

[TGRMN Software]

Hello

[andythompson]

That's a shame - it's very useful to be able to copy files open on a remote machine, notwithstanding the conflict problems when they occur.

I suppose the only ways to get around this are to run VVEngine on the remote machine (which gets complicated when conflicts occur), or to completely change the software to a client-server model (although you could then start thinking about implementing delta copies ). Or is there another way that I haven't thought of?

[TGRMN Software]

You could still use the option if you disable the tracking database, which is only needed for the synchronization method....
_________________
--
TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[andythompson]

Unfortunately I do need synchronisation! We use ViceVersa/VVEngine to synchronise the network share with a laptop in order to work offsite, so any changes made offsite need to be synchronised when returning to the office.

As I understand it, the conflicts occur when copying files that have changed since the initial compare. To solve it, would unticking 'copy files even if timestamp changes after initial comparison' prevent the problem? Presumably VVEngine would report this as an error, and could try again a bit later to copy the files?

As another option, I could install VVEngine on the server and use that to synchronise the machines - thereby using VSS. That's OK until conflicts need to be resolved - as users do not have access to the server they cannot run ViceVersa on it.

I wondered if the following option would therefore work:

1. Install VVEngine on the server. Setup something to alert user to conflicts (by e-mail or whatever) using a VBScript. Store profiles and tracking databases on a separate network share accessible from the laptop.
2. Install a copy of ViceVersa on the laptop. If a conflict occurs, run ViceVersa on the laptop to compare and find the conflict files (this is possible because the profile is accessible on the separate network share).

One problem with this is that none of the options to run ViceVersa in VVEngine ('show compare' etc.) work when accessing VVEngine on a remote machine. It would be nice if VVEngine could be made to try and open the files on the local machine. Is this possible? Otherwise, is the above method feasible?

It is much easier to run VVEngine and ViceVersa locally for what we want to do, so removing the option to copy open files from a remote network share with the synchronisation method is perhaps a shame.