File deletions when starting syncronization

DCM1519 · Guest

I recently bought Vice Versa and it seems like a good program but something that concerns me is that the program deletes hundreds of files from the source every time I run syncronization.

Today, I worked most of the day and saved all my data in the D: drive. Later, I wanted to syncronize this with some other drives (internal and external) and it again started deleting files. It took a long time.

Then, the syncronization started and after it finished, I looked in my D: drive with Windows Explorer and found that everything I created today along with months of files created before today.

I restored most of the folders but they are not up to date now.

I have noticed this odd feature before and have noticed missing files but today, it was obvious that for some reason, this program deletes files that I do not want to lose.

I can see no point in deleting anything from the source directory when doing a syncronization.

How do I stop these deletions?

DCM1519 · Guest

I have now searched all of my drives and the latest version of files that I updated all week including today are dated 12/5/2011 when they should be 12/11/2011.

This means that I have lost all of my updates to files for the last week. This is a lot of hours of works and there is no excuse for this in a program that is intended to backup, not delete files.

The program is far from being the cheapest syncronization program available and I really regret my recent purchase of this. I paid to lose several days of work.

I am going to see if there is a refund available for the mistake I made in buying the program. A refund will not replace my wasted hours of work but it would be better than losing my time and money. The wasted time cannnot be replaced without spending the next few days trying to recreate my files.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8769

Hello, what ViceVersa version and execution method are you using ? Synchronization does not delete the new files. You can also click on "preview" in ViceVersa to check which files Viceversa plans to copy and/or delete and why. thanks
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Guest · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:48 am Post subject:

I was using the "Compare" method and my version is 2.5.

I will try synconization again and "preview" it before allowing it to do anything. I lost 9520 files and folders when I last ran it a week or so ago.

Thanks

Guest · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:56 am Post subject:

I was wrong on the method used last time. It was syncronization.

I did as you suggested and the preview showed that it would delete 1055 files from the target drive along with 139 subfolders. It said that none would be deleted from the source drive.

When I ran it, it started off copying a few files from the target to the source and then started deleting all those files from the target drive.

I stopped it before it completed because I was not comfortable with the large number of deletions. I can restore all of that because I have external drives that are usually on but were turned off before doing this.

Thanks

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8769

Hi,

weren't the 1055 files that ViceVersa wanted to delete from the target, deleted from the source? According to the sync method, if a file is deleted from the source, then VV will delete the corresponding from the target.

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

DCM1519 · Guest

It deleted 9520 files from the source folder. It did not replace them. Luckily, I had a fairly recent drive image and restored most of them.

Since then, I have been afraid to run the program.

It has done similar deleting of source files since it was installed and run the first time.

I now have it set to "Compare" because of what happened with the "Syncronization" setting.

All I want to do is use the source drive to update older files on other drives, not to lose them while trying to do this.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8769

Hi, if the execution method is synchronization and some files are deleted from target, then the corresponding files will be deleted from source. Use the "Preview" button in the comparison window (it opens after clicking on "compare") to check what ViceVersa is doing. thanks
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

Guest · Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply. It brought a question to mind and that is why the program would delete files from the source drive and the target drive.

In that situation, it seems like it should copy files from the source to the target, otherwise, it would not seem to be truly syncronizing files between drives.

I thought that the purpose of syncronization was to make sure that both drives contain latest copies of the same files. Maybe I have misunderstood the syncronization function.

Is there a way to stop it from deleting files from the source. My external drives do not contain all of the files on the source drive but merely have those files with important data.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8769

Hello, see the different execution method available in ViceVersa on this page: http://www.tgrmn.com/web/kb/item27.htm
thank you
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

DCM1519 · Joined: 24 Dec 2011 Posts: 1

Thanks for the link.

It looks like several of those choices would do what I want.

I ran "Comparison" this evening and it seemed to work well.