VV deletes target and recopies from source with no changes

badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

For some reason ViceVersa Pro will periodically delete many of the target files and then begin a new backup. I have found only one clue that might explain why this is happening, but it's weird and doesn't lead me anywhere in further bug testing. If I pick a random file that this has happened to, Windows 7 file properties will give a "Modified" date of:

Friday, ‎September ‎21, ‎2012, ‏‎7:06:56 PM

The file that got moved to my target's archive folder has the same "Modified" time:

Friday, ‎September ‎21, ‎2012, ‏‎7:06:56 PM

From that info, VV should not be deleting it. However, I noticed that in WinDirStat, it gives a "Last Change" time of:

9/22/2012 2:06:56 AM

Which is clearly different, and should not be happening. I can find no other evidence of that strange date, but WinDirStat shows similar weird dates for all files this is happening to, so I think it's an important clue for hunting this bug. Any ideas?

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8763

Hi, is the profile a sync profile or backup / replication? Are the files deleted and then copied again or are they overwritten? thanks
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badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

It is "Backup (Mirror Source to Target)", with the archiving feature enabled. The old target files are moved to the archive. The option "Copy directly to destination file (do not use a temporary file)" is disabled, so the old target files are not overwritten.

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8763

So, somehow ViceVersa "thinks" the source files are newer, and it moves target files to the archive and then replaces them? But actually the files have not changed?
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badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8763

Thanks, what type of drives are source and target?
Are you using the latest ViceVersa PRO 2.5 build 2513?
thanks
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badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

What info and how much detail do you need about the drives? Manufacturer and model, method of attachment to the system, manufacturer and model of the controller, software and hardware layers, partitioning info, RAID configuration, etc, or something else?

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8763

Hi, just if they are standard hard drives or not, are they accessed via the network, on computers with which Operative Systems, or they are local drives? thanks
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badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

Source and targets are on the same Windows 7 PC. The source is a hardware RAID device. Target 1 is another hardware RAID device. Target 2 is an ordinary external hard drive connected via USB. All drives use TrueCrypt volumes to store their data.

USB Target 2 seems to be more affected by this problem than Target 1, but I have confirmed that they both have the same problem. This problem has never occurred before when using many variants with very similar hardware and software configurations. The USB Target 2 device has always been configured the same in all previous variations of the setup I'm using now, except the manufacturer and size of the drive have changed in a recent upgrade. The source also had a similar upgrade in size and manufacturer. The source connection changed to eSATA instead of USB.

I am unable to speculate on what the cause of this problem could be, because I don't see any pattern in what changed before and after this problem started. Of course, I've been upgrading ViceVersa and VVEngine when new versions come out, but the fact that a similar problem shows up in different software like WinDirStat leads me to believe the problem isn't unique to ViceVersa, or caused by ViceVersa. I could be wrong about that though. I have changed a few configuration options in ViceVersa. I'm not sure of this, but one of them may have been the advanced option to "Copy file permissions, security attributes and file streams".

badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

I forgot to mention that I'm using ViceVersa PRO 2.5 build 2513.

badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

I have some more information about something strange that seems to precede this bug symptom. I made a screenshot, but your forum software is useless. I can't attach the screenshot to this post, and I can't include external URL's in my posts either. See also: Switch to SMF forum software instead of phpBB.

badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

Hello?

TGRMN Software · Site Admin Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8763

Can you send the screenshot to support @ tgrmn.com please? thanks!
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badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

I gave it some thought, and I think I should refuse to send it to your email, because the real problem is your forum. Fix it so that I can share my bug testing work, and discuss it with you and the community. Bug hunting is hard enough without putting up artificial and unnecessary barriers that prevent collaboration. I don't think this bug is related to security, but if there's some other reason you prefer to keep information about it secret or private, let me know and I will reconsider my decision about this.

I would be happy to assist you in switching your forum to SMF. To do it properly, you would need to enable HTTPS to secure login information. I might be able to assist you with that too. Of course, you could simply reconfigure your current phpBB forum installation to allow file attachments and external links. It could be temporary, until better forum software is installed. vBulletin and IPB are also good, but I think SMF is easier to admin, and it's free.

badon · Joined: 11 Oct 2013 Posts: 17

Any progress on configuring the forum to allow either file attachments or external URL's? Also, any progress on enabling HTTPS so my password can't be exploited by everyone on the internet? This bug is still bugging me, and I'd like to share my bug testing results.