Existing users, 
ChronoSync comes up short here. After 4 months of owning/using this product, I'm having to look elsewhere, since some of the behaviors of this program scare me:
1. If CS encounters an error during sync, you are given the option of "excluding" the file in question. What is not mentioned is that this exclusion is permanent: CS will never try to sync that file ever again (presumably it keeps a list of these files somewhere). Worse, there is no way to get a list of these files, nor is there any way to reset or clear the list. This means that CS will start telling you a sync operation completed fine when in fact it has silently skipped a secret/hidden list of files. This is incredibly dangerous imho, since you could lose data this way.
2. There appears to be no simple way to exclude subfolders from a sync operation. For example, you might want to sync your home folder to an external disk but exclude the Desktop folder. Sorry, can't do it. There is an advanced rule option (exclude by parent path name) that should work, but (a) it's very poorly documented and (b) it doesn't work anyway. Every other backup/copy app I've used handles this simple case with ease.
3. The basic sync operation doesn't appear to work correctly. For example, run a sync job, wait (say) 5 minutes, and re-run the same job. All sorts of files that have not been touched (really) will be thrown up as needing copying, even if the Mac has been quiet in the interim. And I'm not talking about odd little files that might be touched by some background process: I've seen CS try to re-sync entire folders of JPG photos for no good reason (and which other tools ensure me are fully in-sync). This scares me a lot: if it can't get this right, is it also excluding some files it shouldn't???
4. The UI looks very pretty (up to Mac standards), but is actually rather poorly thought out. There is a "Trial Sync" option in one location and an "Analyze" option elsewhere which appear to do the same things (show what needs to be done). However, they use a different UI, and (worse) give different results! Many sync options are rather poorly explained and are confusing, even for me (a 25 year veteran operating system developer). The on-line help suffers badly from the "explain the easy bits that don't need explaining but skip the hards bits that do" syndrome (in fairness, so do many other Mac apps). For comparison, take a look at the "Synk" application, which imho is much better thought-out from a UI perspective.
It's sad having to sound so negative: CS is very close to being a great product, but it seems not to have been fully thought-out design-wise, and the odd results and lack of clarity on what is going to happen scares me: after all, as I said at the outset, this application is copying your life!
Huh? - dr.bedlow
I normally wouldn't comment to something like this but there's a couple things about this post that scares ME. Starting with #2:>2. There appears to be no simple way to exclude subfolders from a sync operation.
Simply select the file or folder in the Analyze panel and invoke the "Exclude" command. A big "X" icon appears and that item is forever excluded from the sync. There's even a tip on the website with the not-so-subtle title "Excluding a File or Folder". This is ChronoSync 101 stuff.
Now on to #1:
>1. If CS encounters an error during sync, you are given the option of "excluding" the file in question. What is not mentioned is that this exclusion is permanent:
This is just a shortcut to the "Exclude" command mentioned above, which the reviewer obviously didn't know about. There is also the option to "Skip", which is just a one-time deal.
Also in #1:
> Worse, there is no way to get a list of these files,
Well, if "Verbose logging" is turned on, the message "Excluding :-> xxxxx" (where xxxxx is the file or folder that was just excluded) appears in the log for all exclusions. You can also run an analysis report or poke around in the Analyze panel looking for those "X" icons.
Still from #1:
> nor is there any way to reset or clear the list.
The "Include" command, likewise invoked from the Analyze panel, is the opposite of "Exclude".
Now on to #3:
> The basic sync operation doesn't appear to work correctly ... I've seen CS try to re-sync entire folders of JPG photos for no good reason.
There's always a reason - it usually has something to do with what sync triggers and other settings are in effect. For instance, if the owner/group trigger is enabled and you sync to a volume for which this cannot be preserved, ChronoSync may be tricked into thinking an attribute sync is necessary. Not that this is the case here, but without filing a support incident with more details, it's impossible to comment on this.
Also from #3:
> which other tools ensure me are fully in-sync
Many other tools will not use the meta data to trigger a sync. ChronoSync can do this and will automatically apply just the attributes, if that's all that changed. Of course, this is optional - if you only want to look at modification dates, you can.
Last, on to #4:
> There is a "Trial Sync" option in one location and an "Analyze" option elsewhere which appear to do the same things (show what needs to be done). However, they use a different UI, and (worse) give different results!
Well, they're not intended to do the same thing although there is some overlap. One is mainly for configuring your sync and the other is for previewing what is actually going to occur when you sync - hence "Analyze" is more adept at manipulating a hierarchy of files than "Trial Sync" is.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and ChronoSync certainly isn't going to satisfy the needs of every user out there, but there are some fundamental mistakes in this post that lead me to question just how thoroughly this reviewer understands the product.
There are well over 20,000 paid users of this product and if these experiences were typical we'd be just overwhelmed with tech support (not to mention there would be a lot more negative comments here on VT). I urge anyone experiencing any kind of problem with ChronoSync to contact tech support, even if you're simply evaluating the product. EIther you don't fully grok the product or there is a real flaw - in both cases, no one is served by not getting in touch with us!
Reply to This
Friday, September 08 2006 @ 04:54 PM PDT