External HD - Sync to ODrive not working properly

Troubleshooting
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1

Hi,

I have the following setup:

  1. Dropbox business
  2. ODrive locally on my main MacOS client (v7406) - not all folders are synced fully (since I don’t have enough room on my laptop).
  3. External HD with sync-to-ODrive functionality (full sync).

The problem I’ve been facing:

  1. I add new files to the local ODrive folder (main one). It uploads successfully.
  2. However, on the external HD (with sync-to-odrive) - those files don’t get added.
  3. I run sync-to-odrive on entire external HD folder - doesn’t work (even says sync complete in the log).
  4. Only when I enter the specific folder via Finder that has those new files → then it downloads the new files.
2

Hey @budowski,
I’ll need to look more into it, but if you are syncing the same remote location with the same client, but in two different local locations, the client may be filtering out the “redundant” remote add event for the item you just uploaded (in order to prevent feedback loops). Typically if a user is using “sync to odrive” they would unsync the corresponding location in the default odrive folder, so that the client is not syncing the same remote location twice.

This doesn’t mean that it will never refresh, but it won’t be a quick “optimized” refresh, and will depend on either the periodic background scanning, browsing into the folder (as you said), or issuing a “refresh” on the folder. Note that using “sync” will use the existing information and not perform folder refreshes unless you tick the option to force refreshes. That is why you are not seeing the items picked-up when you use folder syncing.

Can you run through the this scenario and then send a diagnostic, when you get a chance?

  1. Add a new file within the default odrive folder
  2. Wait 10 minutes
  3. Add a new file using the Dropbox web client
  4. Wait 10 minutes
  5. Send a diagnostic

What I think you may see in the above scenario is that the file added in 1. will not be processed yet by the client (the remote event will be filtered out), but the item in 3. will.

3

Sent. But the dropbox web client file - only showed up after a long time, and only in the local drive (not external HD)

4

Hi @budowski,
Thanks for sending that.

What was the file and path that you performed the test with, so I can focus on that?

5

Hey @budowski,
After taking a look, here is the explanation.

  • The corresponding remote events for a local upload have a good chance of being filtered-out because the desktop was the one responsible for creating the remote event. This is why you are likely to not get quick reflection on your external HD for a change made locally.

  • The remote events process is not started until an initial, full scan is done, which starts shortly after the software starts-up. In the diagnostic I saw that you had recently started odrive. It began with scanning on the external drive, which takes quite a while to get through because of the amount of data being synced (about an hour and 10 minutes, it looks like).

  • Once odrive is initialized and has completed all remote scans, the expectation is the following:

    • A local change in the odrive default folder will likely not reflect quickly to the external HD because of the feedback filtering.
    • A remote change, like one made from the Dropbox web client, should reflect quickly (within 5 minutes) in both the default folder and the external drive. You will see these events as “(RCR)” refreshes in the sync activity log.

  • odrive will eventually pick-up all changes with the background periodic remote scan, which happens 1-2 times a day.

6

Thanks for looking into this :pray:
So the solutions we have are these (correct me if I misunderstood):

  1. Connect the external HD to another computer that doesn’t have the ODrive client with the main drive there
  2. Wait for one day until it syncs completely
7

Hi @budowski,
Yes. For 1. you could technically use the Windows odrive agent to sync to the external HD on the same computer, if you don’t need the Windows Explorer integration extras (right-click options and icon overlays).

Are you using the external drive strictly as a backup?

8

Yeah, I’m using the external drive as backup only (since I can’t keep the entire copy of my Dropbox on my computer - too big (about 6TB).
Another issue - I have a MacOS, not Windows

9

Oh, sorry. Just substitute Mac for Windows in my previous post. We have a Mac agent too.

Although, if you are using it strictly for backup, the 1-2 times a day background scan may be sufficient

10

OK, got it - thank you :pray:

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