Support for detection of moved source files

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galaga
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2012 3:15 pm

Support for detection of moved source files

Post by galaga »

Like topic says. I was testing this with Mirror mode, and following setup;
folder_main
-folder_a
--small_file.txt
-folder_b
--large_file.zip (4gb)

I made a backup job, and added folder_main to backup job and run it. Afterwards I moved large_file.zip to folder_a. When I run the job again / or check explore view, it shows this move operation, but doesn't detect that source file has been moved, instead it makes backup again, I see this happen as backup takes same amount of time (couple of minutes).

Is there a support for detection of moved source files?

I didn't find anything in forums or with Google. Since there is a catalog built I thought this feature would exist. I usually have large PSD files, and other files - I might rename folder or move it or files to other folder, but nothing else changes. It would be very much faster to only move files in target folder compared to copying all files again. I know some syncing software do this.

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

Backup4all does not detect the files you move, they are considered new files.

Backup4all is not synch application, but a backup one.

Venryx
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2018 12:53 pm

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Venryx »

This would be a nice feature to have, speeding up mirror operations. It's understandable if it's too much work to implement, but it would certainly be helpful, since I like to reorganize my folders from time to time. (and at the moment this increases the backup-time by quite a lot)

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

We added your request to our Wishlist.

Oren
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 9:33 am

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Oren »

Was this by any chance implemented since the last post in 2018?

My use case is that I have about 200 GB of photos in a bunch of folders named using the format "\Pictures\2019-MM-DD\". I'd like to move these under a parent folder so that the result is "\Pictures\2019\2019-MM-DD\". If I do so and then run my regular (LAN-based) backup job of the Pictures folder, will it copy all the files again, or will it detect that they are already there the backup file just needs to be updated with the new paths? I'm using Backup4all Professional 8.7.

Thanks in advance! :-)

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

The feature was not implemented in Backup4all yet.
In your case, you can use this workaround:
1. Run the backup to make sure all current files are backed up.
2. Move the source folder
3. Open Backup Properties->Filter->Add include
4. Set the filter to include only files with "Date created" recent than that date (when you moved the folder).
5. Press Save.

The old (moved) files will not be backed up again.

Oren
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 9:33 am

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Oren »

Thanks Adrian for the instructions. Unfortunately The first step resulted in the software going for a full backup. I see this in the log:

[02/06/2020 22:12:35] Performing full backup because differential size (1,657.81 GB) exceeds 50 % of last full backup size

I think at this point it would make more sense for me to first move the files, then doing the backup with the destination drive connected locally to the source machine instead of doing it over the network. It would be quicker than copying almost two 2TB over WiFi.

As for automatic handling of moved source files, it's the one thing I'd like to see in v9 (and of course be willing to pay for an upgrade). Other than this, I don't really see much to improve. The full backup scenario that I bumped into is no fun, but I don't think there's anyone to blame. At some point it makes sense to have a fresh full backup and if you guys think 50% should be the default threshold, I don't have any reason to second guess it.

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Support for detection of moved source files

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

Would you like me to connect to your computer and see why the filter did not exclude those files?
Or you have so many files modified since then?

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