Do you have a working freeware automatic sync between Android & Windows?

[Arlen G. Holder]

Do you have a working freeware automatic sync between Android & Windows?
o If so, please let us know what works well for you.

This question came up as an offshoot to this post in a recent thread:
o Need A FREE Password Manager - Secure and Simple
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/5HFVXB5yTk4>
Where xJumper kindly explained his working solution:
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/5HFVXB5yTk4/T3H8Ph8LAQAJ>
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/5HFVXB5yTk4/fAVvS3enAQAJ>
Which I summarized here as:
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/5HFVXB5yTk4/AjGlJJPyAQAJ>

And which has a Windows thread located here:
o Do you have an existing working automatic sync setup for all your devices on your home LAN?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.freeware/KI9m-50mOkg>

Where the freeware general-purpose solutions proposed, so far, include:

o *GoodSync Free*
<https://www.goodsync.com/download/GoodSync-v10-Setup.exe>
<https://www.goodsync.com/download/GoodSync-v10-2Go-Setup.exe>
o *SyncBack Free*
<https://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.exe>
o *Microsoft SyncToy 2.1*
<https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/c/4/6c406239-a648-4e01-833e-2c452deed3b6/SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x64.exe>
<https://download.microsoft.com/download/a/3/f/a3f1bf98-18f3-4036-9b68-8e6de530ce0a/NetFx64.exe>
o *Resilio Sync (free?)*
<https://download-cdn.resilio.com/stable/windows64/Resilio-Sync_x64.exe>
o *DSynchronize Freeware*
<http://dimiodati.altervista.org/zip/dsynchronize.zip>

I'm going to try these, where the GoodSync Free seems to have iOS, Android,
Linux, Windows, Mac, and NAS solutions, so it's the one I'll try first.

If you already have a working automatic freeware sync solution of your
Android files to/from your PC, please let us know what works best for you.

[Arlen G. Holder]

On Mon, 13 May 2019 23:07:06 -0000 (UTC), Arlen G. Holder wrote:

> I'm going to try these, where the GoodSync Free seems to have iOS, Android,
> Linux, Windows, Mac, and NAS solutions, so it's the one I'll try first.

On Mon, 13 May 2019 23:09:47 -0000 (UTC), Arlen G. Holder wrote:

> The GoodSync Free solution seems to have iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, Mac,
> and NAS solutions, so it's the one I'll try first since I have iOS,
> Windows, Linux, and Android devices.

Well, installing GoodSync was interesting...
o I went on VPN (since I suspected shenanigans, which I got)
o Oddly, it requires an online account apparently
o But you can make up the email apparently
o It _knows_ your login & PC name (so be advised if that is real)

You get a choice which a beginner doesn't know which to choose
(o)Do Not Serve Files, but this computer can call others
(_)Serve Files from this Computer to GoodSync clients

If you choose the latter option, it will ask for your Windows passwd:
Windows User = NAMEOFPC\UserName (it will pre-fill out this form)
Windows Password = (you fill this out for them).

The words below the password don't make sense (yet) to me.
Do these words make sense to you?
If so, can you explain what they're trying to say for the rest of us?
"Impersonation is needed for this Server to access your
Windows shares, BitLocker encrypted disks, etc. So it is
strongly recommended. If you do not want Impersonation, leave
Windows Password field empty.

It says "Connecting to Mediator" & then tells you the following:
GoodSync Account will be set to:
GoodSync Account Email: bo...@example.com
GoodSync Account userID: bogus-example-com
Serve Files from this computer via GoodSync Connect
This Computer address: gstp://computername.bogus-example-com.goodsync
Windows User: computername\bogususer
Windows User for auth: computername\bogususer
Your Name: <blank>

This is odd since it's only going to be used offline on the private LAN.

Anyway, then it starts, saying: "Welcome to GoodSync"
Enter Job Name: <blank>
Select Job type: You have to type a name, e.g., test
(o)Backup
One-way Job: Copy files and folders (and their deletions)
from the Left side folder to the Right side folder.
(_)Synchronize
Two-way Job: Propagate changes (file changed, renamed,
or deleted) from Left to Right and from Right to Left.
Hidden and System files are excluded by default.

Then you get the GoodSync GUI, which, I guess, needs a client now, which, I
guess, needs to be the Android device with the GoodSync Client, I guess.

I'm not sure, intuitively, what the next step is.
o Anyone using GoodSync who can explain this part of the setup better?

I plugged in my Android phone via USB and, from Windows, I created a folder
on the SD card named "test1" and populated it with _copies_ of some files
on Android, renaming them accordingly:
o test1.kdbx <=== passwords
o test1.vcard <=== contacts
o test1.ics <=== calendar
o test1.tc <=== encrypted container
o test1.txt
o test1.apk
o test1.jpg
etc.

Using Windows, created a similar folder C:\tmp\test1 & left it empty.

Looking around GoodSync, I see a "Please click here..." at the top where, I
think, the "left" and "right" folders are to be selected.

Clicking the "Left Folder" icon, I get a large number of choices, including
o My Computer (Disks mounted directly to this computer)
o GoodSync Connect (Computers & Devices connected via GoodSync Connect by GSTP protocol: Fast P2P)
o GoodSync Storage (GoodSync RealDisk Online Storage)
o Windows Shares (Windows Network Shares connected via SMB protocol)
o Media Devices MTP (Mobile devices (phones, cameras) connected via Media Transfer Protocol
o Google Drive (Google Drive (Consumer, V3 API, with On File Change)
o Google Team Drive (Google Team Drives (Corporate, V3 API)
o Amazon S3 (Amazon S3 Online Storage: buckets)
o Amazon Cloud Drive (Amazon Cloud Drive)
o Dropbox (Dropbox)
o Box.com (Box.com)
o Backblaze B2 (Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage)
o OneDrive Office365 (Microsoft: OneDrive Consumer, Office365, SharePoint (Graph API))
o MS Azure Blobx (Azure by Microsoft: Blobs and Buckets)
o MS Azure Files (Azure by Microsoft: Files API)
o MEGA (MEGA Cloud (beta))
o SFTP (SFTP servers (SFTP protocol over SSH))
o FTP (FTP & FTPS servers)
o WebDav (Servers accessible via WebDAV protocol)
o Google Docs (Google Native Documents import/export (V3 API))
o One File (Entire file/folder tree is stored in one file, compressed and encrypted, small trees only)

Almost arbitrarily, I selected the MTP option, which came up with a form
showing the LGStylo3Plus Nougat 7 Android device internal & external
storage where I selected the SDCard "test1" folder for the "Left Side".

Then I clicked the "Right Folder" icon at the top of the GoodSync GUI
and selected the "My Computer" option and then selected the folder
C:\tmp\test1

Then, I wasn't sure what to do, but the GUI has these huge letters saying:
"Click Analyze button to start"
So I clicked the "Analyze" button.

Hmmmmm... that only created a seemingly empty folder named
C:\tmp\test1\_gsdata_\
And a corresponding (but not empty) folder showed up on the phone:
SDCard/test1/_gsdata_\_file_state_v4.gs
SDCard/test1/_gsdata_\_insync_v4.gsl
SDCard/test1/_gsdata_\2019-0513-181523-PCNAME-test1.log

It told me to hit the "Sync" button, so I hit the Sync button.
Lo and behold, those test files now showed up in C:\tmp\test1\.

In Windows, I made a change to the text file on the Android SDCard.
DRAT. I wasn't able to change the file from Windows.
I tried from Android, and it wouldn't let me change the file.
Hmmmmmm....

I've had this problem on Android where I'm not sure what locks up the SD
Card, but I'll assume the fact I can't edit the text file on the Android
side to be my issue.

Moving forward, there is an "Auto" button which allows you to set when the
program will sync files where the choices are:
[_]On File Change, Delay = [0] sec.
[_]On Folders Connect
[_]On GoodSync start
[_]Periodically (On Timer), every [2]hour [0]min
[_]On Logoff
[_]On Schedule [Configure]
And a bunch of other options depending on change magnitude mostly.

In summary, the two open issues based on this quick test are:
1. Should we give the GoodSync program our PC password or not?
2. Why couldn't I write to the Android SDCard (separate issue)?

[Arlen G. Holder]

The huge expense of freeware is in finding the best programs, where I
tested the following five purported automatic sync solutions just now:

THIS WORKED WITH ANDROID ON USB AS MTP:

o *GoodSync Free*
<https://www.goodsync.com/download/GoodSync-v10-Setup.exe>

THESE FAILED WITH ANDROID ON USB AS MTP:

o *SyncBack Free*
<https://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.exe>
o *Microsoft SyncToy 2.1*
<https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/c/4/6c406239-a648-4e01-833e-2c452deed3b6/SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x64.exe>

o *Resilio Sync (free?)*
<https://download-cdn.resilio.com/stable/windows64/Resilio-Sync_x64.exe>
o *DSynchronize Freeware*
<http://dimiodati.altervista.org/zip/dsynchronize.zip>

I published the details of those 5 tests in this thread so I won't repeat
them here.

o Do you have an existing working automatic sync setup for all your devices on your home LAN?

<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.comp.freeware/KI9m-50mOkg/cxbGQW6VAgAJ>

GoodSync is imperfect - but it was the only one that worked over USB on
MTP, so, it's the new starting point for Android users.

I'll test iOS later as iOS is always harder for almost everything.
First I'll get used to the best settings to use for Android automatic
copying of files and then I'll work on synchronizing both ways for critical
files such as:
o contacts.vcf (your contacts)
o passwd.kdbx (your encrypted passwords)
o calendar.ics (your calendar)
o container.hc (encrypted containers)
etc.

If anyone has a _better_ solution for free automatic syncing of Android
file systems with Windows, please let us know what you use for that task.

[Anssi Saari]

"Arlen G. Holder" <arling...@nospam.net> writes:

> Do you have a working freeware automatic sync between Android & Windows?
> o If so, please let us know what works well for you.

I used to have a Syncthing setup between a Windows PC and my Android
phone. It was fine, no issues until I tried to add more devices. It
basically just quit syncing some devices so I quit trying. And setting
it up for more than two devices seemed like a pain.

I was trying to get rid of Dropbox and moving to Mega now. Mega at least
claims end to end encryption so they can't peek in your files but who
knows.

[Arlen G. Holder]

On Tue, 14 May 2019 11:52:53 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

> I used to have a Syncthing setup between a Windows PC and my Android
> phone. It was fine, no issues until I tried to add more devices. It
> basically just quit syncing some devices so I quit trying. And setting
> it up for more than two devices seemed like a pain.
>
> I was trying to get rid of Dropbox and moving to Mega now. Mega at least
> claims end to end encryption so they can't peek in your files but who
> knows.

Hi Anssi Saari,

Thank you for hazarding that information, where it's interesting that there
was a problem with a multiple devices, which I hadn't thought of testing,
so I will eventually get to testing that, where I'll keep my eye peeled for
the problems you helpfully warned us about.

Usenet is a potluck picnic where everyone adds something of value to share,
so I appreciate that warning, where I'm currently only setting things up
over USB on MTP, but where I'll eventually set up multiple devices using
WiFi and a free server on Android (either FTP or WebDAV, where WebDAV has
huge advantages over FTP in drive-letter assignment).

As for DropBox & MEGA, I try to stay _away_ from putting anything on the
net that I don't have to, where I will note that the GoodSync freeware GUI
has a specific entry for both DropBox & MEGA (and other) cloud solutions.

Moving forward with the level 1 quick tests, on the Windows & freeware
groups, I found _another_ working solution, which I summarize below for
others to benefit from the effort expended, where, as always with freeware,
the immense cost is in testing them to find the best ones, where you always
want someone else do run those tests if you can help it.

==== ==== start of running log test of FreeFileSync ===== =====
Philosophically, I _should_ read all the fine instructions, but, for
freeware, the cost is in the testing, where _one_ of the tests for a
general-purpose solution (which I always strive to seek) is simply how
"intuitive" the GUI is, so I just dove in, just as I did with the other
tests.

To do my part, I wrote up a running ad hoc log file which starts here:
o *FreeFileSync*
<https://freefilesync.org>
<https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#operating-systems>
<http://download2332.mediafire.com/dh5iho74dvug/ua18cq0u6tco3sk/FreeFileSync_10.12_Windows_Setup.exe>

The FreeFileSync home page is guilty of lots of huge green "Download"
buttons, most of which go to some kind of "driver" download, so caveat
emptor, where the executable is finally found by on a comparatively tiny
link which I included above to save others the eyestrain looking for it.

I saved the file to
C:\installer\network\autosync\freefilesync\FreeFileSync_10.12_Windows_Setup.exe
When you install, it asks you to accept four licenses
o GNU
o OpenSSL & SSLeay
o CURL
o libssh2
It wants to go into C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync
I put it into C:\app\network\autosync\freefilesync
You get a choice at this point of:
[X]Select installation base
(o)Local (recommended)
(_)Portable (Requires FreeFileSync Donation Edition)
[x]Create shortcuts
[x]Desktop
[x]Start Menu
[x]Send To
The _next_ unique screen caught me by surprise, which I'll not spoil for
the reader, and then it quickly installed.

This created two desktop icons & a "send to" list item.
FreeFileSync: C:\app\network\autosync\freefilesync\FreeFileSync.exe
RealTimeSync: C:\app\network\autosync\freefilesync\RealTimeSync.exe

As always, I first turned off the automatic check for updates.
As usual, there was a left & right side, although they're both labeled the
same in this FreeFileSync software.

I hit the "Browse" button on each side, setting the source at left to
navigate to the LGStyle3Plus which was connected via USB & MTP, which
resulted in a "path" of:
mtp:\LGStylo3Plus\SD card\test1
On the destination at the right, I browsed to the test area:
C:\tmp\test1
On Android, I'd prefer to modify a file but I'm having an unrelated issue
modifying text files on the SD Card
o Can someone gently explain why I can't edit files on my own SD card from Android file explorers?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/tqF0ONRVACE>

Also, on Android, I'd prefer to modify a _binary_ file (such as the
passwd.kdbx or a photo, but for now, I'm only doing _simple_ tests).

For the simplest test, I added a set of calendar (ics), contacts (vcf),
passwd (kdbx), and other files (jpg, txt, etc.) to the source directory on
the Android device from the Android device.

When I hit the "Compare" button in FreeFileSync, it showed those files in
green, and, then I looked for the "backup" button, but there is only a
"synchronize" button, I think (which is two way).

LATER EDIT: The "backup" and other options was later found at:
FreeFileSync:Actions > Synchronization Settings, which have options for
o Two way
o Mirror
o Update
o Custom

In this case, that's the same thing, where a warning popped up about the
recycle bin (apparently the new kdbx file had the same name as the old?),
Warning: The recycle bin is not supported by the following folders.
Deleted or overwritten files will not be able to be restored.
mtp:\LGStylo3Plus\SD card\test1

For some strange reason, the sync seems to take the longest (by far) with
this app than with the GoodSync app (dunno why, but the difference is
tremendous in time), although it should be noted that all the other tests
were really just one-way backups - so this test was the first two-way sync
I've done in this test series.

Finally, a Warning came up which was too long to re-create here, where this
is the first warning:
"Cannot write modification time of "mtp:\LGStylo3Plus\SD
card\test1\_gsdata_filename.ffs_tmp". Setting the modification time
(5/14/2019 12:32:12 AM) was silently ignored by the device (5/14/2019
7:55:45 AM).

All these warnings have a "don't show again" & "ignore" option, so they are
fine, IMHO, to see them as this is the first two-way sync I've tried in
this test so I'm not sure if the others give the same warning.

The goal, of course, is _automation_, so looking about, I see there is a
way to save the setup as a file:
FreeFileSync:File > Save As > SyncSettings.ffs_gui

And then I see there is a way to save the setup as a _batch_ file:
FreeFileSync:File > Save as batch job

The instructions are reasonable, which are:
"Create a batch file for unattended synchronization. To start,
double-click this file or schedule in a task planner.
FreeFileSync.exe <job name>.ffs_batch
Where the checkbox options are:
[_]Run minimized
[_]Auto-close
[_]Ignore errors
(o)Show error message
(_)Cancel
When finished: Do nothing, System Sleep, System Shutdown
Where there is a help link which points to:
<https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=schedule-a-batch-job>

Saving the batch file automatically names it:
SyncSettings.ffs_batch
Where a quick look at the text file shows it to be an XML file.

In summary, this is a _great_ addition to the repertoire, where the current
summary for using these freeware tools to automatically copy, mirror, and
sync files on an Android device over MTP on USB cable is:

THESE WORKED OVER USB WITH ANDROID AS MTP:
o *FreeFileSync*
<https://freefilesync.org>
<https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#operating-systems>
<http://download2332.mediafire.com/dh5iho74dvug/ua18cq0u6tco3sk/FreeFileSync_10.12_Windows_Setup.exe>

o *GoodSync Free*, Windows, Mac, Linux, NAS, iOS, Android
<https://www.goodsync.com>
<https://www.goodsync.com/download/GoodSync-v10-Setup.exe>
<https://www.goodsync.com/download/GoodSync-v10-2Go-Setup.exe>

THESE FAILED OVER USB WITH ANDROID AS MTP:
o *Microsoft SyncToy* 2.1
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=6523>
<https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/c/4/6c406239-a648-4e01-833e-2c452deed3b6/SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x64.exe>

o *SyncBack Free*
<https://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/compare-simple.html>
<https://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.exe>

o *Resilio Sync* (free)
<https://www.resilio.com>
<https://www.resilio.com/individuals-sync/
<https://download-cdn.resilio.com/stable/windows64/Resilio-Sync_x64.exe>

o *DSynchronize* (free)
<http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/dsynchronize/dsynchronize.html>
<http://dimiodati.altervista.org/zip/dsynchronize.zip>

NOTE: The ones that failed as MTP over USB would have worked if I had
bothered to set up the Android device as a removable drive letter using any
free WebDAV or FTP server running on the Android device for that drive
letter assignment to work, which, is easy to do, but which wasn't the
original goal - but - it must be noted - that adding a server on Android
enables the sync to occur over WiFi - which has value if that were the
original goal). Note that unless the Android device is rooted, the
seemingly logical choice of SMB/CIFs isn't effectively available for
reasons that we've discussed many times in the past so I won't belabor them
here.