Getting tired of this. Lost files again with bad syncing.

DEVONthink Tips
1

I have 2 Macs. One at home, one at work.
I currently sync with Dropbox. I make sure Devonthink is closed when I leave house/work.

This method never worked well and I’ve had a few conflicted databses and lost entries.
Perhaps you might be tempted to put the blame on dropbox. I honestly don’t care whose fault it is.

I just want to find a solution that works and in which I can have faith.
There must be some people here that sync Devonthink successfully across different Macs?
How?

P.s. search no avail

2

I’ve used Chronosync twice a day to sync machines, have done it for years, never lost a byte. Nothing better, IMO, but it’s not the only option.

3

The only time Dropbox has failed me (when it wasn’t my fault) is when I encrypted the database. I’m not sure what it was but it seems that Dropbox simply couldn’t handle some of the encrypted files. If this is the case for you you might try unencrypting it and seeing if it works better.

Tom S.

4

I absolutely agree - never had a problem with ChronoSync. You can control each sync and decide what data should be synced. I even sync the Sorter and the Global Inbox without any problem

Here is a description how to do it (written in German):
http://www.therapage-apfelcomputer.de/index.php?id=8911237926647755979

5

Thanks Korm. Your various posts have convinced me to get ChronoSync and to use it to sync my laptop and desktop. Theoretically, when I send my MacMini offsite to be used a a server, I will sync it as well. It sounds like a much better solution overall.

I am running Leopard on my laptop and Lion on my desktop. I will only be syncing my documents and databases and such and hope that won’t be a problem. I suppose, I will know soon enough!!

Thanks again - Ryan

6

THanks for your input

With Chronosync, we can’t sync while the application is running on two machines, right?

I mean I can’t leave home with work saved on DT but the App still opened and then get to work, open DT and have access to the most recent files without any conflict created?

This would be the dream.
Sometimes I forget to close DT at home, so I’m stuck at work.
I hope this is what they have in store for us with their future sync solution.

7

You can have DEVONthink running on both machines, but you shouldn’t have the database(s) that you are synchronizing open on any machine.

Just have Chronosync terminate DEVONthink before the synchronization starts.

In the Options tab of any Chronosync synchronizer document

To terminate DEVONthink, create, compile, and save this script. Then reference the saved file in Chronosync options as a pre-synchronization script. Note that the script has an outer “try” which contains a two minute delay – to give DEVONthink time to shut down before Chronosync attempts the next step. If you want to get fancy, the script could send you an SMS when it is finished.


try
	tell application id "com.devon-technologies.thinkpro2"
		quit
	end tell
	delay 180
end try

The pre- and post-flight scripts offer a significant advantage over the alternative.

8

It will be interesting to see if this solves the problem:

blog.devontechnologies.com/2012/ … on-jun-11/

Tom S.

9

Or you could simply run the scripts withoutnchronosync at specified times on each computer through iCal events. Say at 6 am at home (before work) and at 6 pm at work (after you leave).

Tom S.