Syncing database zaps my DSL service while it's syncing

DEVONthink Tips
1

I downloaded the update to DT last week and moved my files out of my Dropbox folder back onto my local hard drive as it was suggested on this forum. I then set up a sync to Dropbox as per the instructions in the video. That part all worked fine. Data is still there.

The problem I have is when a database is syncing it almost totally uses up my DSL service to the point that no one else can do anything on the internet until the sync is over. I set up the databases to sync on open and on close, given that our schedule is varied each day and my computers are not always on I thought that would be the most reliable for us. If it would wake my laptop up in the middle of the night and sync that would be great, but I didn’t know if it would do that. I have tried this several time over the weekend and the results are always similar.

Here are the actual numbers from this morning using the Speed Test Speak Easy web site. Their numbers are similar even using other locations to test the speed.

Before syncing: download 4.48 mbps upload .47 mbps
During syncing: download .17 mbps upload .19 mbps
After syncing: download 4.56 mbps upload .34 mbps

The file that I was syncing is 86mb in size with 147 docs in it. I had added about 30 new single page docs to it this morning before I tried closing it and triggering the sync. It took 16 minutes for the sync until it finished and closed. We use DT to store our accounting receipts for our farm so the docs are just simple invoices and receipts.

I have used Dropbox for about 4 years now and have never had a problem with it slowing down my dsl service to the point that it affected anything else. We are on the end of a dsl run and the best service we can get from them runs in the mid 4’s to the mid 5’s no matter what level we subscribe to. A cable company goes by our drive but so far they tell me they don’t have a way to hook me on to their fiber that is cost effective.

Any suggestions are appreciated, but I am a self taught point and click computer user, not an IT guy :slight_smile:

Thanks,
Ray

2

Are you syncing to Dropbox because some other computer elsewhere is going to sync to the DEVONthink storage you put into Dropbox? Or is it for offsite storage?

If it’s just for offsite security, then, given your bandwidth restrictions, maybe an alternate would be to backup your database to a USB stick and store that offsite or at your bank?

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Both. We use DB as an off site back up in case of fire, tornado etc., but we are also syncing with another computer in a different location. DB has always worked very well and trouble free is why we like it.

If I could set it to wake up my laptop in the middle of the night to sync that would be a help. If not I will have to start doing it manually when Internet access is not needed.

4

That’s probably the best strategy – running it at night.

BTW, if your DSL up speeds are running between 0.34 and 0.47 mbps, then 16 minutes for an 86mb sync is within the expected duration range. DEVONthink sync has a regular conversation going with Dropbox’s API, so there are up and down messages you’re not seeing which add data to that payload.

A different approach would be to keep your documents outside DEVONthink, in folder(s) in Dropbox. If your database is simply recording those invoices, then on each computer just have a standalone database that indexes the Dropbox folder. In other words, don’t import them. And don’t synchronize those two databases. You would probably free up some bandwidth this way.

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Just an FYI - Sync will not wake up your Mac to do its business.

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… unlike ChronoAgent, which wakes up networked Macs more reliably than AFP :smiley:

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And is also not an out-of-the-box solution. 8)