Sign in
Microsoft.com
 
Microsoft
 
 
 

locked
conflicted resolution RRS feed

 > 

  • Question

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Greetings,

    I was using FolderShare for a long time to keep my files synced across my desktop at home (XP), at work (XP), and on my laptop (MacBook) and migrated over to Live Mesh. I LOVE that capability. Also recently added Windows 7 to the device network.

    Yesterday on Windows 7 I got the unresolved conflict dialog box. I thought I was specifying my MacBook as the Top Folder (master), but then files and folders started disappearing on my Windows boxes. It turns out Live Mesh wasn't running on the MacBook (the client crashes pretty frequently, but normally prompts for a restart).

    I copied all the files from MacBook to 7 and Live Mesh began to repopulate files on XP@work and XP@home. When I started my MacBook this morning the Live Mesh client started and then began to delete files and folders.

    XP@work seems to have the most complete copy of my data (there may be some files missing, but I'm not totally sure). 7 has 90% of the data, MacBook has 20%, and XP@home has 10%. I thought I had disabled the Live Desktop folder, but it actually has 300% of the data (looks like there are duplicate files and folders). I looked in the recycle bins and there are some of the deleted conflicting files there. Also in the HoldingArea folders, there are between 2x and 3x data (presumably copies of the "Conflicts").

    Just as a test I removed XP@home from syncing and added it back. It created a new Mesh-001 folder and looks like it's downloading the entire data set now. Again I'm not sure how complete it is.

    What's the best way to reconcile my data and resolve all the conflicts? It seems like it'd be a huge task to wade through the recycle bins and HoldingArea folders to see if there are any missing files there. I'd say that XP@work has 99% of my files. So if I had to move forward with that as my master set, I'd be okay with that.

    All the Windows boxes are reporting a different set of conflicts to resolve. What's the best way to resolve those?

    Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help.

    Toto

    P.S. Here's another vote for streamlined conflict resolution. :-) I use DFS Replication on our file servers and like the way it moves the conflicted file into the Conflicted and Deleted folder, so that there's no interaction required but you can still retrieve files if DFSR kept the wrong file (which hasn't happened to us yet).

    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:19 AM

Answers

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    TotoTron said:

    Greetings,

    I was using FolderShare for a long time to keep my files synced across my desktop at home (XP), at work (XP), and on my laptop (MacBook) and migrated over to Live Mesh. I LOVE that capability. Also recently added Windows 7 to the device network.

    Yesterday on Windows 7 I got the unresolved conflict dialog box. I thought I was specifying my MacBook as the Top Folder (master), but then files and folders started disappearing on my Windows boxes. It turns out Live Mesh wasn't running on the MacBook (the client crashes pretty frequently, but normally prompts for a restart).

    I copied all the files from MacBook to 7 and Live Mesh began to repopulate files on XP@work and XP@home. When I started my MacBook this morning the Live Mesh client started and then began to delete files and folders.

    XP@work seems to have the most complete copy of my data (there may be some files missing, but I'm not totally sure). 7 has 90% of the data, MacBook has 20%, and XP@home has 10%. I thought I had disabled the Live Desktop folder, but it actually has 300% of the data (looks like there are duplicate files and folders). I looked in the recycle bins and there are some of the deleted conflicting files there. Also in the HoldingArea folders, there are between 2x and 3x data (presumably copies of the "Conflicts").

    Just as a test I removed XP@home from syncing and added it back. It created a new Mesh-001 folder and looks like it's downloading the entire data set now. Again I'm not sure how complete it is.

    What's the best way to reconcile my data and resolve all the conflicts? It seems like it'd be a huge task to wade through the recycle bins and HoldingArea folders to see if there are any missing files there. I'd say that XP@work has 99% of my files. So if I had to move forward with that as my master set, I'd be okay with that.

    All the Windows boxes are reporting a different set of conflicts to resolve. What's the best way to resolve those?

    Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help.

    Toto

    P.S. Here's another vote for streamlined conflict resolution. :-) I use DFS Replication on our file servers and like the way it moves the conflicted file into the Conflicted and Deleted folder, so that there's no interaction required but you can still retrieve files if DFSR kept the wrong file (which hasn't happened to us yet).



    Hi Toto,

    Obviously, the biggest concern here is the potential for data loss.  Do you have a non-Live Mesh backup of all your data somewhere?  Since Live Mesh is a beta product, we strongly recommend always keeping a backup of your data.

    I think that Oren is correct when he says that the best way (perhaps only way at this point) to reconstruct your mesh is to remove everything, create a complete set of the data on one device, then add the other devices and have them pull the data from the one complete set.  I know that can be rather laborious (and is far from ideal), but it's the surest way to avoid wading through conflicts.  (Improving conflict handling is something we've been working on constantly, and will continue to do so.  I've added your vote to our list of suggestions.)

    Finally, if you're willing, it would be helpful for us if we could get a look at the logs from your different computers.  Please open a bug through Connect (instructions are in an Announcement at the top of the forums), and let me know the Connect Feedback ID so that I can follow up with our developers.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Thanks,

    Ben.
    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:53 PM

All replies

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Are you syncing the files to the Live Desktop as well? If so, check to see if that has the most complete set. If it does, delete the folders from all of your machines (and remove them from the list of syncing devices) and then resync.

    Otherwise, you'll have to construct a set of 100% and resync from there - I don't think there's any other way to get out of the mess of inconsistency you seem to be in (since the Live Mesh Client seems to be struggling itself).
    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:37 AM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    TotoTron said:

    Greetings,

    I was using FolderShare for a long time to keep my files synced across my desktop at home (XP), at work (XP), and on my laptop (MacBook) and migrated over to Live Mesh. I LOVE that capability. Also recently added Windows 7 to the device network.

    Yesterday on Windows 7 I got the unresolved conflict dialog box. I thought I was specifying my MacBook as the Top Folder (master), but then files and folders started disappearing on my Windows boxes. It turns out Live Mesh wasn't running on the MacBook (the client crashes pretty frequently, but normally prompts for a restart).

    I copied all the files from MacBook to 7 and Live Mesh began to repopulate files on XP@work and XP@home. When I started my MacBook this morning the Live Mesh client started and then began to delete files and folders.

    XP@work seems to have the most complete copy of my data (there may be some files missing, but I'm not totally sure). 7 has 90% of the data, MacBook has 20%, and XP@home has 10%. I thought I had disabled the Live Desktop folder, but it actually has 300% of the data (looks like there are duplicate files and folders). I looked in the recycle bins and there are some of the deleted conflicting files there. Also in the HoldingArea folders, there are between 2x and 3x data (presumably copies of the "Conflicts").

    Just as a test I removed XP@home from syncing and added it back. It created a new Mesh-001 folder and looks like it's downloading the entire data set now. Again I'm not sure how complete it is.

    What's the best way to reconcile my data and resolve all the conflicts? It seems like it'd be a huge task to wade through the recycle bins and HoldingArea folders to see if there are any missing files there. I'd say that XP@work has 99% of my files. So if I had to move forward with that as my master set, I'd be okay with that.

    All the Windows boxes are reporting a different set of conflicts to resolve. What's the best way to resolve those?

    Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help.

    Toto

    P.S. Here's another vote for streamlined conflict resolution. :-) I use DFS Replication on our file servers and like the way it moves the conflicted file into the Conflicted and Deleted folder, so that there's no interaction required but you can still retrieve files if DFSR kept the wrong file (which hasn't happened to us yet).



    Hi Toto,

    Obviously, the biggest concern here is the potential for data loss.  Do you have a non-Live Mesh backup of all your data somewhere?  Since Live Mesh is a beta product, we strongly recommend always keeping a backup of your data.

    I think that Oren is correct when he says that the best way (perhaps only way at this point) to reconstruct your mesh is to remove everything, create a complete set of the data on one device, then add the other devices and have them pull the data from the one complete set.  I know that can be rather laborious (and is far from ideal), but it's the surest way to avoid wading through conflicts.  (Improving conflict handling is something we've been working on constantly, and will continue to do so.  I've added your vote to our list of suggestions.)

    Finally, if you're willing, it would be helpful for us if we could get a look at the logs from your different computers.  Please open a bug through Connect (instructions are in an Announcement at the top of the forums), and let me know the Connect Feedback ID so that I can follow up with our developers.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Thanks,

    Ben.
    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:53 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    I only wanted to sync P2P and had originally disabled syncing to Live Desktop. I just noticed in the Known Issue database that the Mac client doesn't support P2P. Perhaps when I installed the Mac client syncing to Live Desktop became enabled?

    In any case, there appear to be 2 to 3 copies of my data in Live Desktop (duplicate files in duplicate folders). Is there a way to download an entire folder (instead of each file individually)?
    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 8:39 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Connect Feedback ID 398741

    I'm reasonably sure I have a complete set of data. :-)

    I removed XP@home from the sync group and added it back in and it synced the full data set from XP@work. So I'll try that process with the Mac and Win7 next.

    However, I noticed that in the HoldingArea in XP@home there are up to 4 copies of each file. Presumably this is the staging and conflict resolution folder. Before I add the sync folder back to Win7, would it be best to clear the HoldingArea folder (so that Live Mesh doesn't encounter any conflicts)? Or would it be best to de-duplicate each file (so that there's just a single copy left in the HoldingArea)?

    Thanks,
    Toto
    Wednesday, January 14, 2009 8:56 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    I wouldn't outright delete anything out of the HoldingArea, I've had something similar before which was solved by moving the files to a different folder (which I deleted only when syncing completed properly).

    Good Luck!

    Oren
    Thursday, January 15, 2009 12:33 AM