Hi Stephen,
If you think a user (myself?) "did a number of things to contribute to" mesh's ineptitudes, then please list those actions. I'll address your list item by item, so that you don't have any false conceptions.
To answer your question, no, there is no overlap at all, either as child or parent folder, or with sharing of the same folder (or files) between sync, mesh, and gbridge.
On the other hand, I decided to take your advise and start over. I don't think that nullifies the value of attempting some forensic analysis on why mesh can't handle much since the last few versions/updates to it. So I'd still be interested in your list of user actions that cause it to fail (other than the painfully obvious ones that only morons would commit, such as having sync, gbridge, and mesh all try to fight over the same data).
So, STARTING OVER:
I uninstalled everything (gbridge, mesh, and sync), and in my mesh desktop, removed all devices and folders. Next, I reorganized all the data on one of the computers, such that I've got 24 GIG's of data being shared PER COMPUTER via Gbridge (in 3 folders, each with directories going dozens of levels deep).
Next, I completely emptied SYNC (moved it's data into Gbridge), with the intention that I still may use it later, and I like the ability to browse all drives with it. I think it works better than Mesh, but there's that all important single feature Mesh has, that nobody else does: in addition to sync-ing, there's the cloud desktop (the ONLY reason I'm still wrast'lin with it now). So, SYNC has no data at all now.
Lastly, I reorganized Mesh so that it now has 3.3 GIGs (Size: 3,279.2 MB Allocated: 3,334.6 MB, Files 22,012 Folders 2,031). After this reoganization, I then copied the data over to the other 2 computers, so that all 3 computers had identical data, in the Gbridge and Mesh folders (same modified dates, file names, sizes). Then I reconfigured SYNC and Mesh adding all 3 computers back in.
FINAL DISTRIBUTION AFTER REORGANIZATION:
Mesh: 3.3 Gb
Syn: empty
Gbridge: 24 Gb
Now, Gbridge did just fine with it's own 24 Gig's of data, and all 3 computers were "autosync-ed" within about 1 hr, recognizing that the hash was the same on all folders and files. However, the Mesh folder started immediately passing nearly the entire folder set back and forth between all 3 computers, and couldn't seem to recognize that the data was the same.
After a few hours, I thought Mesh would finally figure it out, but it didn't. It just kept deleting and redownloading all the data. All 3 computers (a Win 7 x64 Enterprise, a Win XP SP3 desktop, and a Win XP SP3 laptop) were on the same LAN, each with a high speed LAN connection (about a T2 download speed, and T3 upload speed to the internet). So, I thought, "OK, I'll just leave them as they are working their little hinnies off, trying to figure it out.
IMPORTANT: all 3 computers have CPU clocks set to the exact same time zone, and times match (to less than 1 minute) on all 3 computers.
Well I came back in this morning, to find that one of the computers had just about maxed out the local C drive (the Win XP SP3 desktop) where all programs are kept. So I decided to investigate further. The first thing I noticed was that Gbridge was still 'steady state' with awareness that all data was the same on all 3 computers (settings on autosync folders are: delete local if remote gets deleted unless local has changed, delete remote if local is deleted unless remote has changed, and if both have changed then take the latest copy). Great. No problems there. Gbridge is still running like a champ this very moment.
Next, the SYNC was running fine on all computers, and browsing all drives via an internet browser was working fine. But when I checked MESH, it had gone hay-wire overnight, and now on one of the computers (Win 7 desktop) the Mesh folder only had less than 50 Mbytes of data in it still, and one of the computers (the XP laptop) was indicating that it was in the process of downloading 4.2 Gigs (very strange, since the total initial data for Mesh was only 3.3 Gigs), and the XP desktop wasn't doing anything since the C drive was full.
On the XP desktop, I checked file structure on the C drive (the Mesh folder is shared on a separate Terabyte USB drive on the 2 desktops, with about 50% free space). Well sure enough, this is what I found:
C:\Documents and Settings\prichard\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Live Mesh\ on [Local Disk]
GacBase = 6,103.7 MB, Bin = 11.8 MB, Setup = 2.3 MB, and SoftwareDistribution = 0.1 MB
Now I'm wondering, what on earth is the GacBase, and why is it taking up over 6 GIGs, when the freaking MESH data I'm trying to sync up is only 3.3 Gigs.
Finally, here are the steps I'm taking now to rectify the messed up MESH disaster. I've exited from MESH on all 3 computers, and overwriting the data on all 3 computers. This time, I'm using SyncBackSE v.3.2.18.0 (by 2BrightSparks) to do the operation, with the following options:
1. "Do not use the Windows shell to copy or delete files"
2. "Verify that the files are copied correctly"
3. "Force the file modification date & time to be correct"
4. "Reset the archive file attribute on files once they have been copied"
5. "Make safe copies (copy files using a temporary filename and then rename the file on success)"
Once I have identical data on all 3 computers, then I will consider the next steps to try and get Mesh working again correctly. I'm considering a full uninstall, reboot, then reinstall of Mesh on all 3 computers (along with a full delete of all devices and folders from the Mesh desktop online). But I don't know if that will 'clear' (delete and refresh) the GacBase database, which is obviously one giant SNAFU.
Should I manually delete the entire Live Mesh folder under Application Data for the profile in question on all 3 computers, after uninstalling Mesh, and prior to reinstalling Mesh, so that when I attempt YET AGAIN to get it to work correctly, it will have a fresh clean start in life?
Regards,
Paul
humpty dumpty is sleepy
