Warning- SugarSync deletes files... support is laughable

[1611mac]

On previous thread in these forums I have stated my liking of SugarSync. I now must give this warning.....

On Oct 12 While using SugarSync on my Mac I mistakenly setup the wrong folder to sync. When I discovered my error it had already started syncing. Try as I might I could find no "stop sync" option so I just Quit the app. When I restarted it started to sync again and again I could find no way to stop a sync in progress.

I then went to Manage Sync Folder and I "un-synced" the folder (while it was syncing). To my surprise every time I started the app it still started syncing the folder as everything was still "in process."

I contacted service and filled out an incident report. I asked them how to cancel a working sync. I read instructions, looked thru support, and checked all menu's... there was no way to cancel an active sync.

On Oct 23, eleven days later, I received a response to the open incident report. I was told to press Control Shift S with no explanation as to what it does.

At some point thru all this the files in my original folder (on my Mac) diappeared! Luckily, I had plenty of backups.

Here is a log of the chat:

Hi, my name is Narendar. How may I help you?
Gregory Schneck: Hello, I made a mistake and defined the wrong sync folder. It is trying to sync 2500 files. I dropped the folder from the "sync" list and quit the SugarSync app. But when I restart the app it immediately starts to update the 2500 files even though I have dropped the folder as an update folder. How do I stop the upload?
Narendar: You need to stop syncing the folder. Please follow the steps given below for stop syncing a folder. 1. Open the SugarSync Manager. 2. Click on "Manage Sync Folders...". 3. Select the folder you want to remove. 4. Click on the "X" mark and then click on "OK". 5. Click on "OK". This will delete the folder from SugarSync without deleting it from your local computer. Note: Please click on OK for "Manage Sync folder" window to make sure all the operations done are saved and executed.
Gregory Schneck: This is exactly what I did. The folder no longer appears in my sync list but it is still trying to sync the folder running (I assume) from the original job which I never allowed to complete.
Narendar: Please let me know 2-3 exact file names and complete path of the affected files.
Gregory Schneck: The folder was defined as "My Docs" and 2 specific names are logo220p.eps and espanol.mpr
Gregory Schneck: the upload is running now and has 2179 remaining files
Gregory Schneck: and again, the folder no longer appears in my sync list but the upload continues to run.
Narendar: Can you please provide me a screen shot of these files?
Gregory Schneck: from which window?
Narendar: The window where you are seeing the files uploading.
Gregory Schneck: sent it
Narendar: Please send the audits in the logs from your computer to investigate the issue further. To do so, follow the instructions in the link given below. https://sugarsync.custhelp.com/app/a...detail/a_id/53 Make sure to check the option "Send audit files too".
Narendar: Let me know once the log files are sent.
Gregory Schneck: ok... in progress...
Gregory Schneck: Done
Gregory Schneck: there is no simple was to "cancel" upload?
Narendar: Thank you for the log files. We will get back to you through email once we investigate the log files.
Narendar: I see that the files are just stuck in the upload queue. Actually the uploading of the files are canceled.
Narendar: We will get back to you through email with an appropriate solution to the issue once we investigate the log files.
Gregory Schneck: Actually, the upload is still running. do I just let the upload run? I'll run out of space.
Narendar: Yes please. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Gregory Schneck: well... ok.... 2083 files to go... I
'Gregory Schneck' disconnected ('Concluded by End-user').

[seajewel]

Are there any files in the Archive? Sorry that happened. I haven't tried customer support but I did get responses within a day when posting on their community forums.

ETA: I guess not "Archive" I meant "Deleted Files".. my understanding was that Sugarsync keeps good backups of even your deleted files, but I haven't had to test it myself.

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by seajewel

Are there any files in the Archive? Sorry that happened. I haven't tried customer support but I did get responses within a day when posting on their community forums.

ETA: I guess not "Archive" I meant "Deleted Files".. my understanding was that Sugarsync keeps good backups of even your deleted files, but I haven't had to test it myself.

As best I could tell, once I defined the folder NOT to sync, the upload was going to a "deleted" folder on my web SugarSync account. My amazement comes from 1.) No obvious way to cancel a currently running sync, and 2.) support people not being able to tell a user how to cancel an a running sync.

The "File Transfer Status" window should have a "pause sync" option. You should then be able "Un-Sync" the folder effectively killing the sync process. It makes no sense for a working sync to complete if the sync has been "un-synced." (A warning can be given that "A complete sync on this folder has never been completed.")

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by 1611mac

As best I could tell, once I defined the folder NOT to sync, the upload was going to a "deleted" folder on my web SugarSync account. My amazement comes from 1.) No obvious way to cancel a currently running sync, and 2.) support people not being able to tell a user how to cancel an a running sync.

The "File Transfer Status" window should have a "pause sync" option. You should then be able "Un-Sync" the folder effectively killing the sync process. It makes no sense for a working sync to complete if the sync has been "un-synced." (A warning can be given that "A complete sync on this folder has never been completed.")

Yeah I see. I really do prefer Sugarsync to Dropbox (as you can tell from my sig, haha), but I will be the first to admit that Sugarsync's shortcoming relative to Dropbox is that it is not as sophisticated as of yet. I do not like the way Dropbox forces you to operate out of their folder, I prefer designating any folder in my computer to sync, but if you are willing to use Dropbox the way it is, it just "works." Sugarsync, I had to get them to fix a very annoying bug in the mobile iOS app (it wouldn't open epubs in ebook apps unless the app was considered "default" by Sugarsync) but at least by posting on the forums I did get fairly snappy responses and the project manager let me know that the iOS engineer found the bug, thanked me for my detailed report on the problem, and included it in the next update (which just came up on the app store yesterday). So at least for me, I'm satisfied with their customer support on the forums and still prefer the way SS works. But your experience sounds really frustrating

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by seajewel

-snip- I do not like the way Dropbox forces you to operate out of their folder, I prefer designating any folder in my computer to sync, but if you are willing to use Dropbox the way it is, it just "works." -snip-

I agree completely! I much prefer how SugarSync operates (thus my touting it in previous posts) but I wanted to give a warning about this possible problem. I always have many backups plus complete disk images so issues like this are not a problem for me.

I actually use both SS and Dropbox (I use the free accounts on both, maybe that explains the eleven days to answer my issue.)

[Rachel]

I would like to SugarSync more, and include my Calibre library in it. However, it is so difficult to find files as there is no alphabetical grouping. To find an author folder I have to keep scrolling down and down and down ..... rather a trial with a thousand author folders. In Dropbox it is much more simple, I just click on the letter of the alphabet I am looking for on the right of my screen and am fast forwarded (or reversed) through my library. Am I missing something? I didn't get a satisfactory reply when I asked Sugarsync.

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by Rachel

I would like to SugarSync more, and include my Calibre library in it. However, it is so difficult to find files as there is no alphabetical grouping. To find an author folder I have to keep scrolling down and down and down ..... rather a trial with a thousand author folders. In Dropbox it is much more simple, I just click on the letter of the alphabet I am looking for on the right of my screen and am fast forwarded (or reversed) through my library. Am I missing something? I didn't get a satisfactory reply when I asked Sugarsync.

I don't think Sugarsync has that ability, but I (I know I sound like a broken record and like I'm shilling for Sugarsync. I'm not!) suggest posting on their mobile community forums as a suggestion for the next update. It does look like a handy feature (I have dropbox, although I am going to discontinue use of it now that the Sugarsync app has been fixed to work with ebook apps. I just can't deal with Dropbox's one folder method, as I don't want to move all my books in that folder rather than kept in My Books folder, or to have to use up double the space on my hard drive to copy My Books to Dropbox and then constantly manually update it every time I add a book to My Books). for what it's worth, Rick, the guy who responded to my posts on the Mobile forums regarding the bug, was a pleasure to deal with.