The program is $5 US shareware, but free to registered BatteryMinder users (it will also accept BatteryMinder’s code).
Synk runs on any Macintosh running System 7 or later. It is a folder synchronization and backup utility, designed to be both simple and powerful. Balloon help is implemented, so if you want to get a quick start, go right ahead. Pick two volumes or folders, choose the direction of synchronization or backup and witness how painless this process can be!
Synk can pick and choose among your files according to a simple set of rules that instruct the program what files and folders to “ignore”. It understands aliases, so all you need to do is place aliases of all the folders and files you wish backed up into a single folder, instruct Synk to “ignore” applications, and voila, your documents are copied to another location...
For more ideas on using Synk, see the “Strategies” section later in this manual.
Synk Requirements
Any Macintosh running at minimum System 7, only requiring a 128k memory partition.
Distribution & Registration
Synk may be distributed electronically through the normal Internet archives and their mirrors as well as any other online service or bbs. It may also be included on not-for-profit CD-ROMs or shareware libraries, such as AMUG publishes. All other forms of distribution must be approved by the author, Randall Voth.
To register, click on the Register button in the startup screen or the About Synk... dialog. (Look under the Apple menu). BatteryMinder users can enter their code and register Synk for free.
Send $5 US ($7 Canadian), payable to Randall Voth:
Randall Voth
46058 Fiesta Avenue
Chilliwack, B.C.
Canada V2P 3S4
telephone: (604) 795-4746
email: hvoth@sfu.ca -or- hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca
The money must be a check drawn on a US or Canadian bank in US dollars (or Canadian equivalent = $7). If you do not have access to a Canadian or American checking account, equivalent cash in major currencies is fine — my bank is very forgiving with exchange rates for cash. Just make sure you cannot see the money through the envelope.
Please send me an email note as well as your payment for confirmation purposes.
Along with your payment, you must include a mailing address (email is preferable and the fastest), to which you will be sent your registration code. Please hold onto the code! You will need it again for future updates or if your program must be copied to another hard drive. Write it onto the disk that you keep your backup copy of Synk.
If you have a whole fleet of Macintoshes, you may want to contact Randall Voth (hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca) with regards to a very reasonably priced site license.
Warranty
There is no warranty, implied or otherwise, with Synk. The author is not responsible for any damage it may cause. Unlike commercial software, you can try it out before you pay the shareware fee. If you have any difficulties, please contact the author. (Randall Voth c/o hvoth@sfu.ca) All that can be done to solve your problem will be done.
Installation
Drag Synk to your Macintosh’s hard disk. Anywhere will do. Double click on the application to run it. In some ways it is different than most Macintosh applications because its files are stored in a special folder called “BatteryMinder Files” in the Preferences Folder. Once two folders are defined for synchronization, they automatically appear in the Sync menu. There is, therefore, no need to worry about where to save Synk’s files.
Preliminaries
Always backup your files before experimenting with any new software!
While learning Synk, work with a “Experiment” folder of files you have copied. This way, if anything goes wrong, you have only to throw out the folder.
Synk relies on the modification dates of the files to work its magic. Make sure the clocks are set correctly on both computers. Norton Disk Utilities can also check dates to make sure they are not greater than today’s date.
File Menu
Balloon help is available for all menus.
“Add Folder...” - use this item to add a sync item to the Sync menu. Please refer to the Synchronization section for more information.
“√ Use Trash For Delete” - check this item and files will be moved to the trash instead of immediately deleting them. This way you have a second chance before Emptying the Trash and permanently removing the synchronized files.
“√ File Sharing” - check this item to turn File Sharing on. Uncheck it to turn it off.
Servers Menu
Balloon help is available for all menus.
A Snapshot can be taken of any Appleshare volumes currently mounted on the Desktop. These volumes will then appear in the Servers menu and can be mounted by simply selecting them. Appletalk must be on and the shared volume must be currently available on the network. You can mount all listed volumes by selecting the Mount All menu item.
To delete an item, press the Option key while choosing a volume from this menu. Or, you can press Option and choose Delete All to remove them all.
Choosing “Unmount All” will attempt to unmount shared volumes from the desktop. If files are in use, the shared volumes will stay on the desktop without error. In these cases, dragging the volume to the trashcan will give you more feedback. But this menu choice is good after you have backed up a folder over Appletalk using Synk and want your PowerBook to be able to sleep automatically. It cannot sleep automatically with network volumes mounted.
To rename an item, press the Shift key and select the item from the Servers menu. By placing a backslash (‘/’) and an alphanumeric character within the name, the character that immediately follows the backslash will become the command key equivalent for the server menu item. Just remember that the menus command keys are read from the right to the left, so any character you place in the Servers menu will override command keys in the File and Edit menus.
When naming or renaming items, you can optionally have Synk create double clickable alias files on the Desktop or in the Apple menu. This is handy for daily backups. (Note that these are aliases and are not removed automatically if you delete the sync item from the sync menu.)
For more information on shared volumes and how to make use of them, please refer to your PowerBook’s User Manual about the Sharing Setup control panel and the Finder’s Sharing... menu choice.
Folder Synchronization
Overview
Synchronizing folders is a simple process of defining the two folders and clicking the Synchronize button. After synchronizing, both folders will be identical, containing the most recently modified files.
One way synchronization is really a backup. Older files in the destination folder will be replaced by newer files in the source folder. The source folder will remain untouched. Two way synchronization will make sure all the files in both folders are the most recently modified files.
Don’t worry about irretrievably losing files. If “Use Trash for Delete” is checked in the File menu, Synk will place obsolete files in the Trash for you to empty at will. This way you know exactly which files have been updated. If there is already a file of that name in the Trash, it is renamed before moving the file to the Trash. (You may dislike always emptying the trash, or could possibly run out of hard disk space — hence the menu choice to simply delete the files. Experiment to see what is best for you.)
At the end of this section, you will find some hints and strategies to get you started exploring the many backup and synchronization possibilities presented by Synk.
Balloon help is available for all menus and dialogs.
Collisions
A collision occurs when two files of the same name in both the source and destination folders have been modified since the last synchronization. This generally only happens if you have chosen two way synchronization. But, it is possible if you have modified both files since the last backup (one way sync) and the oldest of the two files is in the destination folder.
Synk’s solution is to create a Collisions folder on your desktop. This folder is physically on the hard drive of the computer running the program. The oldest of the two files is moved into the Collisions folder and the newest file will end up in both the source and destination folders. You must decide which file you wish to keep. Often, you will need to merge the modified data between both files. If there is already a file of that name in the Collisions folder, it is renamed before moving the file into the Collisions folder.
Synk also considers a files of different types having the same name to be collisions. The oldest of these two files will end up in the Collisions folder.
Synk will not, however, copy a folder and its contents to the Collisions folder if it has the same name as the file to be copied. In this case, the folder will be renamed “FolderName ƒ#”. The # sign will be a number.
Defining a Sync Folder
To define folders for synchronization, choose “Add folder...” from the File menu. Click the two Select buttons in the upper left of the dialog and locate the two folders (or volumes) to be synchronized. They can be anywhere on your hard drive or network, so long as the volumes are currently mounted on your desktop. The folder names and the volumes on which they are located will appear to the right of the buttons.
PLEASE NOTE: Be certain you have full access privileges to the destination folder(s) if it is on a shared volume. Otherwise, files cannot be copied and the status dialog will display 'No Privileges...'
Determine the direction of the synchronization by clicking on the arrow button that falls between the folder names. A single-headed arrow means that one folder is the source and the other is the destination. This will effectively be a backup because files are only copied in one direction.
The double-headed arrow means that the two folders are both sources and destinations, each one to be updated. Unless you define further rules, both folders will be identical after synchronization, containing the latest version of each file.
Rules
If you haven’t done so already, click on the small switch below the Cancel button to reveal the synchonization rules. Each rule further restricts the items to be copied.
Choosing to ignore aliases, folders and/or applications skips these items in the source folder. This is handy to limit your synchronization to documents.
“Delete Obsolete Files” will remove any files or folders from the destination folder to the trash if they no longer exist in the source folder. This option slows the process down a bit because folders need to be checked twice — you may want to use it only once in awhile for “spring cleaning” purposes.
“Delete Obsolete Files” is only available in a one-way backup (the arrow pointing only one direction).
Five more rules can be defined. Choose the type of limitation from the popup menus: filename endings, file type or file creator. Make sure the “Ignore” checkbox is checked.
• “files ending with” — the text you type into the accompanying textbox is compared with every file or folder in the source folder. Matching items are ignored.
• “file Type” — each file has an associated file type (ie, TEXT). The easiest way to fill in the textbox is to click Select and choose a file you wish to ignore. Remember that all files of this type will also be ignored, not just the file you select.
• “file Creator” — each file has an associated file creator (ie, MSWD for files created by Microsoft Word). Fill in the textbox by clicking the Select button and choosing a file. Remember that all files made by the creator of this file will be ignored.
You may want to have only one or two files copied out of a folder. Obviously, that could mean a lot of “ignore” rules. In such cases, use a folder containing aliases of the files you wish copied. Read more about this in the “Strategies” section coming up in this manual, but for now remember that the aliases must have *exactly* the same name as the original files.
Synchronization
After defining the synchronization folders and rules, click the Sync button. You will be presented with a dialog for naming the synchronization item. Make it descriptive because it will subsequently appear in the Sync menu. Try to stick to alphabetic letters.
There is one interesting exception, however. If you use a backslash (‘/’) within the name, the immediate next character will become the menu item’s command key. For instance, naming the synchronization item “Sync to SE/30” will show up in the menu as “Sync to SE0” and a command key equivalent of ‘3’. This can be very useful. Realize, however, that if you define command equivalents that are used in the File menu of Synk, they will work only for the synchronization item.
You can also check the options to have Synk place a double clickable alias on your Desktop or in the Apple menu for easy backup from the Finder. These are only created after a successful synchronization. To remove them, drag the aliases to the trash. Deleting the item from the Sync menu will not delete the aliases.
Click OK and the folders will be synchronized.
Use the Sync menu for later synchronization by choosing the appropriate item or selecting “Synchronize All...” Synk will mount network volumes but only if Appletalk is ON and they are available on the network.
To delete an item from the Sync menu, hold down the Option key and choose the item from the Sync menu. To delete them all, hold down the Option key and choose “Delete All...”
To rename a Sync item, hold down the Shift key and choose the item from the Sync menu and fill in the dialog. You can also create an alias item on your Desktop or in the Apple menu at this time.
Strategies
It is possible to backup multiple folders on your computer’s hard drive by making aliases of these folders and placing them in a single source folder. The destination can be a folder on another hard drive or network volume or even a floppy disk. Just make sure that “Ignore aliases” and, if need be, “Ignore folders” are unchecked. Otherwise, nothing will be copied because the folders are to be copied are aliases.
Please note that the date of the original file, not the alias’s date is considered in the copying process. The alias only points to the file.
The aliases must be named *exactly* the same as the original file for actual updating to take place. However, if you have aliases in your folders you don't wish to be backed up, use the “Ignore files ending with...” rule. In this case the names can be different, because they will be ignored.
It is a good idea to be consistent in your naming of files and folders. Nested folders that are not to be backed up could, for instance, end with “.nb”. Use the rule, “Ignore files ending with...” to ignore these files, entering your chosen ending in the text field.
Remember that it is the file endings of any aliases, not their original files, that are checked for the “Ignore files ending with...” rule. This way, you can effectively rename the aliases and leave the original files alone.
It is even possible to have aliases in “destination” folders. You could backup items to another hard drive and then move any of the backup items from the destination folder to another spot on the hard drive, replacing them with their aliases (remember that in this case the names must be identical). Future backups will then search out the aliases and update them wherever they may be!
The possibilities are really endless. Do some experimenting with aliases and the “ignore” rules and you will be pleasantly surprised at how powerful Synk really is.
Possible Errors
Synk skips files under the following error conditions and warns you with a dialog:
• File is open or busy in some way
• Alias cannot be resolved
• Destination Folder could not be created
• Folder could not be entered
• File could not be created
• Lacking access privileges to a shared volume
• Collisions folder could not be created
• File could not be moved to the Trash or deleted
More serious errors will stop the sync process altogether. If you are having a lot of trouble with errors, please send me a message (hvoth@sfu.ca).
Other Problems
I have noticed a slight problem with DialogKeys, an extension from CESoftware that comes with QuicKeys (at least the version 2 that I have). If you click Add in the Add Folder dialog, you lose the Cancel button. I do not know why this is, but it does not affect the rest of the program.
If you are having difficulties with SuperBoomerang, try increasing the memory partition.
About the Author
Randall Voth publishes his wife’s piano teaching material. Their company is Pure Light Music. For him, programming computers has always been a dream and is now officially a reality. His next two projects are to write a 3-D Outliner for the Macintosh and subsequently use it to write a series of fantasy novels. The only thing that could sidetrack him is perhaps a large sum of money.
By the way, if you are intrigued by the idea of a 3-D Outliner, please email Randall Voth (hvoth@sfu.ca) to see what is happening on this front.
