Goggle Drive Works Really Great For Sharing Chief Files

[sutcac]

I've only been using both for a couple of days now but also haven't noticed any conflicts.

[briem]

I wish I could remember the specifics. I had a hard drive crash, used my backup from Carbonite to reinstall with SugaSync running and as I remember couldn't fully install the backup. That's when I contacted Carbonite support. I could be wrong on the details as there's been a lot of water over the dam since then. Support essentially told me that Carbonite wouldn't run correctly with a syncing program running and that I should choose one or the other, if I decided on SugarSync they would provide me a refund on my subscription. After my HD crash, I figured the more backup the better and would like to use them both.

[fcwilt]

I would suggest the turning off sync-type applications while RESTORING - I can see where there could be issues. But during BACKUP, if the backup application follows the recommended Windows protocols there shouldn't be a problem.

That said I have tried a lot of backup programs and they do tend to be a little "quirky". My current one, which worked fine for several years, was recently updated and they introduced some kind of bug. In the morning I will find that the regular scheduled overnight backup has "stalled" for some reason. The backup application says its "backing up" but nothing is actually happening and I have to kill the process. I just write it off to it being a "backup" application.

[sutcac]

For a hard drive crash, I am assuming this means a full reinstall of the OS. So it seems you could just do the Carbonite restore and only after that is complete, reinstall the sync to avoid the conflict? So, Carbonite is for emergency restore, and sync is more just for the ability to access always updated files from more than one computer.

[briem]

I'm going to reactivate Carbonite and see if I have any additional issues. I like the idea of being able to do a full backup without having to think about it. SugarSync on the other hand has been great.

[sutcac]

One issue I am running into with Google Drive is files getting "locked". I get the attached message in Chief. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do in permissions to change this issue. I have "Full Control" set for the full Google Drive folder for all users. The only thing that seems to fix it is restarting the computer, which is a major drag. I am guessing while sync-ing the file gets labeled as being "used". I am experimenting with pausing the sync any time I have Chief running and seeing if that helps. Anyone else running into this at all?

[HumbleChief]

I haven't seen that Bryce. Can you set up a scenario that I can try and duplicate?

[Joe Carrick]

Bryce,

This is typical behavior with Syncing. SugarSync does the same thing. If you just wait a few minutes while all other computers and the cloud are Synced the file lock should release.

[sutcac]

Joe,

It seems to persist more than a few minutes, though I haven't tested it extensively for this particular issue. Regardless, it is very disruptive to flow of work, so I think pausing and just letting it update while I am doing other things will work better for me. Still, good to know it is a common behavior.

Larry,

It's simply a matter of opening and closing different files and then finding you can't open one you just had open a few minutes earlier, and even having layout not be able to load the plan file.

[HumbleChief]

Bryce are you working on a Drive file 'live'? Meaning you're opening the file from your Drive folder, making changes and saving back to your Drive folder? Haven't used my drive files like that if that's what you're doing.

[fcwilt]

Joe,

It seems to persist more than a few minutes, though I haven't tested it extensively for this particular issue. Regardless, it is very disruptive to flow of work, so I think pausing and just letting it update while I am doing other things will work better for me. Still, good to know it is a common behavior.

Larry,

It's simply a matter of opening and closing different files and then finding you can't open one you just had open a few minutes earlier, and even having layout not be able to load the plan file.

Have you checked for any Google Drive settings that might allow a longer wait time before it starts uploading the changed file?

[Doug Park]

Do you have file locking on in Chief? If not try turning it on. This should prevent the synchronization software from obtaining a lock on the file while you are working on it.

The synchronization software has to guarantee that while it is synchronizing the file that no one else is using it. In theory if the file is locked by Chief then the synchronization software should silently fail and continue to retry until you relinquish your lock by closing the file.

[sutcac]

No, I am not working "live". Just like the Drop Box discussions here, the file is on my hard drive under Google Drive. It's just that when it syncs, it is simply updating the copies in the "cloud". But if it is continually on, the the minute I close a Chief file, it updates it. The problem with the file being locked, I know, extends much longer that when Google Drive is saying "Sync Complete".

I will try Chief file locking first and then see about any other settings in Google. But, doubt that approach would be much better than just pausing it, which seems to have been working the rest of this afternoon.

Thanks for the input.

[sutcac]

Update- File locking was already on.

[sutcac]

One other thing to note- You can be logged in on the web to a different gmail account than the one that Google Drive is logged into. I switched to my old account, then unpaused the sync, and it still sync-ed. For gmail itself on the web you can only be logged into one at a time on each device.