Synchronize directories With Android using MediaAudio2 - "by Content" option does not work

[bernatikv@gmail.com]

Hello,
I did succeed to use MediaAudio2 TotalCommader plugin to "Synchronise directories" between PC and Adnroid phone.
I accessed to my phone through choosing drive: \Network Neighborhood\MediaAudio2\~myPhone...

I can successfully do comparing (I use "Ignore date" option)

But when I enable option "by content" it just shows me all files results in red with "?" sign.
But when I double click on it it tells me correctly that "The two files have the same content!"
So the comparison shall be possible.
Then the result shall be black colored and with sign "=".

Do you please know how to make working "Synchronise directories" with enabled option "By Content" with Android phone?

Thank you for any hint.
I'm using latest TC 10.52 and the latest Windows Media Audio 2 plugin v1.4

[sqa_wizard]

But when I enable option "by content" it just shows me all files results in red with "?" sign.

This is by design:

[?] Only appears when comparing by contents, before the file pair has actually been compared.

Just wait until TC has downloaded the file to TEMP and compared it finally.

[petermad]

This is by design:

Help wrote:
[?] Only appears when comparing by contents, before the file pair has actually been compared.

Just wait until TC has downloaded the file to TEMP and compared it finally.

The problem is that TC does not automatically compare the files (as on local drives), you can only force a compare by double-clicking or pressing Ctrl+F3 on each file. You see the same behavior if you use the Sync tool between local drive and the VirtualPanel file system plugin.

TC ought to either do the compare automatically to file system plugins, or the option "by content" should be blocked, as it is for files on a FTP-account.

Automatically sync compare by content is supported for archives, so I see no reason why it should not be supported for files system plugins

[bernatikv@gmail.com]

But when I enable option "by content" it just shows me all files results in red with "?" sign.

Just wait until TC has downloaded the file to TEMP and compared it finally.

No it never finishes - even when comparing 5 MB which copies in like 5 seconds, I can wait 5 minutes and it never finishes... This is not correct solution.

[bernatikv@gmail.com]

The problem is that TC does not automatically compare the files (as on local drives), you can only force a compare by double-clicking or pressing Ctrl+F3 on each file. You see the same behavior if you use the Sync tool between local drive and the VirtualPanel file system plugin.

Thank you for explanation. I was thinking that I'm doing something wrong....

TC ought to either do the compare automatically to file system plugins, or the option "by content" should be blocked, as it is for files on a FTP-account.

Yes indeed it would be great if this functionality is added. There is not a reason why I would not be able to compare "by content" with my phone... I understand it may take longer but it is an option. Not a rule...

And yes if there is some hidden reason why it is not possible then the option may be not checkable so it is not misleading....
But on the other hand, if there is not so many files it provides at least quick list we can double click one by one to check by content at least manually...

Is there some place we can make our pretty please and voting for features? I think this might not be that difficult feature to add...

[ghisler(Author)]

Currently synchronize directories does not compare files by content via file system plugins, except for plugins which return a checksum of some type like SHA, MD5 or CRC32. Then the tool compares that checksum with the checksum of the local file. My SFTP plugin supports that, it sends a shell command to the server to calculate the checksum without transferring the file. It would be a big waste of time and bandwidth to transfer all the files just to get their checksums.

[petermad]

It would be a big waste of time and bandwidth to transfer all the files just to get their checksums

Yes, but a phone connected via USB should not give any bandwidth problems...

[bernatikv@gmail.com]

Currently synchronize directories does not compare files by content via file system plugins, except for plugins which return a checksum of some type like SHA, MD5 or CRC32. Then the tool compares that checksum with the checksum of the local file. My SFTP plugin supports that, it sends a shell command to the server to calculate the checksum without transferring the file. It would be a big waste of time and bandwidth to transfer all the files just to get their checksums.

Ah I see.... checksum is quite a smart way to compare.

But since my USB cable does not cost me anything for bandwidth, and time is only on my phone and my laptop I would not mind if it is "wasted"...

Also I did try to install SFTP server (from banan studio) on my android phone. And then connected via TC secure ftp plugin version 3.04 and it has same problem - there is only "?" when comparing "by contect". Do you please know which SFTP server for android shall I use to make it work?

[ghisler(Author)]

SFTP does not support the creation of checksums by itself. This is done by sending a shell command over the SSH connection used by SFTP.
Android's underlying Linux probably doesn't contain any of the needed checksum shell commands:
md5sum
sha1sum
sha256sum
sha512sum

Yes, but a phone connected via USB should not give any bandwidth problems...

It depends - for example, if you have 1000s of photos, it can take a long time to transfer them all.

[bernatikv@gmail.com]

It depends - for example, if you have 1000s of photos, it can take a long time to transfer them all.

I understand it may take a long time for big data. But it is only an option. By default it is reasonably turned off. So if a user on purpose turn it on, I do not see a reason to limit him, if technically it is not a problem... Anyway if it takes too long user can cancel any time... But anyway I'm happy that it works for file name&size comparison. That is 99% great already for me Thank you