DrRon wrote:I am struggling to get SyncBackFree to to delete these folders in my destination hard drive by using wildcards (*.db, *.info) in the Copy/Delete options
I'm not surprised - there are no settings on Copy/Delete settings page that accept wildcards. I think you mean Copy/Delete > Folders...
DrRon wrote:I am specifying the empty directory to be deleted in the Decisions-Files settings
You can't be - there are no folder-related settings on that page. I think you mean Decisions-Files > Folders...
Not trying to be picky (well, maybe only a little
) - I know what you mean but other readers might not (especially newbies). Please always state the full 'path' to a setting if you're going to quote a 'path' at all.But I can't replicate that. If I create a test Source & Dest (I used X:\ping\ & X:\pong\ ) and add in each one a test subfolder named accordingly/differently*
\nearly_empty_onSource\
\nearly_empty_onDest\
and populate each side with
thumbs.db
example.db
example.info
and add
*.db, desktop.ini, SBSE____.*, *.info
to Copy/Delete > Folders > 'If a folder cannot be deleted...', and add the exclusion Filters
*\*.db
*\*.info
via Change Filters (and let the Choose logic auto-deselect the files when it prompts)
and run a Simulation, it correctly proposes to delete both those subfolders (one each side). If I allow it to Run, it does (delete them)
Yes, you can use wildcards in 'If a folder cannot be deleted...' - as stated and shown above. Make sure you use the correct separators.
There is no deliberate caching in SyncBackFree (e.g. Fast Backup, SmartSync, both of which don't exist in Free). And you can always make sure by closing & re-opening the program (or even reboot)
* Bear in mind that if I used subfolders called \nearly_empty\ on both sides, the delete-empty-folders rules on Decisions-Files > Folders wouldn't trigger, because they are designed to work in respect of folders on one side only. If the subfolders exist on both sides with the same names, those setting won't trigger. There's no rule in Decisions-Files > Folders for 'on both, (nearly) empty on both)
There are legacy settings on Copy/Delete > Folders that will run a separate (extra) scan/s of either/both sides (depends what you set) after the main run to look for empty folders (regardless if they exist on both sides or not). This obviously takes extra time, but may be of use to you. The Decisions-Files > Folders setting is usually more efficient but does rely on the folders being 'orphans'. The legacy setting just looks for 'empty' on the side it's processing at the time..
The 'If a folder cannot be deleted...' setting is shared/common to both modes, in case you wondered.