Mac-to-Mac Folder Sync using a mounted file server

gracion

I want to sync a vault between multiple Macs. I have a private AFP file server (OS X Server) available that each Mac can mount. I can imagine two ways this might work, and wonder which, if either, is supported or preferable.

1. Point 1Password Preferences > Sync > Folder to a location on the mounted server. This stores a copy of the vault directly on the server. Another Mac connects to the server and points Folder Sync to the same location on the server. So far so good? Now, at times the server will be unmounted (disconnected). Folder Sync can't access the location. Obviously it can't sync or copy anything until the next time the server is mounted. But if the user connects to the server periodically, will sync continue to occur and get the job done?

2. Point Sync > Folder to a local hard drive location. Use a sync app (ChronoSync is my favorite) to synchronize a copy of the vault package on the server (which it can mount automatically). The other Mac(s) also uses a sync app to synchronize a local copy which it's copy of 1Password Folder Sync is pointed to. Will that work?

somainer

In principle your #1 should work... but see this post re problems another user and myself have been having with occasionally unmounted drives.

till213

I have setup scenario #1: the keychain file is located on my NAS. At least the 1Password v4.2 worked nicely in that setup, even if the network share is not available (a Notification would still pop up once, telling you that "something was wrong with syncing", but AFAICT syncing would resume without problems as soon as the network share was online again.

Things seem to have changed in the current v4.3 version though: the OS "Connection broken" message might have appeared once in the v4.2 case as well (but just once), but the v4.3 triggers this message now several times upon login! Followed by 1Password Notifications which now let you "Ignore" or "Correct" the apparent sync issue.

However when you want to get rid of those (re-appearing) Notifiations and click on "Ignore" then the sync settings are reset within 1Password. Very annoying.

Off course the fact that your server/NAS is currently not only could simply mean that you are carrying your laptop with you and turn it on in a location where you simply don't have access to your server. So that situation is a very common one and should be gracefully handled by 1Password (without bothering the user too much, or not at all).

Cross-linking to my own thread: http://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/24034/1pw-4-3-folder-sync-via-sleeping-nas#latest

Megan

Hi @gracion,

I would like to apologize for the delay in responding to you here but we experienced a surge in support requests recently. We're doing the best we can to get back to our usual speedy replies as soon as possible.

Generally we recommend option 2 here. Unmounted drives could cause sync to become disconnected. :)

gracion

That's okay Megan, I suspected you folks have gotten a lot busier with a lot of people turning to you since Heartbleed. Thanks to you and @somainer‌ and @till123, that gives me a pretty good picture. Looks like I should consider #2 or DropBox data syncing if I can resolve my security and Finder compatibility concerns with the latter.

somainer

@gracion and @till213 - until the AgileBits folks resolve this, my less-than-ideal workaround is to simply enable syncing of my laptop to the network sync folder occasionally (e.g., 1-2 times a week) and then immediately after the sync is complete to turn off off sync via Preferences/Sync/Change Syncing/Disable Sync (but DO NOT check the box "Delete data from folder"). This approach allows me to avoid the very annoying pop-up messages when I am not connected to my home network, and most importantly the long delay (over a minute) when switching to the vault that is not seeing its sync folder - see my post here

The nice thing is that each time I re-enable sync (when connected to my home network), 1Password offers up the old path as the first choice and thus syncing is pretty quick - although you have to click on "Merge with existing" and then re-enter your Master Password. But for now, I will take this hassle over the other one (annoying pop-ups and long delay). YMMV, but maybe this will help you for the time being.

MikeT

Hi guys,

@somainer, we'll see what we can do about the connection errors. It might be because 1Password is retrying several times to find its file before it disables the sync for good and that's causing the errors to pop up. We'll see if we can be quiet until the last retry instead.

Thanks for letting us know, we'll get that fixed.