Sync secondary vault from Mac to primary vault on Windows
How can I realise the following with 1Password?
Under the following conditions:
- Windows may have only one vault (The secondary vault "Work" on the Mac should be synchronized with the primary vault on Windows.)
- WiFi Sync or Folder Sync
- Dropbox can not be used
Comments
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Hi @d_stone,
Are you able to use other cloud sync services, such as Google Drive?
We have folder sync, which allows you to use a sync service of your choice.
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Cloud ist no option.
When I use folder sync with an USB drive, I can sync the vault to the Mac if I connect the drive and use the vault whether the drice is connectet or not, right?
But to use the vault on my Windows I have to connect the USB drive otherwise I have no access to the vault. Right?
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Hi @d_stone,
You could copy the vault from the pen drive to somewhere local on the drive but you would need to be careful when it comes to ensuring changes are being properly replicated. If you were to only access the keychain from the pen drive this problem is avoided as you're always writing to the one agilekeychain. What you want to avoid is having changes in both copies of the work.agilekeychain due to the differences in how Windows and Macs work when it comes to 1Password.
If you're unlikely to make changes on both machines this issue is lessened and means you have a little more give when it comes to copying .agilekeychains around.
Does that help at all?
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It would be great if Windows is independent of the .agilekeychain like the Mac Version of 1Password. or it would be nice to have a advanced Wi-Fi Sync option.
My current workflow is like creating a backup of the vault from Window to the Mac:
- copy the XY.agilekeychain to the USB device it takes some time, because the .agilekeychain is like a folder with many small files
- on my Mac the USB is the source of the folder sync for the "Work" vault
So it is a one way synchronization.
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Hi @d_stone,
Thanks for your feedback about this! Hopefully we'll have more sync options for you in the future. Do you have it all set up correctly now, or do you still need some help?
- copy the XY.agilekeychain to the USB device it takes some time, because the .agilekeychain is like a folder with many small files
Yes, I'm afraid using that method will take some time to copy all the files, since you are copying the entire .agilekeychain to the USB device each time. A cloud sync option works much faster because it's able to copy/sync only the individual files that have been changed.
- on my Mac the USB is the source of the folder sync for the "Work" vault
That's correct - on your Mac, the .agilekeychain on the USB device is only used for syncing changes to/from the internal database stored locally on your Mac (so you can still use 1Password on your Mac even if the USB device isn't connected). But on Windows, 1Password reads & writes directly to/from the .agilekeychain, so if it is stored on the USB device, that device must be connected before opening 1Password on the PC.
As littlebobbytables mentioned, you could copy the .agilekeychain to a location on your PC so it's available even when the USB device isn't connected, but you would need to remember to copy the .agilekeychain back & forth between the PC and USB device to sync any changes (and of course, copying that keychain takes some extra time).
So it is a one way synchronization.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You should definitely still be able to sync changes back and forth between Mac and Windows. You'll just need to remember to connect the USB device. Or if you use a local copy of the .agilekeychain on Windows, you'll need to remember to copy it to/from the USB device.
If you have more questions about that, please let us know. Thanks!
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Hi @Drew_AG
So it is a one way synchronization.
This may not be translated correctly. I'll explain it again.
What I mean is that I maintain the vault (“Work”) on one System. New items or updates of existing items are populated on my PC at the office – where I usually need this items.
In some cases I need items of my “Work” vault at home and to have an external backup, I want to have this vault also on my Mac.
Ok, that is my use case. Now my approach to transfer the vault from one system to the other one:
The current features of 1Password for Mac allow a synchronisation of a single vault via folder sync (Mac <> USB folder). — That is great and I am happy with this solution.
On the other hand, Windows does not offer this cool synchronization mode which the Mac offers. Here I have to replace the .agilekeychain
If in the meantime new elements are inserted or changed on Windows, they would be overwritten/erased. To prevent this, I “synchronize” the data only from my Office PC to my private Mac. This is obviously not a real synchronization and not the coolest solution. But it works for me at the moment.0 -
Hi @d_stone,
At the moment we're not really tapping into the full power of the Folder Sync on the Mac as it's essentially just reading the changes made on your work machine. You know that of course and why.
I can think of two things we could try to lessen the impact.
If you're happy only altering the vault on your Windows machine you could try adding a 3rd party sync tool into the mix so that when you plug in your pen drive it only updates the files it has to without having to copy everything over. The examples we have our our Folder Sync page aren't very Windows centric but this Wikipedia page lists an awful lot of options. There's many I've never heard of and it covers a range of options from open source, to freeware and even commercial. As you would only be updating the pen drive with newer files you won't have to worry about conflicts, much like you don't have to worry right now. If two-way sync is the goal you would need to be a lot more careful. We understand how Dropbox behaves when it flags a conflict and we work with their approach so it would be whether we can get a particular option to mimic Dropbox in that sense for a safe two-way sync.
If that sounds like a bit of a hassle then another option might be to move from the .agilekeychain to the .opvault format. Why would this make a difference? The .opvault format uses bands rather than individual files for each item. As often the weakness in pen drives is the overhead in copying potentially hundreds of small files we could move to a format where the bands are larger but far fewer in number in the hope that this speeds up copying.
If you're interested in either let us know but obviously I can understand why you'd love to see Windows behave in a more Mac like way. I can't say what the future will bring but we will note your interest.
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@littlebobbytables thanks for you understanding and that you note my interest for the future.
I will try you tips.0 -
If you need any help let us know @d_stone :smile:
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