Insync ruined my Google Drive

Bugs and issues Linux
#1

I have a folder which contains approx 200K files of various sizes which was fully synced to Google Drive using an open source command line utility (rclone). I have scripted the synchronisations to take place twice daily and it worked 100%. The initial upload took me about 60 days.

I then came across Insync and decided a more “real-time” synchronisation would be nice and tested the product on a small sample of the drive and it worked well. Thus I purchased InSync to keep this mammoth folder in sync.

I started Insync with selective folders and added the folders to sync list one by one, each time waiting for the previously added folder sync to finish before activating the next folder as not to overwhelm Insync and perhaps crash the initial sync.

All the data on Google Drive and on the local folder were already in sync at the stage of starting Insync, So it was just a matter of file checking and it should be good to go.

It started out okay until I added one of the bigger folders. Initially all looked good and I walked away from my computer to do other things while Insync is taking care of my Google Drive. Oh, and did it take care of it…

I seems that the file matching some how got confused/corrupted along the way and it started to move & rename files on my google drive at a rapid rate. I only noticed it after 40 min, and a sync process can cause a lot of havoc during that period - believe me!

After killing the Insync process, I investigated the extent of the damage and realised that Insync moved & renamed files across the different selected folders sometimes burying the data deep in the subfolder tree. To try and spot renamed files was a virtually impossible!

I tried various methods of restoring the Google Drive to it original working state, but was forced end of the day to dump all my data on Google Drive since it can not be trusted as accurate, not sure what is renamed and what is still intact.

I removed Insync completely and reverted to my open source command line utility to restore my google drive to its original state!

I find it appalling that one pays for a product, which still have major bugs in it and is more of a beta test quality and we, the paying customers, are the focus group doing the testing at our risk of losing valuable information.

I was initially very excited about the product, but after this loss, I will be very hesitant to try it again or recommend it to any one!

#2

Hi there, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We would like to look into this, kindly send in your logs along with the link to this post to support@insynchq.com and we will escalate this to our engineer right away.
How to find the log files

#3

Unfortunately I trashed the Insync .config folder to while removing Insync from my box - Thus I could not provide you with any logs.

#4

let me tag our engineer @lpugoy so he can assist you with this.

#5

@ekkesa: Apologies for the horrible issue you experienced. We’ll try to replicate this as soon as we can.

#6

I am having a similar experience. Since installing and using insynch my google drive is in total chaos.

#7

@Katy_Armstrong: Apologies for that. Please send your logs to support@insynchq.com for investigation: How to find the log files.

#8

I did send the logs and all I’ve had by way of reply (after a delay) was this:

I apologize for not being able to respond sooner. When you started using Insync, did you re-use an existing Google Drive folder? In certain cases, duplicates may indeed be created, and we are working on identifying and fixing those cases.

As for the discrepancy between the folders, it’s possible that Insync is still syncing the items that aren’t present locally. Otherwise, can you try going to Insync’s selective sync settings, unsyncing the missing folder(s) (being sure to hit Apply and let Insync process), then syncing them again to trigger a re-download?

This came late in the day - any day in a business where an entire drive is scambled is not a good day and the instructions on how to fix left me feeling very much alone. Google, on the other hand, actually talked me through on the phone how to fix my drive and then researched whether there were other logs about insync and it seems I was certainly not alone in my experience.

Buyer beware!

#9

This thread is really concerning. I am also using insync/google drive for data backup and sharing. I have upto 10k files per folder at the moment. But this bug sounds very scary… @lpugoy, could you please comment on the progress of this after a year from OP? Otherwise I will stop insync for the time being.

#10

Use Google Drive File Stream (by Google). Its free, and unlike this client it is reliable. rclone is also a good open source tool.

#11

Hey @superstructor!

If I may ask, what specifically about Insync is unreliable for you? We’re always looking for ways to better our product and we welcome any kind of feedback. :slight_smile: