Dropbox Sync instead of iCloud

[Leon Kulikowski]

I want to sync my database between two Macs and my Iphone, and I would like to use Dropbox instead of iCloud. Is this possible? My first guess would be to place the Database file on a Dropbox folder, but after looking some messages in this forum it seems that this wouldn’t be the best ideia due to the TF SQL engine.

Has anyone tried this?

[Brendan]

It would be ok as long as you don’t open up the database on a Dropbox volume. You should copy it to your hard drive, then open it. Then when you want to send it to another Mac, use Dropbox to send it back.

You can also use Nearby, Cloudant, or Apache CouchDB to properly sync between devices.

Or if your Macs are on the same network, you can use AirDrop to send the files back and forth. But that’s not really syncing.

SQLite accessed from a Dropbox or network volume can cause database file corruption.

[Susan Rogers]

Brendan, I understand what you are saying, but can’t help but wonder if your reply doesn’t reflect a mis-conception of how Dropbox works.

If I understand it (and maybe I don’t), Dropbox only acts like an auto-backup to a file that is in your Dropbox folder on your hard drive. For example, I keep a genealogy database (created with Mac-only genealogy software) in Dropbox, so that I can access it from either my laptop or my desktop. When I open the file on my desktop, I believe I am opening the file that is on my hard drive. I make changes (such as adding a new ancestor) and save it to that file in the Dropbox folder on my hard drive.

Dropbox then detects that a change has been made, and syncs my new hard drive file to its server. The next time I open my laptop, Dropbox detects that the two files are different, and the file on the hard drive of my laptop is synced so that now it matches the file on the hard drive of my desktop.

If I’m correct here about how Dropbox works, then does this still pose a risk to putting the TF file in the Dropbox folder on my desktop hard drive? I suppose I could test it with a small file with fake test data, but even if they did not get corrupted over a few days of back-and-forth use, I still would be nervous that it still could get corrupted at some future point, without hearing from you TF folks that it is, in fact, safe to do it.

Thanks for checking into this and letting us know. Loving TF so far (just started using it) and it would be awesome to stay with my existing habit of using Dropbox for filesharing between laptop and desktop.

[Brendan]

Hello Susan,

I did some research on this a little while ago and I found this discussion of the issue here:

https://forum.xojo.com/34277-sqlite-database-on-dropbox/0

An interesting response from this data storage expert “Scott b”:

they got data corruption or data loss (loss of updates/records). As a storage expert (I get paid to architect, install, operations, break/fix, etc of storage devices) I strongly suggest not using storage sharing devices/services like Box, DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, etc as a place for your database file(s). DU/DL (Data Unavailability/Data Loss) events happen. It is not if, but when. There is also Data Corruption events. I get at least 3 calls a week, every week where a customer didnt listen to my advice and has put database files on a storage like DropBox, and it got “messed up”. Could be SQLite database, Access database, FoxPro database, etc.etc.etc. And 19/20 times the customer does say “you were right scott we shouldnt have done that”.

So consequently I never recommend actually accessing an SQLite database file live on Dropbox. It’s fine to just copy the file there as a way of transferring it, but it shouldn’t be accused from there live.

I don’t know if your genealogy software uses an SQLite database though. It may not, so it may not suffer from corruption like an SQLite file could.

[Susan Rogers]

OK, thanks Brendan, I just won’t take a chance. I use iCloud, though have not yet wanted to get into iCloud Drive (as if I know the difference, and I’ll have to learn now) but I do want to access my TapForm file from both desktop and laptop.

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t even know how to “just copy the file there as a way of transferring it” as you suggest for using Dropbox, because I never have to copy a file to Dropbox. I just put it in the Dropbox folder which is actually on my hard drive, then the file copies itself to Dropbox as soon as Dropbox detects that it’s been changed from a previous iteration. It never takes more than a minute to complete this, usually much less.

But whatever, I’ll use iCloud. Thanks for the quick response.

Susan

[Brendan]

Hi Susan,

That is exactly what I meant. You could copy the file to your Dropbox folder on your Mac and then when it syncs to another Mac, copy it out of your Dropbox folder over there in order to use it. But you’d have to do that back and forth every time you wanted to “sync” your documents. Not really syncing at all, just copying back and forth. But it is a way to do it.

iCloud is actually a lot of different things. iCloud Drive is just one iCloud service. Tap Forms 5 uses CloudKit for syncing. Tap Forms 3.5 used iCloud Drive.

Thanks,

Brendan

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