immortal file?

immortal file?

by mr.fixit - 09:14PM, Nov 18, 2009

I have a file in the attachments folder inside the my notebook’s bundle. It’s an invisible file called .moddates. It defies any attempt to delete it. If I delete it from the finder, it magically reappears. If I delete it from the command-line, the command succeeds, but the file is still there when I check again.

This file is causing problems when syncing my notebook via Dropbox, which I have been doing successfully for more than a year. Dropbox sees that the files are out of sync, tries to sync them, thinks it has succeeded, but since the file cannot be truly overwritten, they are still out of sync. Dropbox again see the files are out of sync, ... rinse and repeat.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? It’s not directly Dropbox related, since this file still won’t go away even if I quit running Dropbox. The only thing that I can think of that might be relevant is that I just today upgraded to 10.6.2.

Anyone? Jayson?

Jayson

Member

11:06PM, Nov 19, 2009

Hello,

That file will be regenerated anytime you try to remove it. I’m not sure why Dropbox always thinks it’s dirty but I have an idea. Please contact support about this.

Best,

__jayson

frankd

Member

02:34AM, Nov 28, 2009

I’m having the same problem. Also running 10.6.2. The issue just started a little while ago. I’ve also been syncing using Dropbox for a long time.

Frank

Adrian

Member

10:52AM, Dec 01, 2009

Hello

I’m having this same issue which has just started. (I think partly my fault as tried to stop a file uploading when realised it was 500mb)

Did the above question get resolved?

Adrian

raul

Member

07:27PM, Dec 29, 2009

I’m having this same problem, but running 10.5.8.
I’ve also been syncing using Dropbox for a long time without problem, until something change (I don`t know what).
Somebody could solve the problem??
Thanks in advance for the help.
Raul

AWDriver

Member

09:05PM, Jan 05, 2010

Bump. I have this too. Problem is Dropbox independent. I created a new notebook that is saved outside dropbox and it exists there as well.

Carsten Schabacker

Member

08:41PM, Jan 06, 2010

I have the same problem since some time – i have tried to use a notebook on my iDisk too, but this never worked (iDisk sync failed totaly)...

Martin White

Member

05:02PM, Jan 12, 2010

Ok, bump for this!

I upgraded from 2.1 to 3.x yesterday as I’ve returned to using Notebook after a long absence. I keep my notebooks in drop box. I was doing a lot of work last night on a work notebook from my home PC.

I’ve just fired up my MBPro (work laptop), gone to open a different notebook, realised I hadn’t updated Notebook on this machine so did so and immediately I’m now getting this issue.

It’s particularly irritating for me since I have Growl running so I’m getting a bubble pop up next to the menu bar every few seconds.

So, if there’s a solution I’d love for someone to share it.

Thanks,
Martin.

André Roque Matheus

Member

04:01PM, Jan 18, 2010

I have this problem too, it started today. Never seen that before.

Thanks,

André

Eric

Member

08:41PM, Jan 18, 2010

This problem should be fixed in the next update to NoteBook. If you cannot wait until then, please contact support here.

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Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

Mac

Member

02:11PM, Feb 03, 2010

I’m having the same problem. Do we know when the next update will be available?

Thanks—
MAC

MartinH

Member

01:57PM, Feb 19, 2010

Well, it’s on the developers radar, so I guess we just have to be patient and let them work on the fix. I’ve just had to switch off Growl notifications for Dropbox for now, as it was driving me nuts!

One thought, if this is a self generating file, is it really necessary to sync it (as each client machine will generate and update it’s own relevant local copy anyway)? If not, then I notice that Dropbox are working on a feature that might be useful; selective sync, so you can omit certain files from the sync process. They say it should be rolled out soon.

https://www.dropbox.com/votebox/10/selective-sync

Eric

Member

05:10PM, Feb 19, 2010

See my post above if you need help with the problem now.

---

Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

btn

Member

10:10PM, Feb 22, 2010

Hi Eric,

Can you share when the update for this problem will be generally available? I will soon be forced to use a company-owned MacBook Pro. My plan is to use iDisk to keep important files in sync, including my NoteBook.

Thanks!

P.S. Are there any plans to make Evernote an option for a cloud repository?

Eric

Member

05:40AM, Mar 02, 2010

Hi btn,

I’ll try to remember, but if you need the fix for the .moddates issue, write in to support here and we’ll be able to help out.

You can also set up NoteBook to automatically check for updates in Preferences.

For syncing of any kind, it’s safest to use the Finder’s Compress command in the File menu to first archive a NoteBook (because of its file package data structure). We have seen data loss issues in the past that were likely caused by syncing programs that don’t understand file packages very well. And ironically, MobileMe/iDisk is one of those since file packages are an OS X construct.

As for future plans, in general we do not comment on potential future product plans for competitive and other reasons.

---

Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

Don Truett

Member

11:26PM, Mar 10, 2010

This problem just started for me yesterday and is unbelievably annoying. It’s happening with a notebook I’ve had on Dropbox for months with no problems until now.
Eric, with all due respect, I don’t think zipping the notebook, then expanding it at the other computer, rezipping again, etc is anyone’s idea of a good workflow.
All I want is my notebook to work the way it did 2 days ago. I’m baffled as to why it would change.
p.s. In the course of typing this, I’ve had about 15 Growl messages pop up in the periphery of my vision.

Eric

Member

12:05AM, Mar 11, 2010

Hi Don,

Please send a message to support here and we can get you a fix for the .moddates issue you are seeing. The fix will be included in the next update to NoteBook as well.

I agree that’s not a smooth workflow. Syncing is a very complicated activity and it’s made more complex when working with file packages (which is what a Notebook file is). We’ve seen data loss before that has likely resulted from some third party syncing software.

The ability to sync a Notebook is on NoteBook’s possible future features list, by the way.

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Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

Don Truett

Member

03:10PM, Mar 11, 2010

The fix you sent seems to be working perfectly. Thanks. One of the great things about Dropbox is that, unlike SugarSync, it handles packages, such as Numbers or Pages.

Eric

Member

08:46PM, Mar 11, 2010

Good to hear! From all the syncing applications that we hear about from our customers, DropBox seems to work pretty well with NoteBook, which also uses file packages like Numbers and Pages.

If it didn’t, these forums would be the place you’d hear about it! :-)

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Regards,

__Eric
Circus Ponies Software, Inc.

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