Boxifier/MyCloudHome upload fails when trying to sync files from my iPhone.

Question

Hi Everyone,

I'm wondering if others have encountered this scenario:

I use WD MyCloudHome as my home server, with a drive mapped to my laptop where I have Boxifier and Dropbox installed.

If I use my laptop to manually create a subdirectory under a folder that has been "Boxified", the new folder is synced with dropbox correctly.

However, when I then use the MyCloudHome app on my iPhone to upload files directly to the new subdirectory, those files are not synced with Dropbox.

If, however, I use my laptop to manually paste a file in the new subdirectory on MyCloudHome, that file does synch to Dropbox AND all files that I subsequently upload to that directory using the MyCloudHome App on my iPhone synch to Dropbox.

So it seems that unless a file is manually pasted into the new directory as a first step, files uploaded directly from my iPhone using the MCH App fail to synch to dropbox.

Anyone have similar issues?  Is this a Boxifier or Dropbox issue?

Daveh839 · Answer

Thank you, Megan, this is very helpful.  There is definitely a quirk somewhere that when the MCH app uploads data to a file, some event of piece of data that Dropbox requires isn't there initially.  But, after manually copying and pasting a file from anywhere into the new directory, the gap is filled and it allows Dropbox to start monitoring.  From my experience I already know that WD support is not nearly as responsive as your team is, so I'd like to get as much information as I can before filing a ticket with them.  So the question is, why does Dropbox synch start working correctly after a file is manually pasted into the new directory?  There must be a difference between the action of manually pasting a file as compared to MCH app on iPhone, and if I could share what data/events Dropbox requires with WD support I might have a chance of getting them to help.  Otherwise, they are simply going to point me back to Dropbox, and the circle will continue.

Any additional thoughts?

Megan · Answer

Hey there, @Daveh839!

I'd be happy to share the process with you, but I should clarify that this describes the general syncing process, not metadata specifically.

Essentially, Dropbox continuously monitors your files to detect changes and sync them instantly across your devices. Real-time syncing works by detecting whenever you save a change to a file in your Dropbox folder; the application immediately updates it across all linked computers, phones, and the web interface.

The Dropbox desktop client automatically begins watching a folder for changes by:

• Listening for file-system events reported by your OS

• Hashing and indexing each file and building a local database of their state

When it comes time to sync, Dropbox’s servers maintain and return rich file metadata—things like:

– path (full path within your Dropbox)

– rev (revision ID)

– size (bytes)

– modified (server timestamp)

– client_mtime (timestamp from your device)

– thumb_exists (whether a thumbnail is available)

I hope this clarifies!

Daveh839 · Answer

Thanks for the quick response, Megan.  You may well be right, I'm just unclear on how Boxifier accomplishes the functionality it provides on external servers.  I've reached out to Christine at Boxifier as well to get her input.  A pure guess here, but I'm thinking that Boxifier needs certain specific metadata from the first file added to the new subdirectory in order to complete the information needed to start "watching" that directory, and MyCloudHome's app doesn't upload that complete set of data.  So pasting a file in the new directory first does provide the necessary information, and Boxifier then starts watching the directory so all files subsequently added then start synching with Dropbox.

I have no idea if that's actually the case, and it may even be a Dropbox requirement for certain metadata to be present to complete the dataset needed to start synching a file.  So my question is, forgetting about Boxifier and MyCloudHome for the moment, what metadata does Dropbox require in order to start watching a directory for changes?  If I can get that info I can relay it to both Boxifier and MyCloudHome support to see where the problem lies.

If you think I'm off base with my thoughts, please let me know that too!