A conflict file appears when multiple versions of files or folders attempt to be copied to a single file or folder.
This may occur for a several reasons:
- Filename.jpg is getting synced to a folder in a case-insensitive system, where a file (filename.jpg) is already present. This will produce a conflict file (filename.Conflict.jpg).
- File name having a decomposed utf symbol (names with umlauts are at risk).
- Filename has a symbol prohibited by file system. On Windows these are replaced with underscore [ _ ].
- Files/folders located in linked junctions.
- Problem with disk controllers (especially valid for external drives)
Explanation about composed and decomposed symbols
Windows and Linux can store file names in composed and decomposed forms, whereas Mac can store files only in decomposed form. For example, we have two files: "composéd.txt" created on Linux or Windows and "decomposéd.txt" created on Mac:
From the human point of view, "é" is the same for both files. But actually in the file system those symbols are different:
Examples
- Mac 1 has filename.txt but Mac 2 has Filename.txt. When these folders are added to Sync and synced, Mac 1 will have filename.txt and Filename.Conflict.txt, whereas Mac 2 will have Filename.txt and filename.Conflict.txt.
- Filename.jpg and filename.jpg are getting synced between a folder in a case-sensitive system and a folder in a case-insensitive system, the latter will have filename.Conflict.jpg
- filename.Conflict appears when filename from Windows and Filename from Mac are synced or a filename and Filename from Linux synced to Mac or Windows.
- filename.Conflict1, filename.Conflict2, filename.Conflict 3 appear when you re-add the folder already having filename.Conflict. with the same secret.
- filename.Conflict.Conflict.Conflict appears when renaming filename.Conflict to Filename.Conflict
How to Avoid Conflicts
First of all, do not just delete a .Conflict file or folder. This will delete the real file/folder from remote peer, as these correspond to each other.
To prevent the creation of conflict files, make sure all files have unique names with the same letter case, same encoding, when folders are added to Resilio Sync.
How to Safely Remove Conflicts:
- Find the healthy file and make sure it's in the same letter case on all devices (!), or remove the conflicting factor (invalid symbols, links, etc)
- Move this healthy file to another non-syncing directory.
- delete the files with conflicts in their names) from the syncing folder.
- Put the healthy file to the syncing folder again.