I think obsidian sync is creating a never ending stream of duplicate files?

[olli]

Hi there, I have signed up for sync and all was well, except the syncing sometimes creates duplicate files, this time however it’s created literally thousands of files and I think it’s still doing so.

I have my vault in my google drive, so sometimes it’s open at both, but that never has been a problem until I started sync.
It’s faster than sync, I signed up for sync to have it easier with my phone and ipad.

Has this happened to anyone before?

It doesn’t happen for all notes, I am not sure what causes this and I would like to avoid it, it’s making everything slow.

[ariehen]

Introduction to Obsidian Sync - Obsidian Help

[olli]

Thanks,

I found this, but I am not making any backups.
I also do not sync, it’s directly saved onto the drives, so I am unsure how it would have this type of affect?

[olli]

Hmm, I think this problem is obsidian sync maybe? I have now moved the vault from drive to a local folder on my desktop (only have it still on drive in my laptop) and it’s still creating new files!

[MitchWagner]

I encountered a problem like this one when I first started using Obsidian in 2020. The problem was that I was using two separate sync services on my Obsidian vault. Could that be your problem?

[Dor]

@MitchWagner

I was using two separate sync services on my Obsidian vault. Could that be your problem?

@olli

have it still on drive in my laptop

Looks like it

[MitchWagner]

This thread may be helpful

Files making copies of themselves

Steps to reproduce Type some text in a document, then pause typing for a second or so. Expected result Nothing. The text should appear and Obsidian should do nothing, waiting for input from me. Actual result Obsidian duplicates the file, appending the filename with the word “copy” or “copy-1,” etc. The copy is complete, the original does not contain recently entered text. Environment Operating system: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H15). Obsidian version: 0.9.15. Additional inform…

[olli]

Thanks. This is weird though because if I only use drive on one device there is nothing to sync, it just acts like an actual network hard-drive. This is somewhat annoying.

Support didn’t reply anymore for further inquiry…

[rigmarole]

@olli

but I am not making any backups.

@olli

I also do not sync

@olli

it’s directly saved onto the drives

@olli

if I only use drive on one device there is nothing to sync

[These statements are not correct.]

@olli

I have now moved the vault from drive to a local folder on my desktop (only have it still on drive in my laptop)

[So you did NOT move it from Google Drive…]

Google Drive is an online syncing tool. It doesn’t matter how many of your computers you’re syncing. It’s an online syncing tool. Go to your Drive online. Do you see the files? Then the files are synced to more than one computer. Your computer, and Google servers.

That means you have two services (Obsidian Sync + Google Drive) which have the ability to both download and upload notes to and from your Obsidian vault.

So the advice in this thread is do not mix two syncing tools together. That is the source of your problem.

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The advice on this page talks about, “configure the service so that backups are only made from your primary device”.

This means that you would only ONE-WAY push copies of your vault to a secondary service. And those copies would upload to the cloud on the secondary service. The copies on the secondary service would never sync back to your vault. It would be a copy. Your actual vault would not be in the secondary syncing service.

For example: