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Creating a Sync Backup Plan

This guide walks you through creating a sync backup plan that keeps your destination storage synchronized with your source files.

Step-by-Step Guide​

1. Open the Add Plan Panel​

From the main Backup Plans page:

  • Click the "+ New" button in the page header
  • A side panel titled "Add New Plan" will slide in from the right

2. Step 1: Basic Configuration​

Configure the fundamental settings for your sync plan:

Plan Name (Required)

  • Enter a descriptive name for your sync plan
  • Example: "Documents Real-Time Sync" or "Media Mirror to Cloud"
  • This name will appear in the plans list

Source Type (Required)

  • Select "Device" for standard file/folder synchronization
  • Other options (Database, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) are for different backup types

Backup Method (Required)

  • Select "Real-time Sync" to create a sync plan
  • This uses Rclone to keep destination in sync with source
  • The "Periodic Backup" option creates incremental snapshots instead (covered in a separate guide)

Important: Once you create a sync plan, you cannot change it to a periodic backup plan (or vice versa). Choose carefully based on your needs.

Click "Next: Configure Source/Destination" to proceed.

3. Step 2: Source and Destination​

Select Source Device

  • Choose which device to sync from the dropdown
  • "Main" refers to the Pluton server itself
  • Remote devices appear if you have Pluton agents installed
  • Note: Source device cannot be changed after plan creation

Select Folders to Sync (Required)

  • Click "+ Add Folder" to select folders/files to include
  • You can add multiple folders from different locations
  • Click the folder icon next to each entry to browse and select paths
  • Use the trash icon to remove entries

Important Considerations:

  • Sync plans work best with active data that changes frequently
  • Avoid syncing extremely large datasets (consider periodic backups instead)
  • Be cautious with system folders to avoid syncing OS files

Exclude Patterns (Optional)

  • Click "+ Add Exclude Pattern" to exclude specific files or folders
  • Common patterns to exclude:
    • *.tmp - Temporary files
    • *.temp - Temporary files
    • .DS_Store - macOS metadata files
    • Thumbs.db - Windows thumbnail cache
    • node_modules/ - Node.js dependencies
    • __pycache__/ - Python cache
    • .git/ - Git repositories (if you don't need version control files)
  • Exclusions improve sync efficiency and reduce storage usage

Sync Destination (Required)

  • Click "Select Storage" to choose where files will be synced
  • Select from your configured storage destinations
  • Optionally specify a subfolder path within the storage
    • Example: /sync/documents or /mirror/photos/
    • Leave empty to use the root of the storage

Destination Path Behavior:

  • If the path doesn't exist, Rclone will create it automatically
  • Files will be synced to exactly match the source structure
  • Deletions at source will be reflected at destination

Important Notes:

  • You must select at least one folder to sync
  • The source device cannot be changed after plan creation
  • The storage destination cannot be changed after plan creation
  • Test with a small folder first before syncing large datasets

Click "Next: Setup Schedule" to proceed.

4. Step 3: Schedule Configuration​

Sync plans can run very frequently to keep data synchronized in near real-time.

Sync Interval (Required)

Choose how often syncs should run:

  • Every N Minutes (Recommended for sync plans)

    • Specify interval in minutes (minimum: 5 minutes)
    • Examples:
      • Every 5 minutes - Near real-time sync for critical data
      • Every 15 minutes - Good balance for most use cases
      • Every 30 minutes - For less frequently changing data
    • Best for: Active data that needs to stay synchronized

  • Hourly

    • Runs every hour at minute 0
    • Select starting minute (0-59)
    • Best for: Data that changes hourly but doesn't need immediate sync

  • Daily

    • Runs once per day at a specific time
    • Select time (e.g., "02:00 AM")
    • Best for: Daily synchronization needs

  • Weekly

    • Runs once per week on specific days
    • Select day(s) of the week
    • Select time
    • Best for: Weekly data updates

  • Monthly

    • Runs once per month
    • Select day of month (1-31)
    • Select time
    • Best for: Monthly synchronization

  • Custom - Every N Hours

    • Specify interval in hours
    • Best for: Flexible scheduling between hourly and daily

Choosing the Right Interval:

  • High-priority active data: Every 5-10 minutes
  • Important working files: Every 15-30 minutes
  • General documents: Hourly
  • Archives or static data: Daily or weekly

Revision History (Optional but Recommended)

  • Toggle "Keep Revision History" to enable file versioning
  • When enabled, Rclone saves previous versions before overwriting or deleting files
  • Revisions are stored in a history/ subfolder at your destination

Revisions to Keep

  • Specify how many previous versions to keep (default: 5)
  • Older revisions are automatically cleaned up
  • Example: 10 revisions = keep last 10 versions of each file
  • Set to 0 to disable revision history

Why Use Revision History:

  • ✅ Protects against accidental file overwrites
  • ✅ Allows recovery of deleted files
  • ✅ Provides version history like a backup
  • ✅ Combines benefits of sync and backup approaches
  • ⚠️ Uses additional storage space
  • ⚠️ Slightly slower sync operations

When to Enable:

  • User-generated content (documents, code, designs)
  • Data prone to accidental changes
  • Critical files that need version protection

When to Disable:

  • Easily reproducible data
  • Log files or temporary data
  • Media files that rarely change
  • When storage space is limited

Click "Next: Advanced Settings" to proceed.

5. Step 4: Advanced Settings​

Security Options

  • Encryption

    • Toggle ON to encrypt files at the destination
    • Uses server-configured encryption key
    • Recommended for cloud storage and sensitive data
    • Note: Cannot be changed after plan creation if data exists
    • Files are encrypted at rest in the destination

  • Compression

    • Toggle ON to compress files during transfer
    • Reduces transfer time for compressible data
    • Minimal CPU overhead
    • Recommended for most use cases

Tags (Optional)

  • Add tags to organize your sync plans
  • Click in the tags field and type a tag name, press Enter
  • Examples: "media", "documents", "realtime", "critical"
  • Use tags to filter and group related plans in the main view

Retry Settings

  • Retry Attempts - Number of times to retry failed syncs (default: 5)
  • Retry Delay - Seconds to wait between retry attempts (default: 60)
  • Helps handle temporary network issues or storage unavailability
  • Syncs will retry automatically on transient failures

Performance Settings (Advanced)

Click "Show Performance Settings" to expand and configure:

  • Transfers - Number of parallel file transfers (default: 4)

    • Increase for fast networks and storage
    • Decrease if syncs consume too much bandwidth
    • Range: 1-16

  • Buffer Size - Memory buffer for streaming files (default: 16M)

    • Larger buffers = faster transfers for large files
    • More memory usage
    • Examples: 8M, 16M, 32M, 64M

  • Multi-thread Streams - Concurrent streams per file (default: 4)

    • For large files, multiple streams can speed up transfers
    • Only effective for files above multi-thread cutoff size
    • Range: 1-16

  • Sync Strategy - How to determine if files changed

    • Default - Compare size and modification time (fast)
    • Checksum - Compare file checksums (accurate but slower)
    • Size Only - Compare only file size (fastest, least accurate)

  • Max Duration - Maximum time allowed for a single sync run (minutes)

    • Prevents syncs from running indefinitely
    • Set based on expected sync duration
    • Leave empty for unlimited

  • Max Transfer - Maximum data to transfer per sync (e.g., "10G")

    • Useful for bandwidth management
    • Sync stops when limit reached
    • Leave empty for unlimited

When to Adjust Performance Settings:

  • Fast network + fast storage → Increase transfers and buffer size
  • Limited bandwidth → Decrease transfers, set max transfer limit
  • Very large files → Increase multi-thread streams and buffer size
  • Need accuracy over speed → Use checksum sync strategy
  • Slow source disk → Decrease transfers to reduce disk contention

Notification Settings (Advanced)

Click "Show Notification Settings" to configure:

  • Email Notifications

    • Enable to receive email alerts
    • Configure notification case:
      • On Failure (Recommended for sync plans)
      • On Success
      • Both
    • Enter email addresses (comma-separated)
    • Uses email service configured in Settings

  • Webhook Notifications

    • Enable to send data to external services
    • Configure HTTP method (GET/POST)
    • Enter webhook URL
    • Useful for integrating with monitoring systems

  • Push Notifications (PRO)

    • Send push notifications to mobile devices
    • Configure push service URL and authentication

Notification Best Practices:

  • For sync plans, enable "On Failure" notifications
  • Success notifications can be noisy for frequent syncs
  • Use webhooks for integration with monitoring tools
  • Test notifications after plan creation

Scripts (PRO Feature)

If you have Pluton PRO, you can configure custom scripts:

  • On Sync Start - Run before sync begins
  • On Sync Complete - Run after successful sync
  • On Sync Failure - Run when sync fails
  • On Sync End - Run regardless of success/failure

Use cases:

  • Trigger downstream processes after sync
  • Alert external systems
  • Perform cleanup or validation tasks

6. Create the Plan​

  • Review all settings carefully
  • Settings that cannot be changed later:
    • Source device
    • Storage destination
    • Backup method (Sync vs Periodic Backup)
    • Encryption (once data exists)
  • Click "Create Plan" at the bottom of the panel

What Happens After Creation:

  1. Pluton validates your configuration
  2. Verifies connectivity to the destination storage
  3. Creates the destination path if it doesn't exist
  4. Creates history folder (if revision history enabled)
  5. Registers the sync schedule
  6. Immediately starts the first sync
  7. Navigates you to the plan details page

First Sync Behavior:

  • All files from source are copied to destination
  • This is essentially a full copy operation
  • Duration depends on data size and transfer speed
  • You can monitor progress in real-time
  • Subsequent syncs will be much faster (only changes)

After First Sync:

  • Destination contains an exact copy of your source
  • Sync plan appears in your main Backup Plans list
  • Scheduled syncs begin running at your configured interval
  • Changes at source are automatically propagated to destination
  • If revision history is enabled, old versions are saved before overwriting

Quick Start Example​

Here's a common configuration for syncing important documents:

Basic Settings:

  • Name: "Important Documents Sync"
  • Source Type: Device
  • Method: Real-time Sync

Source/Destination:

  • Source Device: Main
  • Folders: /home/user/Documents, /home/user/Projects
  • Excludes: *.tmp, node_modules/, .git/
  • Storage: Google Drive
  • Path: /PlutoBackups/Documents

Schedule:

  • Interval: Every 15 minutes
  • Revision History: Enabled
  • Revisions to Keep: 10

Advanced:

  • Encryption: Enabled
  • Compression: Enabled
  • Tags: "documents", "important", "realtime"
  • Retry Attempts: 5
  • Performance: Default settings
  • Notifications: Email on failure

Result: Documents are synced every 15 minutes to Google Drive with encryption, keeping the last 10 versions of each file.

Important Considerations​

Storage Space​

  • Sync plans copy all source files to destination
  • Revision history requires additional space (old versions)
  • Estimate required space: (Source size) × (1 + Revisions × Average change rate)
  • Monitor storage usage regularly

Sync Frequency vs. Change Rate​

  • Frequent syncs are useful only for frequently changing data
  • Syncing every 5 minutes for daily-changing data wastes resources
  • Match sync frequency to actual change patterns

Network Bandwidth​

  • Frequent syncs consume bandwidth proportional to changes
  • Use performance settings to limit bandwidth if needed
  • Monitor network usage after plan creation

File Conflicts​

  • Sync plans use "source wins" strategy
  • Source always overwrites destination
  • If both locations change, source version prevails
  • Use bi-directional sync carefully (PRO feature)

Deletions​

  • By default, deletions at source delete at destination
  • Enable revision history to protect against accidental deletions
  • Deleted files are moved to history folder (if enabled)

Testing Your Sync Plan​

After creating a sync plan:

  1. Verify First Sync

    • Watch the initial sync complete
    • Check destination to confirm files were copied
    • Verify folder structure matches source

  2. Test Change Detection

    • Modify a file at source
    • Wait for next sync interval
    • Confirm changes appear at destination

  3. Test Deletion Handling

    • Delete a file at source
    • Wait for next sync
    • Verify file is removed from destination (or moved to history)

  4. Test Revision History (if enabled)

    • Modify a file multiple times
    • Check history folder for previous versions
    • Verify old versions are retained

  5. Test Recovery

    • Restore a file from revision history
    • Verify integrity of restored file

Troubleshooting Creation Issues​

Cannot Create Plan​

"Storage not accessible"

  • Verify storage configuration in Storages page
  • Test storage connectivity
  • Check credentials and permissions

"Source device offline"

  • Ensure source device is powered on
  • Check Pluton agent is running (for remote devices)
  • Verify network connectivity

First Sync Fails​

"Permission denied"

  • Check source path permissions
  • Verify service account has read access
  • For remote devices, check agent permissions

"Destination already exists with different configuration"

  • The destination path may contain data from another plan
  • Choose a different path
  • Or remove existing data first

Sync Taking Too Long​

  • First sync copies all data (expected for large datasets)
  • Check network speed and storage performance
  • Consider adjusting performance settings
  • Subsequent syncs will be much faster

Next Steps​

Remember: Test sync behavior with a small folder before syncing large or critical datasets.