Sync issue

[pheldal]

I'm struggling with synchronisation on one particular device (Samsung Galaxy S4 Active) where Bandhelper reports that it is unable to save files to local storage. Sync to other devices work just fine. There is no mention of what the actual file is or details about the error. Are there more details logged somewhere?. The account has a handful recordings and it appear to be these that are problematic. Songs appear in the list of recordings, but buttons for playback are deactivated. I assume that is because the local audio-files are missing. The song/lyrics-database seem to synchronise just fine. I have moved storage for the account to the external SD-card, and tried several alternatives but it keeps failing. Both internal and external NVRAM has several gigabytes of free space (5 and 16GB respectively). It doesn't help to clear the local storage and start over. I would like to be able to see which file the app is failing to write to and what the actual error is.

[arlo]

Please post a screen shot showing the error message.

[pheldal]

A screenshot is attached. The error-message include a code (218) when I set the UI-language to English. I've been looking at the network traffic to/from the smartphone with a protocol analyser which reveal that bandhelper keeps downloading the same set of mp3-files over and over. The app eventually crashes.

[arlo]

Please submit a help ticket here, then tap Help > Send Troubleshooting Info and enter the ticket number:

http://helpdesk.arlomedia.com/arlomedia/add.html

[pheldal]

I've created a ticket and added the relevant information to it. Just adding this here in case someone else has more information to contribute (experience from other android devices etc).

Further testing has revealed that it appear to be more of a problem with alternate locations for file-storage than with synchronisation itself. I can not get Bandhelper to use any folder other than the default for file storage on any Android-device (have not tested on iOS). It should be as simple as pointing Bandhelper to an empty directory and tap "download missing files" in settings. With an empty directory for storage Bandhelper indicate that files are missing in recordings and documents, but nothing happens when I hit "download missing files". The client does not even attempt to connect to the server for download. The client will OTOH download (repeatedly and eventually crash), but fail to save, additional files during synchronisation should someone add a new file on the server while the client is set to use an alternate folder for files.

[Ulfonze]

Hello. I can verify this situation/problem.

I had the same scenario on my Samsung tablet (Note 10.1 2014 Edition). I struggled with syncing documents to the device, always getting the 218 error.

After reading your post i removed my selected storage folder (on the SD card) and let BandHelper set the folder name to default again. After doing this, the sync worked immediately.

[arlo]

This article explains the problem with downloading files to an external SD card:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/02/17/external-blues-google-has-brought-big-changes-to-sd-cards-in-kitkat-and-even-samsung-may-be-implementing-them/

In short, third-party apps are allowed to read from but not write to the external SD card (the 'secondary external storage,' in correct terminology). Since different device manufacturers might or might not implement these permissions, the external card might or might not actually work from one device or Android version to another.

As an attempted workaround, I added a display of the device's designated external storage directory on the Help > About page in the app. You can try setting Settings > Account Sync > File Download Directory to that location.

If that doesn't work, I'm afraid the only options are to copy your files manually to your desired directory on the external card, or use an internal card for the downloaded files.

[arlo]

I just had confirmation from a different user that setting the file download directory to the device's designated external storage directory worked as a solution to this problem.