Syncing different versions - migrating from iCloud to Dropbox

vjl

Hi there,

Mac App Store version 4.4.2 under 10.9.5 is my primary used installation of 1P. But not my only. :( I also run a 10.10.2 system with MAS version 5.1 [all versions are non-beta]. And I have 3 iOS 8.1.3 devices and an original iPad with iOS 5.1 [i think - the last version that the 2010 iPad can run]. All are set to use iCloud as their syncing method. I've been doing this for a while, but I've decided that my 10.9.5 system will not be upgraded to Yosemite [it runs slow enough as it is, and my laptop has had nothing but issues since upgrading]. As such, I am very out of sync. Some of the items I've entered on the Yosemite laptop are obviously not on my 10.9.5 desktop. And stuff from my desktop does not trickle into my iOS devices.

So...like Day One, I wish to set Dropbox as my syncing method, since all my devices have Dropbox on them. I used to use this method a while back. Unlike Day One, I have a lot of data and I don't want things to be missing when I change my syncing method. So, this question is: how do I best go about doing this? Long ago, I had a major issue with syncing and ended up with tons of duplicates. I'm now down to ~1900 records [it was over 20,000!], though there are still some duplicates in there. I've been slowly cleaning up the "near dupes" that I have. I just want to avoid 1] getting more dupes and 2] losing records.

Is there a known good method to doing this? My idea was to export my 5.1 and 4.2.2 vaults. Then delete all vaults [on the Mac] and make sure they sync to my iOS 8x devices [so there are no more records]. Once synced, change all syncing methods on all devices to Dropbox. Then import the 4.2.2 vault in, and wait for it to sync to all devices. Then on my laptop....I'm stuck...do I import my 5.1 vault which has different data than the 4.2.2 vault? Will a merge automagically happen?

Any tips on how to do this would be very much appreciated!

TIA,

/vjl/

MikeT

Hi @vjl,

1. 1Password 4.4.2 on Mac running 10.9.5
2. 1Password 5.2 on Mac running 10.10.2
3. Three iOS 8.1.3 devices with 1Password 5.2 for iOS
4. Original iPad with iOS 5.1 (probably 1Password 3 for iOS with no sync support)

iCloud sync is selected for all, which means you're syncing two separate iCloud sets of data because iCloud sync is different between Mavericks|iOS 7 and Yosemite|iOS 8.

So, this question is: how do I best go about doing this?

Do you want to merge the data from both different sets of data? We do have this ability when syncing two separate data sets via Dropbox.

Is there a known good method to doing this? My idea was to export my 5.1 and 4.2.2 vaults.

What we can do is before doing anything, back up the current data via the File Menu > Backup in the different 1Password for Mac apps.

Once you do that, you can just disable iCloud sync, enable the Dropbox sync on one Mac at a time. When you move to a second Mac, enabling the Dropbox Sync to select the same data should prompt to ask if you want to merge it. You should not get any duplicates from doing this.

Once the Mac apps looks good, I'd suggest resetting the data in the iOS app and have them pull the data from Dropbox, one at a time.

The reason you have to be careful with doing things one at a time is to prevent sync conflicts but most importantly, Dropbox has a limit of how much you can do at a time before you get rate-limited. You wouldn't be able to see updates for an hour or two.

Let me know if that sounds good and we can give you detailed step by step instruction on how to proceed.

vjl

Hi Mike,

Sorry for the lag - I did not have my preferences here set to e.mail me when there was a comment; just fixed that. :)

That's exactly what the issue is right now - two different sets of iCloud data - one for my iOS devices and 10.10 laptop, and one for my Mavericks desktop. I add data on all devices, but mainly on the desktop. I guess I should create a secure note on the iOS devices to make sure that Yosemite has the current iOS device data first?

I do have multiple backups on both desktop versions, but I will make a separate backup before proceeding with the migration. You are correct - I wish to merge the data, since the laptop and iOS devices have some data that the desktop doesn't, and the desktop has a lot of data that the laptop and iOS devices don't have.

Is there any way to see my current limits on syncing with dropbox? I do have a couple of WordPress blogs set to auto-backup via Dropbox. I'd want to make sure I can proceed with 1Passwd syncing without extra hassles due to syncing not working for the entire transaction.

Other than that, this sounds exactly like what I'd want to do. Feel free to send or post the step by step instructions, though your post was pretty detailed with what I should do.

Thanks!

Kind regards,

/vjl/

MikeT

Hi @vjl,

I guess I should create a secure note on the iOS devices to make sure that Yosemite has the current iOS device data first?

Yes, make sure all of your iOS devices already pushed their data to your respective Macs. It's cleaner to reset the data on iOS devices than to try to merge it.

Do make sure to back up the iOS data as well with this guide: https://guides.agilebits.com/1password-ios/5/en/topic/itunes-backups

Is there any way to see my current limits on syncing with dropbox? I do have a couple of WordPress blogs set to auto-backup via Dropbox. I'd want to make sure I can proceed with 1Passwd syncing without extra hassles due to syncing not working for the entire transaction.

No, there isn't a way to see the current rate. They'd just return an error saying to retry later. Generally, something around 5K changes per hour but it depends.

Other than that, this sounds exactly like what I'd want to do. Feel free to send or post the step by step instructions, though your post was pretty detailed with what I should do

Great, after you do the backups, here's how to proceed:

Disable iCloud Sync

1. On the iOS devices: Open the app, unlock, go to Settings > Sync, tap on "Sync Service..iCloud" to tap on Disable Sync.
2. On the Macs: open the main 1Password app, unlock, go to the 1Password Menu > Preferences > Sync and click on Change Sync to disable the sync and delete the data on iCloud as you won’t use this anymore. It will not remove the data in the main app.

Start with migrating data to Dropbox on Macs only

1. Open 1Password on the Mavericks Mac, go to the 1Password Menu > Preferences > Sync, click on Dropbox to enable the sync. Wait until Dropbox is done syncing before proceeding.
2. On the Yosemite Mac, perform a backup if you haven't yet, make sure Dropbox is done syncing first before proceeding. Open 1Password, go to the 1Password Menu > Preferences > Sync, click on Dropbox, select the file you just created in step 1. It'll ask if you want to merge the data, enter your vault password, and say yes to merge the data.

After the merge is done, confirm the data looks good, no duplicates or anything like that. Then create a test item called "From Yosemite" and see if it'll sync to 1Password on your Mavericks Mac. If it looks good, change the title to "From Mavericks" and see if it shows up on Yosemite.

Resetting data in the iOS device to pull fresh merged data from Dropbox

1. For both iOS devices, unlock the app, go to Settings > Advanced > Erase Data and Settings
2. On the first device only, open 1Password, it should take you to the setup tour, select Sync existing vault > Sync with Dropbox and select the vault you created from the Macs. Wait until all the data is sync'ed, make sure it is syncing changes with your Macs by doing the test item title trick.
3. Once you're good with the first device, proceed with the same steps on the rest of your devices one at a time.

I hope this helps!

vjl

Thanks, Mike! Not having much luck right now, as I prep the iOS devices. My iPhone 5S has a last sync of 4 days ago and it's been syncing for...well, since the Super Bowl started. :( All I did was add one secure note, but it is not on my Yosemite laptop yet, so I'm hoping this is just an iCloud issue.

Side note - the iPhone is being taken to an Apple Store on Thursday for possible replacement [it won't charge unless the moon and stars are lined up just perfect and there are no vibrations of any kind in the room where it is plugged in! :O ]. Hopefully I'll have all of this done prior to then! [yes, this has made backup of the iPhone fun, as I still like to sync the old fashioned way and via iTunes where I can do complete backups, but that only works when it's plugged into a power source or into my iMac].

I'll keep you posted on my progress. Thanks so much for the great detailed instructions!

vjl

Well, not much progress, and one mistake on my part. 2 of the 3 iOS devices are on 8.1.3 - one is on 8.1.2. The one on 8.1.2, the iPad Air, updated/synced to iCloud just fine. Eg: i added a secure note from it, my iPhone and iPad Air and iPad mini 2. Each secure note titled differently [eg: iPhone secure test note, iPad mini 2 secure test note, etc]. Well, the Air synced fine with iCloud and Yosemite has the note. my iPad mini 2 on 8.1.3 and iPhone 5S on 8.1.3 will not sync. They continue to state "syncing" even after a hard reset. the mini 2 was last synced 7 days ago, and the phone, 4 days ago.

So I am at a bit of a stand still as I want to make sure the iOS devices' data is all synced to my Yosemite laptop before I proceed any further. Both the iPhone and mini 2 display the network spinner on the top left but in the iPhone's case, this has been going on for nearly 12 hours now; I mean, the phone goes to sleep, but I unlock it, and it is still syncing. :\ the mini 2 has only been like this for 3 hours. What should I do to force a sync? BTW, 1Passwd has all pro features unlocked under iOS.

Megan

Hi @vjl,

I'm sorry to hear that this process is not going easy for you! To kickstart your iOS devices, please try this:

• Disable sync
• Restart the device (this will clear the cache)
• Re-enable sync.

Let us know if that helps you proceed on to the next phase!

vjl

Hi Megan, and Mike!

Looks like everything has gone well so far! By the time I read your note, Megan, the iPhone had been able to sync while I slept, so I didn't need to do anything to that device. The mini hadn't, so I did as you suggested and that worked fine.

I just completed most of the steps above that Mike listed. Both Macs are using Dropbox just fine now. I've got the iPhone using Dropbox as well and the two iPads [Air and mini 2] are still at the "settings and data deleted" stage, as the iPhone had some errors at first when syncing due to hitting limits I think [many, many files could not be synced]. Waiting about 30 minutes, the phone now has all the data that 10.10 and 10.9 desktops have. I'll do one iPad later tonight and the other in the morning. :)

Thank you both for the time and info! It's nice to have things in sync again!

I'll assume the two iPads sync well; if anything different happens, I'll reply here, but I'm pretty sure they will behave normally. Thank you again!

Kind regards,

/vjl/

littlebobbytables

On behalf of both @MikeT and @Megan, we're very happy to hear you've been having success. Hopefully you'll be reporting complete sync success when you next post :smile:

vjl

Everything has synced perfectly! Thank you again!! :)

Drew_AG

That's great news @vjl, thanks for letting us know! I'm happy to hear sync is working everywhere now.

We're here for you if you need anything else! :)