PS5 ‘Couldn’t sync your save data due to a conflict’ error - pls Sony fix this shit

[regenhuber]

Title says it all.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but this error keeps popping up on my console, sometimes even for games I haven't played in ages.

Miles Morales around launch was the first game that did this, Midnight Suns is the most recent example. Finished the game and started playing Ragnarok a few days ago, yesterday I get the sync error despite not even playing the game for days. Did the fix as prompted by the OS and the error popped back up again,
Usually put my PS5 in rest mode but always make sure there isn't a saving process going on, PS5 connected via ethernet, no power or internet outages in years.

The process to "fix" this issue is also slow as fuck and shouldn't require user input because I always pick the latest save available by default.
Sometimes the cloud save and local save even have the same date&time stamp. What am I supposed to pick?

Not sure what Sony is doing here, uploading incremental changes to a 200mb save file shouldn't cause this many issues.
Never had this error on PS4 and don't remember ever getting this on Series X.

inb4 "it only takes 2mins to fix" or "you can disable auto sync"
PS5 is now 2 years old, whatever causes this issue should have been fixed within months after launch.

 

[th1nk]

Yeah I get this a lot, too. Saves on PS5 and cloud appear identical and I have to choose one. Why?

 

[Abdiel]

I only get this error with ps4 games, after I hit the cap on the 1000 unique saves files something like that. I has certain games with way more saves than others that I was never going to revisit. I deleted that data from my cloud storage and I haven't had the error since.

 

[RivalGT]

I have gotten this with ps4 games, but only when using 2 PS5 systems.

 

[TimPV3]

Keeps popping up for Demon's Souls and Fortnite for me.

 

[PJsprojects]

Yep every day, I just ignore it.

 

[Meowmixez]

I get it when playing Summon Night 6 on my PS5.

 

[SnoopZ]

I don't think I've ever had this error.

 

[regenhuber]

Yeah I get this a lot, too. Saves on PS5 and cloud appear identical and I have to choose one. Why?

Click to shrink...

Console Storage: 12/26/2022 12:09
Cloud Storage: 12/26/2022 12:09

Not like I ever designed a OS myself but putting that onus on the user seems very strange.
99.999999% of users will just go with the latest save and if they have the same timestamp, default to the local storage.
This really should work automatically in the back end unless there is a power outage.

Yep every day, I just ignore it.

Click to shrink...

If I get the error for an old game, I don't plan to play anytime soon I just delete the game.
But with Midnight Suns for example, I really want to make sure my saves are in the cloud, so I can jump back in when the DLC drops.

 

[Issen]

Thanks for letting me know I should never pay for Plus. I'd be fucking livid.

 

[Raboon]

Sounds extremely annoying, I've never seen this nor do I ever hope that I do, lol.

 

[Aarglefarg]

When it happens with the same time stamp, I just pick the console one. I don't think about it enough to think about fixing it.

You mention not experiencing it on your Series X but I've had a similar (?) error over 5 times in the month I've had my Series S. An error message about the save data changing since the game was last played on my Xbox and that the game has to close. I haven't played the games on another system. It quits me out of Quick Resume, losing that progress, seemingly if I open a game 30 seconds after turning the system on because it's still connecting to wifi.

 

[Oghuz]

Happens every fucking time to me as well. Paying extra money for extra issues, that is the Sony way!

 

[regenhuber]

Sounds extremely annoying, I've never seen this nor do I ever hope that I do, lol.

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From what I read on reddit today (slow day at work lol) this error pops up on a game by game basis.
Checks out from my own recent experience. Got the error every single time for Midnight Suns, not once for Ragnarok.

Happens every fucking time to me as well. Paying extra money for extra issues, that is the Sony way!

Click to shrink...

I'm not even the type to get mad at stuff like this bc I work in Enterprise Data management and am often on the receiving end of customer outrage.
That said, this error has been around (for me) since Miles Morales and they still haven't fixed this.
The "fixes" on YouTube all seem to revolve around deleting save files and re-downloading plus re-uploading them, with lots of comments about borked saves and lost progress.

 

[Soap]

They need to fox it but it's barely an annoyance.

 

[Deleted member 129013]

I haven't gotten this, but what I am getting now is a message about hitting the sync limit each day for saves. Like what? Sync everything, why is there a limit to the amount it will sync?

 

[Oghuz]

From what I read on reddit today (slow day at work lol) this error pops up on a game by game basis.
Checks out from my own recent experience. Got the error every single time for Midnight Suns, not once for Ragnarok.



I'm not even the type to get mad at stuff like this bc I work in Enterprise Data management and am often on the receiving end of customer outrage.
That said, this error has been around (for me) since Miles Morales and they still haven't fixed this.
The "fixes" on YouTube all seem to revolve around deleting save files and re-downloading plus re-uploading them, with lots of comments about borked saves and lost progress.

Click to shrink...

That's what scares me as well. I keep worrying that one of these days my save file will actually be corrupted because of this error.

 

[Indelible]

Only get this with Forbidden West, very strange.

 

[Witchcraft]

I get this every single time I turn my console on, it's incredibly annoying.

 

[Ombretoile]

I get this a lot too

 

[AstralSphere]

I get this every so often and it's not really a big deal but it's definitely weird. Like, I still don't understand the point of the error.

It's telling me there's a conflict between my offline storage and my online storage as both are the same. Which means it's working as intended, so no shit they are the same? Then it's telling me to choose one while I'm thinking "I don't care they are the same so just fucking pick one, why are you bothering me with this?"

It's wild that there has been so many system updates and they still haven't addressed it.

 

[andshrew]

I get this every so often and it's not really a big deal but it's definitely weird. Like, I still don't understand the point of the error.

It's telling me there's a conflict between my offline storage and my online storage as both are the same. Which means it's working as intended, so no shit they are the same? Then it's telling me to choose one while I'm thinking "I don't care they are the same so just fucking pick one, why are you bothering me with this?"

It's wild that there has been so many system updates and they still haven't addressed it.

Click to shrink...

While the front end error message is showing you files with what appear to have identical time stamps the actual precision of these timestamps behind the scenes is more than likely far greater than than the hours and minutes it displays - so there likely is a difference in exact timestamps between the two files it's saying are in conflict.

So the question then is are they actually two different files, or is the issue just that something is causing these two timestamps to drift (and what's causing this that seems to affect some people more than others).

 

[AstralSphere]

While the front end error message is showing you files with what appear to have identical time stamps the actual precision of these timestamps behind the scenes is more than likely far greater than than the hours and minutes it displays - so there likely is a difference in exact timestamps between the two files it's saying are in conflict.

So the question then is are they actually two different files, or is the issue just that something is causing these two timestamps to drift (and what's causing this that seems to affect some people more than others).

Click to shrink...

So that makes it even worse. I'm expected to pick one of these different files based on... what exactly?

 

[Arubedo]

Had this issue pop-up with some Assassin's Creed: Valhalla save stored on the Cloud, it bothered me so i deactivated the auto-sync of cloud saves and i do it manually now for games that i want to have saves on the cloud.

 

[Antony]

Thanks for letting me know I should never pay for Plus. I'd be fucking livid.

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I haven't had this a single time in two years.
Isolated issues exist for literally everything everywhere forever.

 

[InfinitePotat0]

With me weirdly enough it only happens to me with forbidden west. And I haven't booted it up since like September so I don't understand why it keeps doing that

 

[Atolm]

This happens to me all the time with GT7

 

[Lkr]

This happens to me all the time with GT7

Click to shrink...

same and I think it's the only game it consistently happens to me with. I always just choose the console save and it has yet to betray me

 

[regenhuber]

While the front end error message is showing you files with what appear to have identical time stamps the actual precision of these timestamps behind the scenes is more than likely far greater than than the hours and minutes it displays - so there likely is a difference in exact timestamps between the two files it's saying are in conflict.

So the question then is are they actually two different files, or is the issue just that something is causing these two timestamps to drift (and what's causing this that seems to affect some people more than others).

Click to shrink...

Can only speculate but from professional experience (data management, currently mainly Windows file service) coupled with reading a bit on reddit my theory (source: my ass) goes like this:

- user or game save, game save "FileX" is written to the local SSD
- cloud snyc operation runs at some point, creating "FileY" on the cloud (not sure if the creating of FileX triggers the sync or it runs every X minutes as a cron job or is tied to putting the PS5 in rest mode/turning it off)
- something goes wrong during the sync job
- File X and Y differ slightly, maybe even just a small chunk of meta data
- PS5 OS can't determine the correct file (X or Y) and has no heal or repair functions for that use case
- user gets prompted to pick but is only given the datecode (look identical)

Most "fixes" online center around deleting files and re uploading them, also looks like people here only get the issue with certain games.
So my best guess is that once you get a sync error on a certain file, you will get it again and again. The procedure built into PS5 OS can't heal it.
IDK might be related to putting the PS5 in rest mode at the wrong moment or WiFi issues who knows.

That said, you really shouldn't experience this type of shit on a 500€, pardon, 550€ device 2 years into it's lifecycle.


ps. I'm probably dead wrong

 

[SecondVariety]

I'm sorry that this is happening to you (and to others). I had it with Spider-Man PS5 a few times and hated it. (takes time, is stupid, makes me worry my save will be corrupt, etc.)
I recommend never using rest mode and not using external hard drives. (Just my best practice recommendation, but I would be curious to see if it improves things for you.)