The Newton Connection will only search through folders that recide within its folder. It looks for folders whose name contains the user name in the MessagePad. It will not search the whole hard drive or ask the user to locate the sync file. If the folder is moved or renamed, NCK will create a new one.
When the Newton Connection finds a folder whose name contains the user name, it opens the "user name's Newton" file. This is done to compare the ID number stored in the file to ID number in the MessagePad. This changes the modification date of the file. If the numbers are the same, NCK uses this file.
Newton Connection continues the above process until it has found the correct synchronization file or runs out of folders. If it can not find the correct sync file, it creates a new folder and sync files.
The only files where the modification dates are the same are the Newton files. The archive, backup and card files are not touched so their modification dates are different and can be used to find the latest sync files.
Another way to find the most current sync files is to check the creation date on the folder. The most recently created folder has the most recent creation date. The folder should also have the highest "user name x's" number.