diff --git a/lib/services_start.php b/lib/services_start.php
index b889b6bed..8421239cf 100644
--- a/lib/services_start.php
+++ b/lib/services_start.php
@@ -1,35 +1,59 @@
-<?php if ($config['remotebuzzer_enabled']):
-	$connection = @fsockopen('127.0.0.1', $config['remotebuzzer_port']);
+<?php
 
-	if (! is_resource($connection))
-	{
-		if ($config['dev'])
-		{
-			$logfile = $config['folders']['tmp']."/".$config['remotebuzzer_logfile'];
-		}
-		else
-		{ $logfile = "/dev/null"; }
+require_once(__DIR__ . '/config.php');
 
-		print ("\t<!-- Remote Buzzer Enabled --- starting server -->\n");
+function processIsRunning ($pName, $pidFile) {
+        if (file_exists($pidFile))
+        {
+                exec("pgrep -F ".$pidFile, $output, $return);
+                if ($return == 0) { return true; } // process is active
+                unlink ($pidFile); // remove stale PID file
+        }
 
-		proc_close(proc_open ($config['nodebin']['cmd']." resources/js/remotebuzzer_server.js 1>>".$logfile." 2>&1 &", array(), $foo));
+        exec("pgrep -a -f ".$pName, $output, $return);
+        return count($output)-1 ? true : false ; // true if process is active
+}
 
-	} else {
-	       print ("\t<!-- Remote Buzzer Enabled --- server already started (port in use) -->\n");
-	}
 
-?>
-<script type="text/javascript" src="node_modules/socket.io-client/dist/socket.io.slim.js"></script>
-
-<?php endif;
-
-    if ($config['synctodrive_enabled'] && !file_exists($config['folders']['tmp'].'/synctodrive_server.pid') {
-      	if ($config['dev']) {
-	      $logfile = $config['folders']['tmp']."/".$config['synctodrive_logfile'];
-		}
-		else { $logfile = "/dev/null"; }
-		
-		print ("\t<!-- Sync To Drive enabled --- starting server -->\n");
-		proc_close(proc_open ($config['nodebin']['cmd']." resources/js/sync-to-drive.js 1>>".$logfile." 2>&1 &", array(), $foo));
-	}
+if ($config['remotebuzzer_enabled']) {
+        $connection = @fsockopen('127.0.0.1', $config['remotebuzzer_port']);
+
+        if (! is_resource($connection))
+        {
+                if ($config['dev'])
+                {
+                        $logfile = $config['foldersAbs']['tmp']."/".$config['remotebuzzer_logfile'];
+                }
+                else
+                { $logfile = "/dev/null"; }
+
+                print ("\t<!-- Remote Buzzer enabled --- starting server -->\n");
+
+                proc_close(proc_open ($config['nodebin']['cmd']." resources/js/remotebuzzer_server.js 1>>".$logfile." 2>&1 &", array(), $foo));
+
+        } else {
+               print ("\t<!-- Remote Buzzer Enabled --- server already started (port in use) -->\n");
+        }
+
+        print("\t<script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"node_modules/socket.io-client/dist/socket.io.slim.js\"></script>\n");
+}
+
+if ($config['synctodrive_enabled']) {
+            if ($config['dev']) {
+                 $logfile = $config['foldersAbs']['tmp']."/".$config['synctodrive_logfile'];
+            }
+            else {
+                 $logfile = "/dev/null";
+            }
+
+            if ( processIsRunning("sync-to-drive.js",$config['foldersAbs']['tmp'].'/synctodrive_server.pid'))
+            {
+               print ("\t<!-- Sync To Drive enabled --- server already active -->\n");
+            }
+            else
+            {
+               print ("\t<!-- Sync To Drive enabled --- starting server -->\n");
+               proc_close(proc_open ($config['nodebin']['cmd']." resources/js/sync-to-drive.js 1>>".$logfile." 2>&1 &", array(), $foo));
+            }
+}
 ?>
diff --git a/lib/services_stop.php b/lib/services_stop.php
index 9e153ec77..739aa8399 100644
--- a/lib/services_stop.php
+++ b/lib/services_stop.php
@@ -5,48 +5,29 @@
 
 function killProcessIfActive($pName, $pidFile, $logfileName)
 {
-	global $config;
-
-	if (file_exists($pidFile))
-	{
-		$myfile = fopen($pidFile, "r");
-		$procPID = fread($myfile,100);
-		fclose($myfile);
-
-		posix_kill($procPID, 9);
-
-		unlink ($pidFile);
-
-		if ($config['dev'])
-		{
-			$logfile = $config['folders']['tmp']."/".$logfileName;
-			$fp = fopen("../".$logfile, 'a');//opens file in append mode.
-			fwrite($fp, "Service Control [ config ]: Photobooth config has changed, kill existing $pName process (PID ".$procPID.") and remove PID file\n");
-			fclose($fp);
-		}
-	}
-	else
-	{
-		exec("pgrep -f ".$pName,$pids);
-
-		if (count($pids) > 1) {
-		   foreach ($pids as $procPID) {
-		   	if ($config['dev'])
-			{	
-				$logfile = $config['folders']['tmp']."/".$logfileName;
-				$fp = fopen("../".$logfile, 'a');//opens file in append mode.
-				fwrite($fp, "Service Control [ config ]: Photobooth config has changed, killed processes by name ".$pName." -> ".$procPID."\n");
-				fclose($fp);
-			}
-
-			posix_kill($procPID, 9);
-		   }
-		}
-
-	}
-}
+        global $config;
+
+        exec("pgrep -f ".$pName,$pids);
+
+        if (count($pids) > 1) {
+           foreach ($pids as $procPID) {
+                if ($config['dev'])
+                {
+                        $logfile = $config['foldersAbs']['tmp']."/".$logfileName;
+                        $fp = fopen($logfile, 'a');//opens file in append mode.
+                        fwrite($fp, "Service Control [ config ]: Photobooth config has changed, killed processes by name ".$pName." -> PID ".$procPID."\n");
+                        fclose($fp);
+                }
+
+                posix_kill($procPID, 9);
+           }
+        }
 
+        if (file_exists($pidFile)) { unlink ($pidFile); }
+
+}
 
 killProcessIfActive('remotebuzzer_server.js','../'.$config['folders']['tmp'].'/remotebuzzer_server.pid',$config['remotebuzzer_logfile']);
 killProcessIfActive('sync-to-drive.js','../'.$config['folders']['tmp'].'/synctodrive_server.pid',$config['synctodrive_logfile']);
+
 ?>
diff --git a/src/js/sync-to-drive.js b/src/js/sync-to-drive.js
index 9a21da844..a7116f088 100755
--- a/src/js/sync-to-drive.js
+++ b/src/js/sync-to-drive.js
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ const isProcessRunning = (processName) => {
 
 const writePIDFile = (filename) => {
     try {
-        fs.writeFileSync(filename, PID, {mode: 'wx'});
+        fs.writeFileSync(filename, PID, {flag: 'w'});
         log(`PID file created [${filename}]`);
     } catch (err) {
         throw new Error(`Unable to write PID file [${filename}] - ${err.message}`);