I read an article about this software this weekend and it sounds exactly like what I’m looking for to backup my son’s Linux box to our Windows home server, however I have a question. Before I moved him to Linux I was backing up his Windows machine to a folder on the server, can Syncthing be set to send his files to a specific folder?
In this situation you’d install Syncthing on his Linux box, and your Windows server.
Each instance has its own configuration for the shared folder. So on his server you tell it to send /users/jake
, and on your Windows box you tell it to receive those files and put them in d:\backups\jake
.
Totally configurable on both ends. And make sure that you set his end to be a send only folder, and yours to be receive only. That way you can’t accidentally modify something on your end and have it be pushed back to him.
Not really knowing the app but this sounds completely doable. Thanks for the info!
I’ll just add that since Syncthing isn’t intended as a standalone backup tool, consider using its file versioning feature if your Windows Home server doesn’t already have its own backup system. If there’s no existing backup system, then the better solution would be to use a dedicated backup tool on your son’s Linux box.
Thanks for the related info gadget!
johnnydecimal, I know I have an old server being it’s running Server 2008 R2 but do you know if there’s a Windows version that will run on that? I’m getting a message the app won’t install because of the Windows version
You need Syncthing v1.27.0. Please remember that you also must launch it with automatic upgrades disabled or it otherwise it will upgrade itself immediately on start and then fail to run anymore.
Thanks for the info tomasz86, I’ll give that version a try!
tomasz86, that version did in fact install but didn’t install a GUI. Is there 1.27 version that does have a GUI or maybe I installed it wrong?
The GUI is accessible at http://localhost:8384 by default, if you didn’t know. Is that accessible for you?
Thanks Marcus! I’m check that out when I get home tonight
That URL doesn’t seem to be accessible and I’m a little concerned that I need to run such an old version. I actually found Pika Backup and it seems to be doing what I need. How can I remove that old version from my Windows server, it doesn’t show up in Programs and Features?
With all due respect, are you really concerned about Syncthing v1.27.0, which was released in December 2023, while running Windows Server 2008 R2 that has been unsupported since January 2020?
If you’ve just downloaded and launched the bare syncthing.exe
binary, then it won’t appear installed anywhere. If you don’t want to use it, you can just delete the file.
You also must access that localhost GUI URL on the same machine that you set Syncthing up on.