How to set up a folder to receive files but not delete them

Support
1

I’d like to be able to put files in a folder on one device, sync them, and then later be able to delete them from the first but keep them on the second.

Is there a way to do this?

2

Yes, but it is not recommended. There is an advanced setting named “Ignore Delete” which you can enable to achieve this. See: Syncthing Configuration — Syncthing v2.1.0 documentation

As you can see there, it is highly discouraged. And I believe that the documentation is missing another drawback: The devices will be PERMANENTLY out of sync.

What is you use case? Should you instead look for a backup program or a transfer program?

3

I’m using Syncthing to download files from the remote server to an external hard drive. I want to be able to clear up space on the server while keeping the files on the external hard drive.

I see what you mean about the devices being permanently out of sync. Is there another method you would recommend?

4

Yes, I recommend you use rsync instead.

5

How about simply moving the files to a different folder on the drive once they’ve been downloaded? You could even use external versioning to script this within Syncthing itself (e.g. you delete a file on the server → the file gets moved to a different folder on the external drive).

6

Okay, I can see the setting for external versioning, but how do I use it to script it to do what I want? (Sorry, it’s been many decades since I did scripting and I’m very rusty.)

7

I think you could just reuse the sample scripts from https://docs.syncthing.net/users/versioning.html#external-file-versioning :slightly_smiling_face:.

9

I can’t figure out how to edit my post, so I’m replying instead.

I’m thinking now that I don’t actually want to sync. I want to just download the files from a source folder without regard for what’s in the destination folder. I want to then be able to delete the files from the source folder without affecting the destination folder.

Can anyone recommend an app that would do this?

10

rsync does EXACTLY what you want.

11

Thanks but I decided to do what I need to do a different way. I’m just syncing to a folder on my desktop and then copying the files to the external drive. This way, I can just manually delete the files from the server after copying them. This is also better because I’ll need to switch out the external drive occasionally.

Thanks for your quick responses to my request!