Photo storage like a Google Photo in windows

[orodec]

Thanks for this software, I am writing about my experience to help others.

I installed the latest release v1.27.4 and everything worked perfectly. However, I realized that when I delete a photo on my mobile, it doesn’t delete on my PC. This is because the goal of Syncthing is to synchronize both folders.

After reading the documentation and some forum posts about configuring “Ignore Delete” or “Send Only” settings, I understood the best way to make this work:

1. Install Syncthing to synchronize a folder with your phone.

2. Create another folder on your PC as “photoHub.”

3. Create a “savePhoto.bat” file with this command inside:

   robocopy C:\syncthing\Camera C:\photoHub /E /Z /MT /LOG+:myLogRobocopy

4. Enjoy.

Explanation: Robocopy is a command in the Windows cmd, where the first parameter is the source folder, the second parameter is the destination folder, and the following parameters are convenient but not important in this context. When the command runs, it copies the files from the source to the destination only if the file doesn’t exist in the destination folder or if the file has changed. On the other hand, if you delete a file in the source, running the command will not delete the file in the destination.

This setup allows me to save my photos and videos on my PC. When the photo is in “photoHub” I can delete it on my phone, and it will disappear from the Syncthing folder but remain saved in “photoHub”

Please make sure to test this setup and understand everything before deleting your photos/videos, as they will not return.

For convenience in day-to-day use, I automated the task using the Windows Task Scheduler to run at PC startup. I run two tasks:

1. Start syncthing.exe (see video for quick start).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QcO8ikxzxA
2. Run savePhoto.bat

That’s all, thanks.

[acolomb (André Colomb)]

Another common option is to just use the PC for moving the files to your “photoHub” folder - instead of deleting them on the phone. Then let the deletion sync back to the phone normally.

This might have the advantage of a bigger screen while deciding which photos to keep in the synced folder. But on the other hand you might not have your PC at hand when there’s time to sort out old pictures, while the phone is in reach to do the same. Your choice, based on your requirements.