This is probably going to sound very naive, so I apologize in advance.
Is Syncthing an actual application? I managed to get it downloaded (I think… I haven’t really had to unzip files to use an application before, I’ve always just used the download wizard I’m given), and I noticed there seems to be no actual icon for the application. I’m really not used to this - every single piece of software I use on my laptop came with a simple installation wizard and then an icon for the application appeared that I could double click on to open the application, nice and easy.
On the getting started guide, it says you can manage your Syncthing folders through https://localhost:8384/, yet I can’t access this site. At first I thought it was just because my default Firefox profile has a bunch of cookie cleaning addons and other content blockers installed, but I created a fresh Firefox profile just for the purpose of accessing the site and it still didn’t work. I was able to access the site when I first ‘downloaded’ Syncthing, but had to exit rather abrutply because something came up and I had to turn off my laptop. When I was briefly on the site, I noticed that if I tried moving or even just renaming the Sync folder (so I don’t get it confused with the folder on my computer used for Sync the cloud service), the site told me the folder could no longer be accessed. I changed everything back and then the file became accessible again.
I’m using Windows 10. I’d like to be able to use Syncthing to sync the contents of my local My Documents folder with one or more Cryptomator vaults, to get encryption + automatic syncing before backing up my vault(s) to the cloud. I don’t have much experience using applications like Syncthing though, and the UI is seriously intimidating to me.
For windows you probably should get SyncTrayzor, it’s a wrapper for Syncthing - meaning it runs syncthing and gets you a nice user interface to use it.
(You probably want to download “SyncTrayzorSetup-x64.exe” file, and then follow the instructions)
Now, I’m not sure what are you trying to achieve with syncthing. It’s main purpose is to securely sync folders on different devices across network.
Sounds to me that you are trying to sync two folders on the same computer. If that’s the case, (while it is possible) I don’t think that syncthing would be the optimal tool for that.
SyncTrayzor looks like it could help me a lot, thanks for the suggestion! Is it also open source and audited like Syncthing?
Sounds to me that you are trying to sync two folders on the same computer. If that’s the case, (while it is possible) I don’t think that syncthing would be the optimal tool for that.
Why do you think it wouldn’t be optimal? What I’d like to do is be able to use a third party encryption tool like cryptomator or veracrypt to encrypt my files before uploading them to the cloud, while still maintaining the automatic file syncing feature found in services like Dropbox that’s so important to maintaining an up-to-date backup. I’d like to avoid self-hosting if I can. If Syncthing doesn’t seem like the best tool for this task, what other software would you recommend that’s better suited for my needs? Finding something audited and open source is important to me, even if it means I have to pay.
If one of the folders is in the cloud (more specifically, in a cryptomator or veracrypt vault inside the cloud folder), does that still count as two folders on the same computer? I thought this was possible.
If it isn’t, what other software would you recommend that’s open source and audited like Syncthing to get the job done?
Syncthing needs an execution environment, where to run the process that does the syncing, if you want to sync A to B, it needs an environment for A and a separate environment for B.
Ok, so a local folder and the cloud folder aren’t separate environments (I assumed since the cloud is involved, they would be considered separate). If it doesn’t seem like Syncthing is the right tool for what I’m trying to do, do you have any suggestions for alternative software that’s similarly open source and audited that could get the job done?
Lots of good info already. I’ll give a shot, guessing at your background.
Syncthing ~can~ be seen simply as a command line program run by each individual user on a system. Unzip the file, drop to the Win10 command line and run the unzipped program named “Syncthing”.
You’ll learn a lot. First off, Syncthing will return text messages telling you what it is doing. Then it will eventually look (on the command line windows) like it is doing nothing. Leave the window open.
Then (after the command line log shows it’s done getting ready) go to a browser and go to the webpage http://127.0.0.1:8384. Syncthing will answer and let you see the control panel. That is the User Interface. You can also go edit some files manually if you want to, but there is probably no need.
There are other programs you can run with Syncthing that will make it fancier or add features or run slightly different. Your idea of syncing My Documents with Cryptomator vaults might not work if it’s all on the same computer. I use Encfs to encrypt the files on one of the sync cluster nodes, and then send the encrypted files off-site.
Oops (in a good way)… if you run the program typing only “syncthing” on the command line, it will print the text messages and automatically try to open the web browser automatically. If that doesn’t happen due to some configuration on your computer, use the command line option to ~not~ open a browser window automatically, and then you can manually open a web browser and go to that web page.