First: thank you! I used this program to great effect backing up my photos via a pixel 1 (which has unlimited photo backup capabilities).
My (day 1) issue with windows:
I have a rather large backup of my movie database on my univ. google team drive.
Movies are organized in folders beginning with letters (ex A, B, C,…)
Using windows & google file stream I have mounted my google team drive (G).
Problem: G:\Movies\ contains folders (A-Z) whose contents are more than 18TB of data (the size of one of my two local drives).
The windows version doesn’t appear to have the ability to set the location for each folder that I want to backup locally.
Is there a way to save only folders A-K on drive (G) and L-Z on my 2nd (H)? Am I missing something?
My quick reading of the settings is that the system wants to save everything (all folders I choose to backup) to one singular local folder.
When adding a new folder to Syncthing, there is a step which allows you to select the path, including drive. There is a default drive and path in that field, but you may edit it.
Unless you have configured Syncthing to automatically accept share requests…
Hi, me again. Reading your post again, I don’t understand what you mean. You have G on your computer and you want to sync parts of G to H on the same computer? Correct?
Problem 1: Syncthing can sync folders between computers. If you really want to sync folders on the same computer, you can run two Syncthing instances on the same computer, but this is a bit complicated. You are probably better off choosing a sync tool which can do local sync. I think Freefilesync is such a tool.
Problem 2: Syncthing performance when syncing the top level, for example “G:” is a bit bad. It needs to poll the entire drive to detect changed files, because apparently the file watcher does not work on top drive level.
Problem 3: Yes, you can sync parts of a folder by using excludes. Read the docs for more information.
Although syncing with versioning seems to behave differently. I’m using Staggered File Versioning to keep the last 120 days of files, shared over 6 devices (all share with each other). Versioning is only set on one (Synology NAS), and all are Read/Write. Deleting a file on one does not delete that file on any other, and does not show as an error.
Having said that, I did expect it to delete the file on all devices, just not those in the “.stversions” folder on the NAS. Editing it on another device then recreates it on the device from which it was deleted.
Nevertheless, versioning seems to be pretty close to a backup to me.
You have to remember to enable versioning on some remote device. You have to make sure the devices are connected for versioning to happen. You have to make sure the other device is not failing to version (or even sync).
Yes. “seems” and “close” as you said, but just that.
It’s still not a backup solution. There is very little indication when things stop working for the purposes of it being a backup solution.
Also there’s a few relevant bugs upon on versioning, and that’s only the ones known. It’s not exactly a core feature for Syncthing, let alone battle tested like a real backup solution (which are (at least good ones) tested very thoroughly because backups are critical).
To tell the truth, one of the advantages of using versioning inside Syncthing is that it’s very easy to set up and already included in the software. Most non-tech-savvy computer users are never going to be able to install and configure a more robust backup solution, as they simply lack the technological knowledge and skills required for it.
Sure, I am not saying it’s bad to use it - it’s better than nothing and good as one layer of many in your data protection setup. I still wont stop telling people about real backups - if 1 out of 10 listens that’s a win.
There isn’t, directly. What you can do is make each letter its own folder, then you can place them individually. It’s a certain amount of clicking to set up initially, but when done it should be fine.
Alternatively you could run two separate instances of Syncthing, share the folder with both, and on each instance you ignore half of the folder (A-K on one and L-Z on the other). That’s more of an ugly hack though.
Reading your post again, I don’t understand what you mean. You have G on your computer and you want to sync parts of G to H on the same computer? Correct?