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Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

syncthing.net

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Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#41

Post by KennyBlanken »

commoner wrote: post #26
aborsy wrote: post #23

A couple of questions. * Is there an iOS app on agenda? * Can I choose something like S3 or even Dropbox (yes!) to be a central server (more precisely a peer)?

* There doesn't seem to be much progress on an official iOS app, but it is something that users are asking for.[1] An unofficial closed source app called Möbius Sync does exist for iOS.[2] * S3 and Dropbox are not officially supported,[3] but you can always sync one of your Syncthing nodes to cloud storage on your own.[4] [1] https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/issues/102 [2] https://www.mobiussync.com [3] https:/…

...the whole point of syncthing is that you avoid "the cloud" and all its privacy nightmares. I'm baffled people do this.

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#42

Post by reacharavindh »

snvzz wrote: post #37

Not a fan[0]. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20210226183330/https://www.gkaya...

I stopped taking them seriously when they wrote - “ I saw that it complained that the .stfolders did not exist. So I went ahead and created them, but by mistake, I created empty text files instead of empty folders. Did not realise it and left it to work in the background.”

First, backups! Never trust any software to not have a bug.

Secondly, if you don’t know what you are doing, may be don’t create random config files and hope the software deals with it. That’s in the “neither power user, nor dumb user” category that most software will not be designed for.

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#44

Post by nuerow »

reacharavindh wrote: post #42
snvzz wrote: post #37

Not a fan[0]. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20210226183330/https://www.gkaya...

I stopped taking them seriously when they wrote - “ I saw that it complained that the .stfolders did not exist. So I went ahead and created them, but by mistake, I created empty text files instead of empty folders. Did not realise it and left it to work in the background.” First, backups! Never trust any software to not have a bug. Secondly, if you don’t know what you are doing, may be don’t create random config file…

> Secondly, if you don’t know what you are doing, may be don’t create random config files and hope the software deals with it.

This sounds like a variant of the old "you're holding it wrong" blurb.

The problem you're commenting on actually describe a multitude of problems with the application, specially how it causes data loss if it's config happens to get corrupted.

The comment about the need to back up data also seems to not take into account that the service is already used to back up data across multiple devices.

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#45

Post by phil-martin »

nuerow wrote: post #44
reacharavindh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped taking them seriously when they wrote - “ I saw that it complained that the .stfolders did not exist. So I went ahead and created them, but by mistake, I created empty text files instead of empty folders. Did not realise it and left it to work in the background.” First, backups! Never trust any software to not have a bug. Secondly, if you don’t know what you are doing, may be don’t create random config file…

> Secondly, if you don’t know what you are doing, may be don’t create random config files and hope the software deals with it. This sounds like a variant of the old "you're holding it wrong" blurb. The problem you're commenting on actually describe a multitude of problems with the application, specially how it causes data loss if it's config happens to get corrupted. The comment about the need to back up data also se…

It may have already been used as a backup system, but it was not made for that, and they even answered that in their FAQ. It was this question that stopped me setting it up, because it made me realise I was after a backup solution, not just a synchronisation tool

" Is Syncthing my ideal backup application?

No. Syncthing is not a great backup application because all changes to your files (modifications, deletions, etc.) will be propagated to all your devices. You can enable versioning, but we encourage you to use other tools to keep your data safe from your (or our) mistakes. "

https://docs.syncthing.net/users/faq.html#is-syncthing-my-id...

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#46

Post by Tomte »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #40
Tomte wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second this. Works flawlessly, is rather cheap, and the developers encourage donations to the main SyncThing project.

How is "you have to manually copy files around every time you want to use them" "works flawlessly"? Have you not seen how stuff is supposed to work with cloud storage providers in iOS? Because it's indistinguishable in function from local on-device storage.

My use cases may be simpler than yours, but I don't copy files around.

I usually sync PDF and epub files to my iPad and open them directly from the sync folder in Apple Books.

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#47

Post by commoner »

snvzz wrote: post #37

Not a fan[0]. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20210226183330/https://www.gkaya...

That's a tragic incident. However, it doesn't look like the author enabled file versioning in Syncthing, which would have retained a copy of all of the deleted files on the computer:

https://docs.syncthing.net/users/versioning.html

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#49

Post by heinrichhartman »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #41
commoner wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* There doesn't seem to be much progress on an official iOS app, but it is something that users are asking for.[1] An unofficial closed source app called Möbius Sync does exist for iOS.[2] * S3 and Dropbox are not officially supported,[3] but you can always sync one of your Syncthing nodes to cloud storage on your own.[4] [1] https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/issues/102 [2] https://www.mobiussync.com [3] https:/…

...the whole point of syncthing is that you avoid "the cloud" and all its privacy nightmares. I'm baffled people do this.

off-site backup?

Re: Syncthing – a continuous file synchronization program

#50

Post by pmontra »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #39
vegai_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The biggest bummer is that there's no iOS client. https://www.mobiussync.com/

Okay, I guess I should qualify that and say that there's no iOS client that is actually practical to use . NextCloud integrates into iOS's Files app pretty tightly as a 'storage provider' or whatever Apple calls it. End result is that my password database is magically up-to-date whenever I go to use it in my password manager, probably because Files sees an app trying to access the file, pings NextCloud to say "yo, is…

I sometimes have the same problem with Android apps that store their files into their private folders, protected by the OS. I can't use Syncthing to backup those files to my computer. Either the app lets me configure the storage location to something that the other apps can access or I uninstall it and use a different app that lets me do that. If the OS gets into the way of what I want to do, oh well, that's one of the reasons why I'm using Android and not iOS. Android gets in the way but not at much as iOS seems to do.

A better way should be creating a whitelist of apps that can access the storage of other apps. Gpx tracker app? Add Syncthing to its whitelist, and the file manager I use instead of the system one.

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