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Comment by panzerklein | Hacker News Reader

I setup Syncthing [1] to do the same for my vimwiki folder. It was surprisingly easy, and doesn't require any external storage services. And it can even automatically sync files without internet, over the local network.

[1] https://syncthing.net/

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I've used Syncthing and it's excellent. But for me, the lack of a mobile app was a dealbreaker. Even though it's not open source, I switched to Resilio Sync[1] (formerly known as btsync). It ticks all the other boxes, and just works amazingly well. I want to support them so I sprang for the $20 one time Pro license which adds selective sync and a few other nice features.

[1] https://www.resilio.com/individuals/

Syncthing does have a mobile app https://f-droid.org/packages/com.nutomic.syncthingandroid/

For Android yes, but the GP is likely using iOS where no such client seems to exist.

I used fsync when using I bought an apple device https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882

It's lacking and has a weird workflow, but at least it worked for me. Didn't test it too much as I hated the apple experience and gave away the device.

The reviews would show you that it no longer works at all for iOS 12 and beyond.

That's correct.

Does Resilio sync encrypt the file names and folders during sync or just the data?

All traffic between peers is encrypted. You can read more about the encryption below[1]. You can also create encrypted (at rest) folders[2] for replicating via public clouds while still maintaining 100% privacy.

[1] https://help.resilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/205451025-Can-oth...

[2] https://help.resilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/207370466-Encrypt...

I use Syncthing for my KeepassX on 6 computers (Linux) and my phone. My music folder too. My photos folder between 3 computers. And then we use Syncthing to sharo Call of Duty maps between 5 people (Mac, Windows). All in all I really like it. I also start it with systemd on Linux.

I've been using Syncthing for more than a year across ~6 machines to keep them in sync. It works great for more complex setups than the article describes.

If you don't need mobile support, you (not parent, but someone else reading this) should try Unison. I use it and can vouch for its reliability, and if your use case is simple (sync files between N computers with a central server), then it's probably the best tool for the job as it's considerably faster than syncthing.

Yay Unison! I also use it and love it. I use it to back local servers up to the central file service, another copy flings to a remote server. Very fast, very happy. I'd love for it to do the collection of iThings, but Unison grabs the iTunes files, so I use that path.

Just had a look, definitely looks amazing especially this particular feature for ignoring files [1]. I've been waiting so long for this in Dropbox.

[1] https://docs.syncthing.net/users/ignoring.html

You can simply use grep to ignore files using the entr + rclone script ;-)

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question:

If I have my desktop and my laptop, both using syncthing, does one (my desktop) need to always be online for me to sync files from my other device (my laptop)?

I'd love to use something else besides Dropbox, but it's convenient that Dropbox works as the middleman that is always operating.

It can only sync data between devices that are operating of course. But if you have three devices A,B,C then it can also sync A-B and later sync B-C, or sync A-C directly if both are running.

> It can only sync data between devices that are operating of course.

What does this mean? Does my desktop always need to be on? Or, can I change a file on my laptop, then, when I turn on my desktop, get those changes on the same file?

It means you need both computers to be on at the same time to sync between them. Alternatively you can spend $5/mo for a server to handle the syncing between laptop and desktop in the way the grandparent described.

Or plug in something small like a raspberry pi with an external USB hard drive.

I do exactly this regularly, but it only works because for my most important folders (like personal documents), _somewhere_ I have a device online that is facilitating the sync. In my case, my Desktop, Laptop, mobile phone (Android), and a Cloud Server that I use for other things.

To answer the question most directly: If you have only your desktop and your laptop, then for the sync to work, at some point they both need to be powered on and online at the same time. This is one area where syncthing is a bit weaker than some other cloud-backed options; at that point you're essentially paying a service provider to replace the cloud server in my personal setup with their own always-on solution. Personally I prefer not to rely on a third-party, depending on your goals though you should pick a solution that makes sense for you.

You would need to have a chronological chain of pairs of devices operating at the same time, beginning with your laptop and ending with your desktop.

I tend to use my phone to ferry information between home pc and work pc. If I change something in my sync folder at work, I'll run sync thing on the pc and phone before leaving, then run it on my home pc and phone when I want the information to update on my home pc.

Another option is to simply have a third system (eg your own server) which is constantly operating on the Internet and running sync thing.

Though very useful, syncthing unfortunately uses direct communication which leads to problems with port forwarding.

They have relay servers.

Thanks, did know about that! https://relays.syncthing.net and https://docs.syncthing.net/users/relaying.html .

Sadly, the Android-App still can't save stuff on the SD card. My main show-stopper.

It's an Android permission issue. Put it into /sdcardX/Android/data/com.nutomic.syncthingandroid/files/ and Syncthing can write to the folder just fine.

The devs should fix this.

They fundamentally cannot fix it. Unless you mean the people developing Android.

Other apps can use the SD card just fine. Example: Nextcloud

Nextcloud has the exact same SD limitation of needing an app-specific folder. For syncthing it's Android/data/com.nutomic.syncthingandroid/files/ and for nextcloud it's Android/media/com.nextcloud.client.

I don't mind an app specific folder. The app should do it for you.

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