I moved from next cloud to syncthing some months back. I had nextcloud as an app for Truenas scale. Several times after app dates, next cloud would stop running and would have to setup up everything again.

Syncthing is OK but 2 things annoy me:

A. I get huge amounts of conflict file generated that use up space

B. File sharing with family is complicated. I tried to setup a share account that everyone uses but as syncthing works with device ids, it refuses two accounts from the same machine. I share my Linux laptop with my wife. We each have our own linux account. I’ve got syncthing running but can’t even get my wife’s account to sync because I get errors that device I’d already exists.

I don’t want to go back to next cloud just for file sharing. I don’t generally like the idea of relying on one service for multiple objectives (calendar, file sharing, etc.).

Is there a way to get syncthing to do what I want?

  • i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 hours ago

    Does Syncthing actually work with device IDs? It seems to work with encryption keys which should be stored in the user directory, at least if Syncthing is running as a user. Is the problem just that you have two machines with the same name in the same network? You can change the name.

  • ahal@lemmy.ca
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    9 hours ago

    Why not both?

    I use syncthing for transferring files around my local network, and nextcloud for sharing files with others.

    IMO these are related tools but designed with very separate use cases. Use the right tool for the job.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        Surely you could run Syncthing in a docker container or flatpak or something to force it to work on the same machine. I don’t know what mechanism is used, but you can spoof a lot on Linux.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
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    13 hours ago

    I use syncthing like you on a Linux laptop with two users. You need to run two instances of syncthing on two different ports then there is no problem.

    • trilobite@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 hours ago

      Let me get this straight. Ur saying that on the laptop I have two instances, one for me and one for my wife and they both sync to nas instance. I have syncthing installed via apt on my Debian laptop. How do u get two instances going?

      • Jeena@piefed.jeena.net
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        7 hours ago

        Yes exactly, but not only to the NAS but also between each other.

        First you need to change the UI port on the second user, to do that you have to change it in the config XML file for that user.

        Once done you can start both instances at the same time. How do you start it now? I’m starting it with systems, and there is the way to start it for each user seperatelly on boot with:

        systemctl enable syncthing@myuser.service
        systemctl start syncthing@myuser.service

  • JASN_DE@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    There are other options available, especially if you just want file sharing. Pydio Cells, Owncloud Infinite Scale, a custom WebDAV setup, etc.

    What are your main goals? Do you want all data on all machines, or all files on a central server and only sync what you want?

    How did you set up Syncthing on your laptop?

  • Matt The Horwood@lemmy.horwood.cloud
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    13 hours ago

    I would say that for just file sync nextcloud is over kill, but I have invested a lot of time into getting my nextcloud install rock solid. Upgrades are painless and am about to move it to a new host.

    So use it for file sync, including backups from things. Calendar & contact sync, RSS reader, kanboard, photo sync and more.

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
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    13 hours ago

    Maybe take a look at Owncloud’s new server. It’s supposed to be much faster and I imagine simpler as well.