Syncthing Tutorial: Open Source & Private File Sync Made Simple

41 thoughts on “Syncthing Tutorial: Open Source & Private File Sync Made Simple”

• There's a really big issue with syncthing corrupting its database randomly, an issue that they haven't fix it yet. I've stopped using it because of this.

• Realizing that "…Made Simple" is a relative term

• The only thing I wish it could do is sync at certain times of the day. So every morning at 1am it would sync. Other than that it’s great

• 4:34 that already answers my use: untrusted encrypted servers

• Thanks for the updated video on Syncthing I’ve since setup the ssh config trick for my remote system configuration and tunnelling.

• Syncthing is no longer available on the google play store for android ?
  I can't find it when I search for the application

• My latest FUN use for this has been to sync my emulator saves/states between my Deck and PC(s). Even doing this with PS3, Switch etc. I wrote a guide where these are set for the deck on Emudecks wiki. I then have them hardlink into separate easy to find folders for my use case as well with versioning, no wiki for that though.

• Any idea why my syncthing sync only gives me a bunch of .tmp files and "out of sync" notice on the receiving end? Since it seems to already have started why cant it finish the process?

• Excellent .. Thank You for sharing .. Cheers 🙂

• Thanks Tom. I remember you talking about Syncthing on your podcast. I do "binge listen" on your podcast when I do the 15 hour marathon drive from L.A. to Bend, Or. Now I need to learn how to do a VPN connection with Syncthing on my 3 property servers in Colorado, Oregon, and California.

• Excellent video loved your vids a few years ago this was great refresh and update thank you

• I recently added SyncThing to my home network to sync between my Linux desktop and my Macbook Pro.
  I also have Samba networking and I use Synergy from Symless to control both machines from the same keyboard and mouse.

• Hey Tom, when will they include time scheduling sync tasks as an option?

• I've been using a program call Synctrazor which appears to be cut from the same cloth, and it's worked perfectly for the handful of documents I keep synced between my desktop and laptop, but Syncthing seems like it would be a good upgrade, since it can also be installed on an android tablet. That would be a nice time saver for the single file I have to transfer to my wife's tablet every so often.
  Thanks for the tutorial.

• I use ST on several devices ( desktop, NAS's, laptops ). When it works, it works well. When it doesn't work, it's a pain. The most recurring issue that I have experience and seen in online forums is out of sync files and folders and this is quite a widespread problem. Even when everything is in sync, ST will often say that it's not. And, fixing a real or non-existent problem is often not very intuitive. It's a community project and the coders seem to think that we users are all familiar with accessing and using the command line interface to issue commands to fix a buggered up database index. Could they add a command to the GUI ? Undoubtedly, but they don't. I do really appreciate their efforts but it would be nice to add these little things for the not quite as technically astute users.

• Many awesome products cost nothing. I only wonder why? When you need to pay $$$ for crappy products as CrowdStrike.

• can this run on windows without being logged in, as a service

• I started using BitTorrent Sync years ago and have been using it since. It was rebranded so something less sketchy. I should try Syncthing though. It looks nice.

• Again ?

• As part of my home lab and self hosting journey i was looking to add file synchronization from my phone and other devices. This tutorial fits the bill perfectly. Thank you

• Very useful video on a very useful file utility!
  I wasn't aware of the feature of an untrusted syncthing server.

• Throughput limitation around 200 Mbps even over LAN. It’s useful but could be better in that department.

• Syncthing sucks on Windows in my experience.

• Last night I decided to become a SyncThing guy and today the Gods of content provided me this 🙏

• With dropbox you get 3 free devices where you can install dropbox directly. when that is not enough it is perfect to use syncthing to just sync from one computer with dropbox active to the rest, easy way to have an online backup of everything but still a local copy on all devices.

  Also, ever had to move tons of photos from a family memebers computer when you setting up a new computer for them? syncthing is awsome in those cases, just move the photos so quick.

• I'm a photographer and I use Lightroom classic on two different computers. I've been looking for a way to be able to sync my catalog files between them, since they cannot be run from a network share. I was about to pay for AOMEI software, this looks like it will work just fine!

• It’s really easy to set up but very slow, after tuning it I consistently get 30mb/s. I used it to sync my primary media NAS to my backup NAS and to update the backup NAS once a month. When I turn it on once a month it has to scan the source before syncing and it seriously affects system performance. You can’t watch Plex if it’s running a scan on the same server (36 core Xeon V4 Supermicro server with 256GB RAM and a 10G network) and it will consume 40-50% CPU until it’s done, which is often days as I have 120TB of media.

• On Windows, SyncthingTray is really good. More features

• I use this on Anfroid to sync my KeePass database

• thank you.

• Use syncthing to dump content (one way sync) from several pc's to a nas (truenas) for archiving. Nas generates daily snapshots. Once a week these snapshots are replicated to another nas.

• Thanks for the nice clear tutorial Tom. I know I'm being pedantic, but Jay will understand why this bugs me. Can you please look up "explicit vs implicit". When you enter a specific IP address, that's explicitly defining it. 😉

• THX bro.

• Great video! I think Syncthing is just what I need to do some targeted backups!

• I've been using Syncthing to synchronize my use of Joplin between my Android phone and laptop since one of your previous videos. Unfortunately ever since Android introduced scoped storage the two applications aren't allowed to view each other's folders. My solution so far is to run a horribly outdated version of Joplin, not subject to the scoped storage rules. Do you know of a better way to deal with this?

• Sorry if it was said in the video and I missed it, but is there also a way to automatically trigger syncs or schedule them to start syncing like every Saturday or last Saturday of a week?
  I have a second server which I only power on when I need to sync data/the HDDs are spun down and I dont want to run them all the time.
  I would be ok with it having a manual way to start a sync but if it has a way to scedule it, it would be perfect.

• Tom's my IT hero.

• Why my comment has been removed after I attached the link to github issue which as for me is critical one?……

• very good tutorial and application. I just install it on my desktop and TrueNas to backup my data

• Syncthing is a really great tool for replication! The biggest problem with these syncing tools is that people tend to use them for backup. I always try to point it out, this is NOT backup! Even Syncthing themself points this out in their docs.

• Thanks for sharing this! I will use my vacation to set this up. Very useful!

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