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Today we present to you a more complex alternative than usual. As you have already seen, in our opinion Syncthing is an alternative with difficulty 2, that is, we think that some technical knowledge may be needed to make the best use of it.
This is obviously just a tip that we have included exclusively to try to better redirect our articles. This way you already know what if you are thinking of using Syncthing it may not be as simple as installing an application that does everything automatically without ever having to touch anything.
What is Syncthing for?
Syncthing it is a free program and Open source which allows you to Sync folders between your devices. It therefore means that your files will always be the same on any device you want and that you will always have them available.
As you can imagine, this operation has several advantages but also some disadvantages. In our opinion, the most interesting advantage is undoubtedly that of having a sort of cloud without any other computers other than yours. The files are yours, they are inside your computer or smartphone and must not be uploaded anywhere.
Another advantage is, for example, the fact of always having files synchronized across multiple devices. So even if your computer burns down you will have all the folders synchronized safely on your smartphone although it is good to remember that Syncthing it is not and was not created as a backup solution 1.
The most obvious disadvantage in our opinion is the fact that you will need to have space available for shared folders on synced devices. And as long as we are talking about synchronizing folders that are not too heavy it can certainly be an interesting option. If instead we plan to use it as total replacement of the cloud (or photos) then we must certainly consider this limit.
On Windows and macOS there is also a simple to use graphical interface
Operation is not particularly complex once you get it working. The two difficulty stars we decided on Syncthing they are in fact due to the first configuration and the possible problems that this application can cause.
In fact, Syncthing was created to work via the command line but there are practical integrations for both Windows that for macOS which transform it into an application that is easier to use and with an interface that is accessible to (almost) anyone. These integrations are called Sync Trayzor And syncthing-macos.
Once you have run these applications on your computer you will have a classic screen in front of you where you can to boot synchronization. Subsequently you will be asked what you want to be synchronized and here you can decide which folders to share and which, if necessary, to pause.
The first setup of Syncthing
Each folder must have a "Folder ID" or a unique identifier to be recognized on all other devices and an optional Folder Label.
Let's take a practical example to understand better.
You want to share and synchronize the c:/kittini folder on your computer across all devices.
Go on 'Add Folder' and you will have three general settings:
- Folder Label, the name by which you will recognize the folder on this device;
- Folder ID, a unique ID for all devices;
- Folder Path, the path to the folder on your computer. In our example it will be: c:/kittens
You then have many other options, all of which are not mandatory. For example, you can already decide with which device this folder can synchronize, whether it must have a "File Versioning” that is, if it needs to keep a history of file changes and then there will be many other advanced settings that we advise you not to touch unless you know what you are doing.
How synchronization works
Once this operation is done you can go to your Android smartphone (because it doesn't exist for iOS as far as we know) and install Syncthing giving him all the requested and necessary authorizations.
Now you can return to your computer, press on "Add Remote Device", decide which folders should be shared and in the section Device ID enter the unique code that you find within the application (in the menu – Show Device ID).
Check your notifications and approve what needs to be approved. Every time you approve a new shared folder you will also have to select where they will be saved on your device.
That's all, in theory as mentioned once these operations have been done there isn't much else to do. Unfortunately the application is a bit too complex (basically in our opinion it has too many options) and therefore if something starts to go wrong being able to resolve the problems may not be entirely simple.
We say this precisely because, having tested it for some time, we realized that we were only able to solve some things thanks to some knowledge bases without which it wouldn't have been so simple. Furthermore, as already mentioned, there are many options and the risk of confusion for the average user is high in our opinion.
Password manager
As mentioned, you can synchronize any folder or file, therefore it is also possible to synchronize a password file Keepass for example or any other password manager that allows you to use a file locally. This way you will have passwords synchronized across multiple devices without having them in the cloud anywhere else.
Conclusions and where to download Syncthing
We're not sure because we haven't tried it but it should be possible to do all the operations we've listed in reverse, i.e. starting from the smartphone and adding the computer (or another Android smartphone) as a device.
We tested it for some time and it didn't give us any major problems, we also know that many people within Le Alternative already use and know so as always if you have any doubts or questions come and visit us!
• • • • • • •https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing-android
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