Syncthing - The Based Way to Sync Your Files

In this video I go over the basics of setting up and using Syncthing on Linux and Android (aswell as configurations for running the syncthing daemon properly on Distros using OpenRC like Artix Linux)
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[@supernovaw39]

If you want to show your phone's screen in a video, a convenient way might be to use scrcpy. You could share your phone's screen over ADB (USB or Wi-Fi) to your PC.

[@sassycat77]

@@mohammadiaawe are literally watching nerd shit

[@gg-gn3re]

rust desk

[@greenspaceman531]

​@@mohammadiaawere all nerds here anyway lol

[@blank1873]

@@mohammadiaa my brother in Christ this is a tech channel

[@mohammadiaa]

@@greenspaceman531 yea haha

[@TiagoTiagoT]

It's important to highlight that by default, it really means sync. If you delete on one computer, it gets deleted on the other. It's not like Google Drive and stuff, it really is peer-to-peer.

[@tkenben]

You have the option to have the client read in or write out only, set per each shared folder.

[@_modiX]

You also have the option to configure versioning, simplest is trash can versioning, thus you can recover files for a certain amount of time. Best is complex version management, so that it preserves older versions of your files for a certain amount of days.

[@fromtheotherside1980]

@@_modiX can you do that with a phone to move your data to a new one?

[@_modiX]

@@fromtheotherside1980 It's not designed to sync app data, but I sync my personal files on multiple phones. Even iOS is supported, although it's limited to an isolated folder in such case. So it depends on your definition of data. You cannot use it to make a replica of your phone in terms of apps and settings.

[@fromtheotherside1980]

@@_modiX i want to move the things that i have inside (photos, contacts)

[@jacobblomquist5288]

In all seriousness though, syncthing is amazing. I've used it for years.

[@DonnieX6]

Same, love syncthing! Been using it for years, next to other things, also to back up my photos and data from my Android phone onto my Linux desktop and NAS, works great!

[@mitchelline]

​@@binladen-ci7jmYou're not going to elaborate, are you

[@virtualcosy9019]

Listen mister @binladen-ci7jm, I don't understand what is that you find "completely unnecessary" in @DonnieX6 behavior.

[@arsenijspoga]

It works great until it doesn't and you have to figure why do two devices do not connect to each other.

[@atomic_bomba]

@@binladen-ci7jm Bug off glowie.

[@LightningMcCream]

Just finished setting up a Raspberry Pi hooked up to 4 HDDs to act as a storage server This video couldn't have come out at a better time

[@realcartoongirl]

raspberry pi always crush my file system

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

​@@realcartoongirlSkill issue

[@realcartoongirl]

i feel stupied :( @@DonVigaDeFierro

[@ahmadshami5847]

how did you manage to power 4 HDDs through a raspberry pi?

[@PanoptesDreams]

@@ahmadshami5847 external power supply or a board that powers them

[@sant6182]

Syncthing is really amazing. Started using it to sync my KeePassXC password database between pc, tablet and phone. Then set it up to sync my school work between pc and tablet only. And then some media between pc and home server. The control is just so convenient

[@sairos4057]

>Started using it to sync my KeePassXC password database between pc I do that as well! Let me ask you a question, does the sync takes a while or is it just immediately, like in Kenny's video?

[@samssams1619]

What kind of notetaking app do u use on ur tablet?

[@Nickgh-]

​@@sairos40571 hour to sync

[@scheimong]

Syncthing can in fact sync across subnets (which includes the wider internet) by default, without needing any sort of publicly visible central server. It uses global discovery servers to get the peers' addresses, so the data transfer itself is still P2P. I use it regularly to share sensitive files within my family, who are all busy people travelling around the country (and sometimes abroad too) with our laptops. It just works. Edit: s/STUN server/global discovery server/

[@joshua_lee732]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get that working.

[@3lH4ck3rC0mf0r7]

​​​​​@@joshua_lee732For any incoming P2P traffic to succeed, you need to setup port forwarding (or ask your ISP to set that up for you over the phone if you don't have access to your Internet-facing router's settings), and also setup your PC's firewall to allow it.

[@scheimong]

@@joshua_lee732 it should just work out of the box. Maybe there's something wrong with your particular router/firewall setup, but I cannot say for sure.

[@jchoneandonly]

Can it encrypt traffic end to end?

[@clou09]

​@@jchoneandonlyI just use it with tailscale. All the problems related to networking is just handled by tailscale.

[@rev0lu7ion]

Enabling file versioning is super useful in case anything goes wrong and also acts as a semi backup solution.

[@ultra568jinx]

​@@tkenbenplease elaborate, genuinely interested and I don't have the understanding you do

[@yuukil5522]

@@ultra568jinxdo not use git as a file storage solution.

[@tkenben]

@@ultra568jinx So, if you use git, you can version a folder and its subfolders, but you don't want to sync the git information which is almost always stored in a "hidden" dot folder (one starting with a period). Git information is usually tons of small files that will allow you to restore to any previous commit. So, I do both, I store commits with git and every once in a while I do a tarball that does not include the dot files. But what I sync is only the current data files, not the git files (dot files) or tarballs. This is probably overkill for most people.

[@neiloppa2620]

@@tkenbenI’m also interested in what you mean.

[@whocares_yes]

​@@tkenbenhopping on the "please explain!" wagon here

[@kurtmueller2089]

I have been using Syncthing for a few months because that was the only way to keep my org-roam notes synchronized across my PCs, tablets and phones. Its really great.

[@steinerkelvin]

Also works great with Logseq.

[@fiethsing9988]

Been using Synchthing for a good while now. I even set it up for my parents, relatives and GF. The funniest part is having them trying to explain what it is to other people when they say they don't use cloud services (at least for personal usage)

[@realcartoongirl]

HA HA HA SO FUNNY 😂 💀

[@falciexd]

@@realcartoongirl ?

[@flintfrommother3gaming]

Do you live in a dystopian future or something, literally nobody gives a single crap if you use the cloud or not, and they definitely wouldn't be surprised if told them you didn't use them.

[@Skynightburst]

crickets ​@@falciexd

[@Comunposting]

I had a lot of problems trying other programs to sync music files. Syncthing was a miracle. Thank you for this video!

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Syncthing + Obsidian is a game-breaking combo. I still wait for Logseq to git gud so I can switch to it instead.

[@Dionysor]

Once you figure out how it works it is a powerful tool. No more limits and no more nosy corpos. Tip: Enable recycle bin in your shares, else when you delete X file it'll be gone on all linked devices and it's too late to review the deletion.

[@PaulG.x]

You can set directories as send and receive or send only or receive only. I set my password manager database directory as send only on my desktop and receive only on my laptop so that the master database on the desktop can not be edited remotely

[@conan1231]

@@PaulG.xbut then you can't add new Entries while working on the laptop, right? mh.

[@Red_Azul]

Thank you for showing me new things man. I finally have some time off work, and I’m gonna spend my time installing Linux on an old laptop I have. I’m so excited to learn.

[@connivingkhajiit]

how did it go?

[@gruanger]

This is very useful for me, I sync books and music all the time with my phone and some of my methods are relatively ghetto or annoying. So this is nice.

[@RenderingUser]

i installed syncthing half a year ago. it was one of the options i was told, for how to sync my obsidian notes for free it was really the perfect app

[@ushankaboy7357]

I started to use syncthing today, and it can even make changes to files. This is so convinient for music files, since i can manage them from my pc and enjoy neatly lyrics, album etc. Just hopped in to say Thank you so much

[@dzuchun]

BASED. 've been using it for several months already. It's quite useful to backup/syncronize you data, once properly set up. Also, there would likely be outages over here soon, so I'll be able to stay synced even with my phone's lan! 😊

[@aakksshhaayy]

Yes I have been using it on my local server and PC's for the last several years. Flawless.

[@geckofish52]

Thanks, have been using Syncthing for years, just installed syncthingtray and it's a nice upgrade.

[@HoldenTG]

This is AMAZING! I've been looking for something like this to easily my photos between my phone and computer. It's been a challenge to find something that can run over Windows! I hope I can figure out the setup process 😅

[@drrenard1277]

Syncthing has been wonderful to me. On android, I use SyncthingFork from Fdroid. Also the 3 files 2 folders thing is that it sends extra dotfiles with digest information to make sure files are matching plus revision information cause you can go back a revision too if you have your settings made that way.

[@jdmji]

Interesting, that seems a bit annoying though. Would much rather it ignore its artifacts.

[@marcusjohansson668]

Useless fact to blow your linux firends minds: The "hidden files feature" was originally a bug in ls. The reason stated above (annoying to see the . & .. and that the file count was always off by 2) was the reason ls was updated to hide the dot paths (back in like the 80:ies). This introduced the bug where you could change the name to start with a dot, ie making them "hidden files". THIS WAS A BUG! But users at the time saw this as a FEATURE rather than a bug, so instead of fixing the "bug" the developers of ls introduced the -a tag to INCLUDE "hidden files". (later on also the -A tag to exclude dot paths but NOT the hidden files)

[@MrAwesomenesh]

Syncthing is an absolute gem. It's so configurable and I use it for a pretty wide variety of roles in my lab and in my personal life.

[@patpattson]

I have been looking into setting up syncthing for a long while, this sold me!

[@Axel-xs5cb]

massive thanks for bringing all these awesome pieces of software into the public eye, I've spent too many hours leaving things completely unorganized on my windows pc since I always had to reinstall it every couple of years. With this there's a reason to keep things organized and away from the tech giants. please keep recommending the likes of these :)

[@demanuDJ]

I'm using synthing over tailscale network for a while and its really amazing. I'm syncing everything with my NAS server, and all files I need are avaliable for me on all my devices.

[@autohmae]

If you have tailscale, you can also create your own discovery server for more privacy

[@demanuDJ]

@@autohmae I know, its called headscale. I have entire docker compose for that even with integrated webui

[@autohmae]

@@demanuDJ I meant, if you aren't using Syncthing with your own discovery server, it's still connecting to other places outside of your tailscale network to know know how to connect to each other.

[@NeRo-gn1xq]

Did you get syncthing to work with tailscale with only local discovery enabled? Didn't work for me, I still had to enable global discovery to get it to work.

[@demanuDJ]

I'm adding id and addresses manualy, first is my lan address, second my tailscale address

[@user-ud9su7qn1x]

Syncthing is awesome . I have been using it fore more than 2 years and I can't live without it .

[@caseyriley1014]

Perfect timing, I was getting set up and tinkering with syncthing just the other to sync my Zettlr and Markor

[@MadMathMike]

I was literally just syncing about this!! Thanks for sharing!

[@davey820051]

I 💜dad jokes!

[@josedejesuslopezdiaz]

Great tool, been using it for 4 years !

[@mikemaldanado6015]

been using this for a couple years on arch, great tool. sometimes spikes the cpu usage but other than that works flawlessly.

[@matankribus5080]

I am looking forward to the "cloud" sync video! I had the idea for awhile but am afraid to get into configuring servers... that sounds like a good first step!

[@manchuratt8900]

Been using it for a while. It's amazing.

[@dzuchun]

I'd like to mention that there is even an android app for it. It's really handy to have all your notes and being able to append them whenever you have your phone around (so it's pretty much always for me).

[@insxder]

what's the app name?

[@dzuchun]

@@insxder It's just Syncthing in play market (or a play store? since when it's called like that? 0_0) (I'm not that based yet to use fdroid, I'm sorry for that)

[@francois1e4]

​@@insxderSyncthing

[@fun_iqp]

Seen this in the Learn Linux TV channel, 3 years ago. That guy is just amazing, and a real teacher

[@johnsoulzzz7361]

I've used Syncthing for years. I run it on my Pixel phone too so I always have my files available on practically any computer.

[@Skynightburst]

Is that Rudeus?

[@johnsoulzzz7361]

@@Skynightburst The one and only

[@Homiloko2]

Wow, thank you so much! I had been using Trayzor for ages and had no idea there was a fork.

[@lightphix]

I've been waiting for a video like this. Really need the personal cloud video next.

[@1495978707]

Ayyyy I found this just a week before you posted. Glad to know I can be based all on my own

[@LimeStrudels]

Sweet, a video right when I was thinking about getting into hosting my own stuff

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Kenny why are you so awesome? I learn so much on this channel, man.

[@MrDaylight]

Been using it for years to sync my password manager between my phone and desktop whenever I've been away for a bit, as well as some other phone stuff. Very handy tool

[@mohamad20zx34]

Thanks for syncing your video to our lovely devices

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

I discovered Syncthing a couple months ago and I love it. It's great for syncing up emulation saves :D

[@mcbaws21]

thats exactly what i use it for too :)

[@FloriansAbwasserkanal]

I've been using syncthing since a while now and it's great. I share my password database and documents over my 3 devices and backup important files to my raspberry pi, which works great as i can access the rpi remotely with just my browser.

[@SebastianSipos]

it's not p2p per say, it's a decentralized relay node network registered with a tracker server. all of these parts can be run privately. all data is sent by clients encrypted, relayed by nodes. regardless awesome tool and awesome video.

[@gatekka.]

omg, this video arrived at such a perfect timing for me!

[@Sanguen666]

excellent video, I was on the fence to whether to use it, or keep uploading shit to my google drive to share between the pc and the phone. ty so much for ur work!

[@beskamir5977]

I've been using syncthing pretty much since it was first created. Easily my favorite solution for making it feel like I'm only using 1 computer despite having a laptop and desktop. The only annoying part was needing to have syncthing active on both computers at the same time but that was easily solved by adding a third computer (server) that was always on. More recently however I haven't been bouncing around from my desktop to laptop that much and it was getting a bit annoying making sure syncthing's up to date and functioning properly so I haven't been using it in a while.

[@GabrielM01]

using it for a while now, works great

[@Blockzilla101]

i recently started using syncthing and its been great

[@slicetheduck]

Synching is the greatest, switched to it to sync my keepass files between devices and then ended up using it for all kinds of backing up 😅😊

[@marcinchaciej]

Yes, I've found it last week and it works great, rsync on windows for some reason couldn't connect to the remote (tried everything) and wsl2 slowed my computer, so I decided to disable virtualization

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

Also been using syncthing for years and it has never given me a problem.

[@mind_11]

seems like a great way to sync my notes between devices

[@alex12ray]

I use it to sync my Obsidian vault across devices

[@Iden_in_the_Rain]

@@alex12rayis it easier for syncing obsidian vaults than GitHub?

[@justahumanwithamask4089]

@@alex12ray Was about to look into using it for this.

[@kfr3823]

Same

[@primernetpl]

​@@alex12rayme too, it just works

[@jcf3996]

Thank you for this video. It is very helpful.

[@trombleysingleton]

already doing something before mental outlaw says it's based is like the "ya did good kid" of online privacy

[@achillesa5894]

Syncthing is amazing, been using it for a while. I have my phone's Camera folder automatically sync to my pc amd server, and I also made a folder just called "Syncthing" in which I drop files to share between devices. No more searching for a cable just to get a pdf from the PC to my phone.

[@oajitho]

This is absolutely fantastic. Please do a follow up for this video on how to configure it for a private cloud

[@Ketsur0n]

I just started to use it yesterday pretty good for now

[@michaelk__]

I'm using syncthing to share anything I'm working on between my local NAS, laptop and PC. Works great and never had to think about it other than re setting it up if I have to replace my OS... but that goes for anything else too. Work on stuff on laptop, as I arrive home stuff syncs and I basically have it immediately on my PC + a backup on the NAS.

[@NotAFatWhiteKid]

based program been using it to send files from my pc to a steam deck. Works great and seamless

[@electroteque]

I had that on my synology NAS ages ago. great tool.

[@Ligby]

Thanks. Will be implementing this on my Unraid

[@prodfragment]

I instantly downloaded Syncthing and set it up.

[@simonmaersk]

I love Syncthing. It is not necessary to set it up on a public IP - it syncs data between your devices whether they are on the same LAN or not, as long as the devices are connected to the internet. I use it to securely sync my KeePass password manager between my computer and phone. Works great.

[@johnsmith8981]

Just learned about the CIA triad in THM 2 weeks ago! Also syncthing is great I use it to backup my phone when its on LAN and charging.

[@darthmaster6938]

I hope we get back to more tutorials here more often

[@theminesyt]

finally, been waiting for something like this to come out for a while

[@gg-gn3re]

syncthing been around for like a decade lmao

[@Barakk11]

@@gg-gn3refinally, been waiting for someone to make this comment for awhile

[@JamesQHolden]

its been popular for years

[@zeitgeist117]

i have finally come here ahead of the curve lol been using syncthing for over a year especially for emulator save files from my pc to my steamdeck. I know that all of my stuff is backed up and i don't have to hassle with draggin and dropping it anywhere and i don't have to compramise convenience for privacy

[@etherweb6796]

Syncthing is great - I sync files between between my phone, laptop, desktop, and server and it works great.

[@UncomfySocks98]

I like using syncthing to transfer my larger game ROMs/ISOs to my steam deck. Very convenient option and quick without involving a third party

[@user-ui8my9zs7o]

I would like to say this. Ive been using a server with some added storage and just using sshfs and then adding that to my fstab. Pretty much like google drive and really easy to setup

[@xmasterosu]

Syncthing is literally what I've been looking for for years, also, I want your shirt

[@13thravenpurple94]

Excellent video 👍 Thank you 💜

[@addambleu654]

I love Syncthing. I use it at work, to be sure the data I work on is not put anywhere into the cloud.

[@alluringlifestyleproperties]

"If you know you know" loved the CIA bit in the beginning, immediately subscribed!

[@Rolandfart]

Yes yes yes I love syncthing I use it on all my devices to sync my kbdx file and my music. I even have it set up on my mom's devices and it still hasn't broken.

[@perfectlyroundcircle]

God damn. I just started using his like few days ago and now this video got recommended to me, lol.

[@MisterConscio]

Syncthing is my private Google Photos. Looking forward for the Syncthing over public ip video!

[@WeirdDuck781]

I use this with my main desktop and laptop to sync dwarf fortress and cdda save files. Pretty darn good

[@cbxgang]

the theme u got looks fireeee

[@speedytruck]

I still host my own Nextcloud for the full suite of syncing, but this is definitely a lot more lightweight.

[@wchorski]

self hosted Nextcloud is straight up a private Google Drive replacement and then some

[@quintencabo]

This looks amazing thanks

[@CMDRSweeper]

Another syncthing use case scenario is syncing game mods between players in a multiplayer game. For an example Factorio, all they have to do is sign up to the share in syncthing, either directly to their Factorio mods folder or somewhere else if they prefer, then that folder always has the correct mods and versions. No more hunting and making sure they got the right ones downloaded anymore.

[@basedretardgang]

Great video!

[@Splarkszter]

THIS is what i was searching for for months. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!1

[@cqwickedwake7651]

Thank you Lord Outlaw ❤

[@anonymouscommentator]

if i already have my own homelab server running anyway, are there advantages of syncthing over nextcloud?

[@ButthurtNinja]

I've been using syncthing to sync my notes (Obsidian), music and books to my VPS (vultr) for months. One of the best things I've ever done, makes things so simple.

[@DezXereanas]

Thanks for the video, rip good old Synctrazor, I've been using it for ages. Time to upgrade to synthingtray I guess

[@drivetrainerYT]

Been using it just for Obsidian, but the golden mine of usecases in the comments tho, thanks

[@Jad2410]

I use it to sync emulator game saves across devices. It's a pickup and go experience where I can start playing on my laptop to then pickup from my last save on my desktop.

[@kaya-sem]

I also use it as a way to reach my seeding server. I have syncthing on everything and when I see a cool torrent on my phone, maybe a linux iso, i put it in my phones folder and the torrent client can start torrenting automatically from a folder

[@DenOfTimbsllc]

I like it, it would cool to see iCloud use this method. imagine it would be cheaper on Apple and a little more secure than having to use third-party servers.

[@metatrongroove2824]

It is great. Used it for so many professional projects.

[@Steve-vb8wy]

Great video as always. Please make video on how to connect to Onedrive and/or Nextcloud.

[@Xiefux]

i really like having it for my keepass database.

[@Chretze]

I have been using Resilio for this purpose for years, works just like Syncthing it seems. Just an alternative

[@iprisj]

perfect i needed this

[@tomatcree]

˘

[@bacalhau_seco]

you think you can hide huh, ima waiting for the paper

[@illsmackudown]

@@tomatcreethanks, tomatcree

[@Azoundo]

Literally was just reading about this from the obsidianMD reddit. As an alternative to their obsidian cloud.