I blogged about SyncThing before, when BitTorrentSync started to annoy the hell out of me. SyncThing is an open source tool for synchronizing directory trees between different devices without requiring a cloud service (it needs a discovery server though in order to actually find these devices).
There is also an Android app for it as well as a tool called Anyplace Sync Browser that does not sync but allows you to selectively download files from SyncThing directories to your phone.
Unfortunately SyncThing is far from easy to install and configure. It seems easy when you read the documentation (OK, not easy, really, it’s too technical for the average user and is missing a lot of information for professionals) but if anything goes wrong, you are on your own. And something goes wrong every so often, especially when there is an update.
By default, it is a console program that runs in the background (daemon) and on Windows can be made into a service by using e.g. NSSM – the Non-Sucking Service Manager. Configuration is then done via a web interface provided by that program. But there are also native GUI front ends.
The Android app also comes with a UI, but that GUI is atrocious. I have rarely seen a tool with so confusing a UI.
On the bright side, there are programs for Windows, any flavor of Unix you can think of and the aforementioned Android App. When it works, it is great.
I use it for:
- Sync photos from my phone one way to my desktop PC
- Sync text files with notes and checklists both ways between my pone and my desktop PC
So, even though I think it is overly complicated, I still like the idea and am using it.
