Hello fellow selfhosters! I have a laptop and a tablet (both running endeavourOS), and I want a certain folder to be always in sync. I also have a very potato server.
My two options currently are Nextcloud and Syncthing. The laptop and the tablet are rarely online at the same time, so I need the server as middleman (so, no syncthing laptop <-> tablet, but laptop <-> server <-> tablet).
Which one do you recommend? The power consumption (of the client) is also very important, because both the laptop and the tablet are battery-powered
I’m also open to other options as well!
thanks in advance to everyone!
Edit: thanks to everyone for your precious help! I finally set up syncthing and it’s working flawlessly!
I just use a Samba server behind wireguard.
I personally switched from NextCloud to Syncthing.
Syncthing:
- is easier for me to maintain,
- allows for the “server” to be behind NAT,
- lets me have multiple “servers” at the same time (eg. something at home and a VPS)
- lets me have certain “servers” set as untrusted, so all data on them is encrypted, while others can have it unencrypted for easier access I put “server” in quotes, as Syncthing doesn’t really have a server, all clients are equal peers.
On the other hand, NextCloud:
- gives me a way to share files by link with others,
- lets me browse files via a web interface,
- mobile app lets me access files as I need them instead of having to synchronize everything.
They are very different things. If all of the places where you want to access the data have storage large enough to accommodate all of it syncthing is probably easier. If however you also want to access the data from your phone, then syncthing won’t work, because it will sync the entire folder to your phone, there’s no way to use it like you would Nextcloud, i.e. only downloading things as you need them.
Syncthing is a better fit for your use case. As much as I appreciate having my Nextcloud setup, it can also be a pain in the ass some times.
A single folder and power consumption is important --> syncthing. It doesn’t have great power consumption, but since the devices aren’t constantly on, you can just start syncthing up on the portable devices when needed. You can configure syncthing to sync when connecting to a specific Wifi, when power saving mode is turned off, I think even specific times.
It’ll run fine on a server and can be configured .
