Auto-upload pictures from phone

[Greyed]

Android BTSync on my Droid 4 & ASUS Transformer pointed at the directory where pictures are saved.  It is synced with a folder on my desktop.  Snap a picture anywhere where there is wifi or cell service, it is synced with my desktop shortly thereafter.  

[Analogeek]

I'm willing to use the same option, but my goal is a little different.

 

I want the phone to ONLY auto-upload new pictures to a specific folder on the computer, and NOT SYNC existing pictures. I want a backup, not a mirror (the folder is getting to heavy to fit on my sd-card on the phone).

 

And I can't find such an option in BTSync. I've tried "Backup" but it doesn't seem to be doing well.

 

Any idea ?

[nils]

This is not possible with the current versions. BTsync was meant to sync i.e. mirror data. There are selective downloads through the API, but BTsync does not come with the necessary logic to deal with the kind of setup you want.

[yoshm]

@Nils - are you sure that is correct? I am new to BTSync, but it is my impression that selecting the Backup tab on the Android app will back up the photos to the sync'd destination - and the mobile source directory will not be affected by any changes made at the destination (i.e., it's a one-way sync).  

 

So in @Analogeek 's case - if he has a destination directory full of files, he can backup his files to there - and the existing files will NOT be copied back to his phone (this is based on reading the documentation - I haven't tried that specific scenario yet).

 

I am not sure what happens when you delete the files on the Android. I suspect they will NOT be deleted on the destination, but I have not tried that yet. In the worst case, they would get moved to the .SyncArchive for 30 days (or more, if changed) from where they can be retrieved. 

 

I am planning to setup a system where I periodically move the pictures off the backup destination directory and into my filing system for photos. I've already extended the time for .SyncArchive to over a year, so I can find photos there that I delete on the phone before moving out of the destination (if that's what happens).

 

I'll be happy to share my experiences as I try & learn more. Will be happy to hear from you if your experience runs counter to what I've understood.

[scargill]

Lack of one way only is an issue - also if you've synced a directory on the phone and computer (but not automatically) and you click on a file - it starts to download to the phone - there seems to be no way to stop or pause this... so if you accidentally clicked on a 1 GB file on your PC for example...

 

On the phone, there are several image directories (Android) - ie DCIM, Snapfish etc.. ie different Apps store images in different areas. The only way to replicate this on the PC is a bunch of different syncs. Would be better if you could specify on the source a range of directories and on the destination the same range would appear but all within a common base directory.

 

Finally, to use this with the phone is FANTASTIC - except there is no way I can find to limit such updates to when you are on WIFI ONLY - with the size of today's photos, used on 3G this would rapidly use up most people's allowance.

[lolcat]

Finally, to usesure you can this with the phone is FANTASTIC - except there is no way I can find to limit such updates to when you are on WIFI ONLY - with the size of today's photos, used on 3G this would rapidly use up most people's allowance.

 

I was under the impression the default action was only syncing on wireless. And I disagree with the "most people's allowance" part, doesn't pretty much all phone companies provide reasonable unlimited plans? If I pay $16 more a month, I'd have unlimited data (in addition to texts, mms and minutes). I have also found that most of the time I have wifi access, when I'm at home, or at work I always have wfif, then I also have access to it wifi most places I go.

[richdotward]

I want the phone to ONLY auto-upload new pictures to a specific folder on the computer, and NOT SYNC existing pictures. I want a backup, not a mirror (the folder is getting to heavy to fit on my sd-card on the phone).

Any idea ?

I'm doing this but using an app on my android phone called foldersync. OK the first time I run it it syncs all pictures but then only new ones.

As i the backup is one way when I delete the pictures from my phone they are still stored on my backup.

Using a raspberry pi with an SSH server. It's setup to backup everyday at 3am via WiFi only on my home router and if the charger is plugged into the phone.

The backup folder on the pi is also linked with bittorent sync for backup elsewhere.

Been doing this for over 8 months. Setup and forget its running.

Rich

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Analogeek]

I'm doing this but using an app on my android phone called foldersync. OK the first time I run it it syncs all pictures but then only new ones. As i the backup is one way when I delete the pictures from my phone they are still stored on my backup. Using a raspberry pi with an SSH server. It's setup to backup everyday at 3am via WiFi only on my home router and if the charger is plugged into the phone. The backup folder on the pi is also linked with bittorent sync for backup elsewhere. Been doing this for over 8 months. Setup and forget its running. Rich Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

I'm planning to buy a Raspberry Pi soon, I'll try this and let you know.

Maybe, meanwhile, BTSync team would have implemented the requested one-way sync.

Cheers !

[lolcat]

I'm planning to buy a Raspberry Pi soon, I'll try this and let you know.

Maybe, meanwhile, BTSync team would have implemented the requested one-way sync.

Cheers !

 

Isn't one way sync as easy as adding a read-write secret on the phone, and a read-only secret where you want to download it?

I'm willing to use the same option, but my goal is a little different.

 

I want the phone to ONLY auto-upload new pictures to a specific folder on the computer, and NOT SYNC existing pictures. I want a backup, not a mirror (the folder is getting to heavy to fit on my sd-card on the phone).

 

And I can't find such an option in BTSync. I've tried "Backup" but it doesn't seem to be doing well.

 

Any idea ?

 

 

Move the old files to a folder elsewhere on the phone, sync the empty phone camera folder.

[Camaban]

I ended up just using DropBox. Mainly because it nicely renames the pictures and videos into YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.EXT format. Then have a Python script sort these into a photos folder (Camera/YYYY-MM-DD/) and use BTSync to keep this folder synced with my backup servers.

 

Because the photos are only in the DB folder for about a minute (assuming my PC is turned on) the free version is easily sufficient.