What privacy friendly app/service/stuff makes your life simpler?
What privacy friendly app/service/stuff makes your life simpler?
I am trying to re-adjust how much effort I want to put into privacy concerns. Too much stuff I'm using isn't working properly or using a lot of my mental resources that I need elsewhere.
For (a bad) example: I recently performed a half-switch from my self-hosted Nextcloud instance to ProtonDrive, in the hope that it would spare me the stress to maintain my private Nextcloud. Unfortunately, it doesn't, as basic functionality like cross-device-sync is not possible (there isn't even a client app for Linux, as of yet).
This brings me to the question: have you found any services/apps/stuff that significantly eases your life while still being privacy friendly? I know, this is a broad question, but I think this is for the best as this thread then maybe even has use for other users.
I’ve found Syncthing a better way to handle file sync than NextCloud. Much more set and forget and not a single point of failure. It also syncs a notes directory in flat .md format, so anything can edit them, in a simple directory hierarchy.
I've used it for years, across multiple devices, syncing 100gb. My average daily sync is probably 20gb.
It's been surprisingly good on battery - currently using 0.9% average. It's never been a significant battery hog for me.
I currently have 28 sync jobs (folders) on my phone, ranging from a few MB to 20gb, from a few files to 1200 files. Most only sync over wifi, but my DCIM folder (one of the larger ones) is over any connection.
Apps like Foldersync are much heavier on battery for me. Resilio is terrible for me (and it's also a memory hog because I have some large folders).
Maybe you have a stuck file that's causing it to hang. May be worth pausing all but one job, see if that affects battery. Then work though them.
Also, check out Syncthing-Fork, it has finer controls over individual sync jobs. For example, I let photos sync over any connection and on battery, but my media (music/video) only on wifi and while charging.
I'll have to defer to your experience; I've set it up on a PC, a NAS and a phone. The phone was connected to an ethernet-equipped dock at the time of setup so the sync was quick and painless.
I don't see a hit on battery life on a Fairphone 4 running /e/OS after initial sync has completed.
I haven't had battery usage issues with it for years! Just checked now and it's below 0.4% - it doesn't even show up in the main app list in the battery settings.
Syncthing is brilliant, although for me it has had a heck of a learning curve to keep straight. Might just be me though.
It does have a bit of a learning curve, you have to think about what you're trying to do.
My biggest issue with Syncthing is that it becomes unusable for large amounts of data due to the lack of selective sync (ignore lists are cumbersome as hell) and lack of virtual file system support. I have about 8TB of data on my NAS that I want to access remotely and it is not feasible to have duplicate copies of that much data on all of my devices.
You could simply sync select subdirectories.
Agreed.
Resilio sync works better. But the “sync identity” thing is broken, and configuring it declaratively is hard.
But 100% agree. Would love a virtual file system solution. Ideally one which you can use to fill available disk space and ensure you always have a minimum number of copies.