Dropbox alternative for photographer
reddit / selfhosted

----------------------------------------------------------------------
idontgotoparties · 2023-11-29 14:25

I work as a photographer and used unlimited dropbox in the past. Now
that DB has capped their business tier to 5TB, I’m searching for an
alternative.
I currently have about 25TB of data. Yearly I add about 5TB.
My main computer is a Macbook Pro.

*My current (dropbox) workflow*:
I import & edit files on an **external SSD**. I keep those files on
there until they finish uploading. When I’m done with the project, I
flag them as **“online only”** so there is a copy on the server when I
need it, and my SSD has more free space.

I know Dropbox isn’t technically a backup-service. But for my purpose
it does everything I want from a back-up: no loss of data and limited
version history.

What I’m looking for is a way to keep my current workflow but without
dropbox and ideally with a cloud backup system.

I’m mainly looking into NAS (*synology*) but can’t find a solution
that ticks of my boxes.
Synology Drive doesn’t do selective sync on external SSD for example.

Thanks!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Service-Kitchen · 2023-11-29 14:36

From my quick googling the definition on DropBox and the features on
synology, selective sync is a feature available for external SSDs (I
assume you mean an ssd attached to your MacBook via USB)

Did you see/read somewhere that it doesn’t?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
vnagornyy · 2023-11-29 14:37

Take a look at Nextcloud. It will handle file sync just like Dropbox,
you just need to figure out where to store everything. That will
depend on your budget.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
idontgotoparties · 2023-11-29 14:42

Thanks, I'll look into it!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
idontgotoparties · 2023-11-29 14:47

Hi, yeah it's not supported (anymore) unfortunately
Dropbox: https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/14/dropbox-macos-external-drives/
Synology Drive: https://kb.synology.com/en-af/DSM/tutorial/What_is_On-
demand_Sync
*On-demand Sync on macOS works differently than on Windows in the
following ways:
When an On-demand Sync task is created, macOS automatically assigns a
system folder path (~/Library/CloudStorage/SynologyDrive) as the local
sync folder. You cannot change this path.*

----------------------------------------------------------------------
IamxHM · 2023-11-29 15:06

Please don't rely on only one cloud service like Dropbox. If not
already, keep 1 more copy backed up locally.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
TheBrones · 2023-11-29 16:14

You can use an Synology for that. Keep in mind that you still need a
backup of all that data though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
labs-labs-labs · 2023-11-29 19:03

This might help you...
https://www.howtogeek.com/297721/how-to-create-and-use-symbolic-links-
aka-symlinks-on-a-mac/

Crate a symlink in the folder that can't be changed to the external
SSD.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lankiness8244 · 2023-11-29 20:53

Photophrism

----------------------------------------------------------------------
idontgotoparties · 2023-11-29 21:58

Thanks! That looks like exactly the solution I need. Thank you so much