I’ve been using Syncthing on my devices for around a decade now. I first started out with just a KeePass database and a few text files for notes, but over the years my workflow has evolved to the point where about 90% of everything on my devices is synced through Syncthing from my Obsidian Vaults to my chezmoi configurations to all my Pictures, Screenshots, Downloads folder, and even my git repos.
There’s a handful of optimizations that i’ve had to optimize the storage use on my phones/tablets syncing:
Folders
Downloads Folder
I synchronize the contents of my Downloads folder between all my devices, it saves so much annoyances from trying to figure out which device I downloaded what files on.
Ignore Patterns:
- iso and zip files are typically the largest files that end up in my Downloads folder. I add them to the .ignore file on my phones/tablets to save on disk usage.
// Ignore .zip/.iso files from being to/from devices
**.iso
**.zipPictures
I have a “Pictures” folder that contains Screenshots, Wallpapers, Memes, etc. I ignore the RAW folder on my phones/tablets to save on disk usage
Ignore Patterns:
// Ignore RAW photos directory. We only want this synced between computers, and not to phone/tablets
**/RAW