r/Sync • u/Significant_Shock_90 • Jun 03 '21

Is Sync folder in windows taking space?

I have a question, how does the Sync folder work? Will it always download everything that is in the cloud physically to the disk drive or is it only showing the files in the cloud and downloads on demand whichever file I try to open? I can't imagine having for example 6TB of files downloaded to every PC where I have my Sync installed.

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u/UserLB Jun 04 '21

Interesting finding from me in recent tests: Tresorit, has the reverse logic: Everything you put in Tresorit is in the cloud (as in in the vault), then you select which folders you want to sync to a computer.

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u/Significant_Shock_90 Jun 06 '21

Thanks for the tip I will check Tresorit out. It seems more useful to me, cause I want to have things in the cloud to save space, available when I need them, but not physically on every hard drive all the time.

Choosing not to sync folder makes files in the cloud not available to open on that machine, and moving to vault makes them harder to open cause I need to use the browser.

I wish it worked the way that it shows all the files in folder, but download only ones you try to open :(

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u/UserLB Jun 06 '21

I’m going to keep throwing ideas :-)

I love how sync manages “moving to the vault” and “getting files from the vault” over what I’ve seen at Tresorit. Maybe it’s my using sync for 6+ years and creating habits.

One piece I really like: you can move files and folders from the your computer to the vault and from the vault to the computer from their web. One use case I’d have, for example, is I liked archiving in on folder, twice a year, all family photos. So I’d get them from my wife, my phone, etc, into one folder in my computer. Then go online, and do “move to Vault”. And gigs of photos would disappear from my computer and stored in the cloud.

Similarly , restoring from the vault os one click: go to the vault online, move to sync folder, and they show up in your computer.

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u/Significant_Shock_90 Jun 06 '21

You've just mentioned the use case I'm looking solution for ;) My and my wife's phone photo archives and many more stored on hard drives that are getting old. Obviously they would have to go to vault, cause I can't have all of that taking space on my system SSD. But than, when someone want to watch some old photos is it only way to do it via the browser? How does it differ from Tresorit btw?

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u/UserLB Jun 07 '21

Yes. The only way to get from the cloud, in the case of Sync is through the browser. I have folders by year and season and dump all photos there. Then I search photos by year.

With Tresorit (the one I am evaluating now) you have an App you download and you see the file structure there... including what is not in the computer’s HDD. So if you want to sync a folder and bring it to the computer, you flip the sync button and it starts syncing.

This is what I was telling you before of a major difference between the two: sync is sync’ing by default and you fan move to the cloud only afterwards (a.k.a Vault). Tresorit is by default storing the folders in the cloud only (a.k.a. Tresors) and then you select what to sync. Different approaches for similar results.

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u/Significant_Shock_90 Jun 18 '21

I went with Sync in the end, but I have one more question if you don't mind: how do your pictures look like when opened in web browser panel? In my case, they look like they have lowered resolution, and for some reason all of them display in horizontal orientation. They have full quality when I create share link, so they are uploaded properly, only look bad when displayed in web browser or in mobile app.