i have two macs, a few ios devices, another mac acting as a server and a few external hard drives. and i have a few devonthink databases that i want to be in sync on each of the macs and the ios devices.
perhaps the easiest solution would be setting up a direct connection: one mac acts as the host, the other mac and all ios devices sync to that mac. now my questions go toward another scenario: syncing the macs and ios devices either via the server or an edxternal hard drive. as i unterstand this can be done setting up a syncstore on either the server or an external hd.
if i put the syncstore on an external hd, how can i sync dttg on my ios devices with that syncstore, as i cannot hook up the hd to my idevices?
if i put the syncstore on the server, how can i sync dttg with that syncstore? do i have to set up webdav on the server? or is it possible with smb or afp?
or could i just snyc my macs with the syncstore on either the external hd or the server and then set up a direct connection between e. g. synced mac #1 and iphone #1 and ipad#1 and also between synced mac #2 and ipad #2?
is it possible to change the location of the sync store afterwards. i will be moving with my family abroad, and may be in the need to sync via the syncstore on an external hd. however, at some point we will have set up our server again and then might prefer syncing via the server. can i then just copy over the syncstore from the external hd to the server? if yes, what settings do i have to change on the clients? would it also be possible to sync all clients to syncstores both on the hd and the server, so we can just rely upon which is available at the moment?
mac #2 has a hd with very limited space. as dtpo is not able to sync just the metadata like dttg, what would be the best scenario in this case to still be able to access the data of one very large db on mac #2 (besides setting up a dtpo server on mac #1 and accessing the data on mac #2 via the browser)? i’ve read in the forums that i could have the syncstore on the hd/server sync to a db on that same hd/server and the open this db from mac #2. but won’t this need double the space on the hd/server (1x syncstore and 1x db)? so i actually need double the space on the hd/server for one and the same db as the data in syncstores can’t be accessed directly? what other scenarios are possible in this case?
thanks for your time, i’ll appreciate that very much.
I have a laptop and three iOS devices that I sync with, using a sync store located on a WebDAV server that I control. I started by creating the sync store on the laptop first, and then chose and synced my databases. Then I went one-by-one to each iOS device and configure each to sync to that WebDAV sync store, and then chose and synced the databases that I wanted on that device. (I don’t sync the same databases on each device, but I use the same WebDAV sync store.) I sync by WiFi, mainly, because it’s cheaper, but occasionally I’ll let the phone (the only 4G device) sync via cellular.
The sync store needs to be on a location accessible from each device at least part of the time. This is why I use WebDAV since it is hosted remotely and not on my network.
Been a year or more since the initial set-up, and the arrangement works fine. It would also, I am sure, work fine if I added another macOS device or more iOS devices. I’ve not lost any documents or had any errors or other problems.
(Yes, it is possible to move a sync store. I think there’s a thread or two here with more details. For example, you quit DEVONthink – for safety – and copy the sync store from one WebDAV server to another using Transmit or other tool. Then in DEVONthink you create a new location and use that copied sync store’s name and encryption password. DEVONthink finds the store there and uses it.)
thanks korm. for now, i want to keep my data in my network – faster sync, access even when internet’s not working, no monthly fee, … but just out of couriosity: which webdav service are you using?
I have DT syncing via locally hosted WebDAV on 2 Macs and 2 IOS devices. So far (a few weeks), it’s worked very well. It’s not instantaneous - the time taken is governed by the volume of data syncing, and I’m syncing everything at present - but it’s quick enough for me.
If it helps, I use Mac OS Server as the WebDAV service, but I expect others would work OK - there doesn’t seem to be anything non-standard about how DT sync works.
if i put the syncstore on an external hd, how can i sync dttg on my ios devices with that syncstore, as i cannot hook up the hd to my idevices?
if i put the syncstore on the server, the only way seems to be setting up webdav on the server (no smb nor afp)?
or could i just snyc my macs with the syncstore on either the external hd or the server and then set up a direct connection between e. g. synced mac #1 and iphone #1 and ipad#1 and also between synced mac #2 and ipad #2?
would it also be possible to sync all clients to syncstores both on the hd and the server, so i can just rely upon which is available at the moment?
mac #2 has a hd with very limited space. as dtpo is not able to sync just the metadata like dttg, what would be the best scenario in this case to still be able to access the data of one very large db on mac #2 (besides setting up a dtpo server on mac #1 and accessing the data on mac #2 via the browser)? i’ve read in the forums that i could have the syncstore on the hd/server sync to a db on that same hd/server and the open this db from mac #2. but won’t this need double the space on the hd/server (1x syncstore and 1x db)? so i actually need double the space on the hd/server for one and the same db as the data in syncstores can’t be accessed directly? what other scenarios are possible in this case?
It seems to me that you have 2 separate challenges here:
One of the Macs has insufficient space for all your DT data. I think your best solution there is to have the database on an external drive.
You want to be able to sync the data across multiple Macs/IOS devices. I think your best solution is to set up a WebDAV server per my earlier post. Apple is deprecating afp, so I would not recommend that. I expect it’s possible to set up something over smb, but WebDAV is relatively simple and reliable and works well. In Server, share a folder using WebDAV and make sure you have a user set up with relevant permissions (I use the tool level of the user’s folder tree, but that’s not a requirement). Then set up the location on each of the devices needing access.
You’re correct that there are, in effect, 2 copies of the database for each device - the sync store, on the WebDAV share, and the local copy to be synced, on the device. If you put the sync store on a device, it’ll use twice the space.
) a bit of reassurance.