How to transfer to a Linux device?

Accessibility of Linux devices

For the transfer to or from Linux devices you do not need an additional helper app on the Linux device, Linux already provides excellent connectivity by itself. We recommend using the integrated and secure SFTP connection (SSH over FTP) for communication with the Linux device. Of course you can also use an SMB connection if you have configured it for your Linux device.

Setting up an SFTP connection

SFTP is actually enabled by default on a Linux device to be able to transfer files with the device using the normal Linux login. In the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config the SFTP transfer must be activated with the line

Subsystem sftp /path-to/sftp-server

To transfer photos with SFTP (File Transfer Protocol) to your Linux device, all you need is a local network connection to your Linux device, your Linux credentials to access the device and the network address or the qualified hostname of the device.

Set up the connection to your Linux device in the PhotoSync settings under Configure > FTP by adding a new configuration.

Enter the connection data to access the device. Please select encrypted FTP via SSH (SFTP) as transmission protocol. Enter the IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.10) or the hostname (e.g. ftp.myserver.com) of the Linux device under Server, and the login data of your account under Login and Password.

The entry for the directory is best left empty if you do not know the exact path on your device, you can select the directory later conveniently via a browser. If no directory is specified, PhotoSync always starts in the home directory of the user account used. If you enter a directory, please note that the directory entries are always interpreted relative to the home directory of the user account. For an absolute path, always start the directory with a slash, e.g. /opt/data/photos. Directories without a leading slash are interpreted relative to the home directory of the user account, photos would refer to the directory /home/username/photos, for example, if the FTP account uses the login username.

The port is the communication channel used for SFTP transfer, port 22.

Once you have entered the required data, tap Done, PhotoSync will try to establish a connection and if this works, you can make further settings for your SFTP connection. Under Title you can give your connection a name to easily recognize it.

As explained during connection setup, you can now use the Destination Folder option to select a destination directory via a browser to which your transfers are to be saved on the Linux server. Tap Select if you want to set the currently selected folder as the destination folder for your transfers. The selection appears in the Destination Folder setting.

The Create Sub-Directories option creates individual subdirectories for each transferred file. By default, the name of your device and the name of the current album are created as additional subdirectories.

If you want a selection of the destination folder to be displayed before each transfer, activate the Select Before Transfer option.

In the Transfer Settings you can specify individual file names for your transferred files and make separate settings for Wi-Fi and mobile data connections, e.g. in which quality your photos should be transferred, whether videos should be transferred or not and much more. You can set your photos to be deleted on the device after a successful transfer if you allow Delete After Transfer. If you uncheck the Allow overwrite option, the Linux device will check whether a file with the same name but different content already exists in the destination folder and if so, PhotoSync will rename the file to be transferred and add a counter after the filename. By default, PhotoSync overwrites files on the Linux device when a file with the same name is transferred to the destination folder again.

In the View Settings, you can specify how your files should be sorted if you want to view them on the server with PhotoSync and which character set the Linux device's file system uses to correctly display file names.

Sending photos with SFTP

Transferring photos and videos to your Linux device works as follows: In PhotoSync, select the photos and videos you want to transfer by tapping them, or drop the tap if, for example, you want to transfer all photos or only new photos.

Now tap the red transfer button and then tap Send (if photos are selected, Send is also selected automatically). PhotoSync now offers you a choice of three sending options: New transmits only new, not yet transmitted photos from the current album, Selected transmits photos selected by you by tapping, All always transmits all photos from the current album. For each option, the number of photos affected is shown in brackets after the option. Tap the desired option to continue.

Now select the destination to which the photos are to be transferred. To transfer using FTP, tap FTP. If you have defined more than one FTP connection, a selection of the available connections would be offered after tapping FTP. If only one FTP connection is configured, the transfer will start as soon as you have tapped FTP.

Your selection will now be transferred to the Linux device. You will receive a detailed transfer progress during the transfer.

Receiving photos from the Linux device

To receive (download) photos from a Linux device to your device, or to browse or view the photos on the Linux device, tap the red transfer button on the main PhotoSync screen, and then tap Receive. PhotoSync offers you a selection of destinations from which you can receive.

Tap FTP to connect to your Linux device and browse through the directory structures on the server to the desired directory. PhotoSync will show you only directory names and in the directories only photo and video files. Other files, which of course can also be located on the Linux device, are hidden by PhotoSync and are not visible.

To download photos to your device from a specific Linux device directory, select the desired photos by tapping them, then tap the Download button at the bottom right to download the selected photos. If you want to download all the photos from the current directory or just download new photos, you can also tap the red Download button directly.

If you want to view your photos in full size or mark them for download in full size, please tap the button to change the display/select mode at the bottom left (under iOS) or tap and hold a thumbnail to display options for this photo, including View for display mode (under Android). In View mode, each photo is displayed in full size on your device. In the footer of the full-screen display in display mode, you can also tap to select or deselect photos for download.

After tapping the Download button, PhotoSync offers you three options to download photos: New, only photos you have not yet downloaded from your Linux device, Selected, the photos you have selected by tapping or All, all photos from the current folder on the Linux device. For each option, the number of photos affected is shown in brackets after the option. Tap the desired option to continue.

Now select your device as destination for the downloaded files.

Before the download starts, you can now select an existing album on your device as destination or create a new album as destination.

Tap Select to confirm the destination album selection and start downloading. You will receive a detailed transfer progress during the transfer.