how to avoid same file taking up multiples of capacity

[peitsche]

Ok, newbie here with a ridiculous first thread title, I admit ;-)

Here's my problem statement: I have been taking (and continue to take) daily videos of my daughters where they talk about their day for anywhere from 2-8 minutes. Let's say their names are Anna and Elsa.

I have been uploading them to Google Photos but I don't want to upgrade from my current 2TB storage plan with Google (I Have about 1.5 TB worth of daily videos so far, 25 months into the project) and decided to buy my first NAS (technically my second after DROBO back in the day but that was very different;-)). I want to give Anna and Elsa the ability to view their videos (but only theirs since Anna doesn't want Elsa to see her videos and vice versa ;-)) on their phones.

My initial plan was to create a shared folder and then have Synology Photos point to that folder as the Photo Library but apparently that's not that easy. So, now I am wondering if I should just give up on the shared folder and just copy the videos into Anna's and Elsa's (separate) Synology Photos folders. But, at the same time, I still want to have a single folder (with subfolders by month) folder that contains all of the videos because I want to quickly go into a particular month and see videos of both of them instead of going to two different locations for those videos.

If I decide not to use Synology Photos at all for this, what is the best app for my kids to access those videos in a shared folder on my NAS? I am really showing my noobieness here. ;-)

Bonus question: Even if I keep all the videos in a shared folder (no storing under the homes/user/Photos structure at all), how can I can avoid the same mp4 file counting twice for storage purposes if I want to create two folder structures: one that goes like Anna&Elsa/2022/October and one that separates them into Anna/2022/October and Elsa/2022/October?

 

[Birdy]

Why do you think that one video is counted twice ?
Can you show that ?

 

[peitsche]

Why do you think that one video is counted twice ?
Can you show that ?

I can see the used space increasing in Storage Manager after I copy the same file into a separate subfolder in the same shared folder. This is also true when copying from a Synology Photos folder to the shared folder.

 

[peitsche]

Ok, newbie here with a ridiculous first thread title, I admit ;-)

Here's my problem statement: I have been taking (and continue to take) daily videos of my daughters where they talk about their day for anywhere from 2-8 minutes. Let's say their names are Anna and Elsa.

I have been uploading them to Google Photos but I don't want to upgrade from my current 2TB storage plan with Google (I Have about 1.5 TB worth of daily videos so far, 25 months into the project) and decided to buy my first NAS (technically my second after DROBO back in the day but that was very different;-)). I want to give Anna and Elsa the ability to view their videos (but only theirs since Anna doesn't want Elsa to see her videos and vice versa ;-)) on their phones.

My initial plan was to create a shared folder and then have Synology Photos point to that folder as the Photo Library but apparently that's not that easy. So, now I am wondering if I should just give up on the shared folder and just copy the videos into Anna's and Elsa's (separate) Synology Photos folders. But, at the same time, I still want to have a single folder (with subfolders by month) folder that contains all of the videos because I want to quickly go into a particular month and see videos of both of them instead of going to two different locations for those videos.

If I decide not to use Synology Photos at all for this, what is the best app for my kids to access those videos in a shared folder on my NAS? I am really showing my noobieness here. ;-)

Bonus question: Even if I keep all the videos in a shared folder (no storing under the homes/user/Photos structure at all), how can I can avoid the same mp4 file counting twice for storage purposes if I want to create two folder structures: one that goes like Anna&Elsa/2022/October and one that separates them into Anna/2022/October and Elsa/2022/October?

Let me add that I discovered DS File yesterday ;-) After seeing how easy that app is to use, I am leaning against using Synology Photos at all and just give my daughters separate permissions for the separate subfolders in the shared folder. They can just easily navigate and watch the videos via DS File on their phones.

 

[Birdy]

I can see the used space increasing in Storage Manager after I copy the same file into a separate subfolder in the same shared folder. This is also true when copying from a Synology Photos folder to the shared folder.

Well, that's logical when you copy a same file to another subfolder in the same share or another shared folder.

 

[Telos]

You could set up a system of hard links, but that would be quite messy. Why not one file structure? Use tagging to classify photos.

 

[Gerard]

As another option if you haven’t stumbled on this yet:

You can use synology photos shared space. Log into photos with your admin account, go to settings, shared space and restrict each of their user account to only the shared folder containing their respective videos using custom folder permissions.

The permissions in syno photos will only control what’s in synology photos environment. To then control DS file permissions, do that under DSM control panel user account settings and/or right clicking on the respective folder in DS file then properties. Or just don’t allow them access thru DS file all together as messing with the permissions there could be messy, and just allow access thru synology photos. I have a kid account that can only access their specific content from within the shared space, but the adults have full access.

For you, you can set permissions on your account to see both folders thus can view all.