Synology Drive replacement

[ChAlb]

Hi,

My Synology NAS is stuck with DSM 7.1, so I won’t ever benefit from improvements of the new Synology Drive 4.x.

I started to detach from all Synology DSM/Packages « embedded » features and replaced them with Portainer/Docker equivalents running on a dedicated small server.

At this point, I moved from Synology Docker package, MariaDB, Reverse Proxy, Certificate Management, Web Server, Plex, …

The two remaining services I rely on are Hyper Backup and Synology Drive, for which I did not yet find equivalents that do not introduce regression in my day-to-day workflow. And specifically with Synology Drive.

I was convinced that similar solutions (self-hosted) were available and mature enough to replace Syno Drive (Nextcloud, Seafile…). But when starting to dig, I found that some features I’m using in Drive may not be available or degraded:

• Good/transparent integration in iOS File and in macOS Finder
• Ability to search content (not just file names) in the iOS dedicated application (Drive on iOS allows you to search for file name, content on all the drive configured folders on the NAS very easily). I was not very impressed by the « poorly implemented » web portal for searching proposed by drive equivalents
• Ability to do 2-way sync with iOS. I use Drive to sync folders on iOS that are available offline and that allow me to modify files directly from iOS and automatically sync them back to Synology

As I feel I may have missed some equivalent solutions, that’s why I ask the experts or the one who already made this type of transition about how they managed those specific needs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fredbert]

I'm not sure how good a fit this will be, since I don't use it as a Drive replacement, more a useful ad hoc tool and file sharing client. So it's a standalone client app that relies on traditional file sharing and cloud services...

I've used FileBrowser Pro from Stratospherix for many years. It integrates with iOS Files and also has sync/backup task support. There are a few variations but I use the Pro version: the Go or Pro would be the one with task support (try the Go subscription and then get the Pro for a one-time purchase?). The Mac version mostly seems to be a port of the iOS, so is style-wise is a bit jarring vs standard Mac Finder etc.

I sync my camera-roll to the NAS, as an alternative / second method to Photos Mobile / DS file / Drive client. I have a two-way sync that copies a folder of text files that I use with old iOS apps that only supported cloud storage from Dropbox.

There's bound to be something else you can try, but I've not needed to look, for my use cases.


macOS Finder could be CloudMounter, but that's less a storing all files as local copies more a mounting cloud services as Finder locations. It does integrate with Finder though, unlike FileBrowser, or Transmit. Haven't looked at Forklift recently, I think @Rusty uses it.