"Uploads" to a folder, as well as FTP

jay

FTP has done well, but there's so many options now. An iCloud folder, a Google Drive sync folder, and these are much easier to access and share.

In future versions, I would hope that the upload option could include to a "folder" and not just FTP.

Thank Ben!

Jay

Ben

Hi Jay - this is already possible, please see the Preferences - Uploads section of the user manual, and scroll down a bit to the "Local File System Copy" section.

Alternatively, simply set the capture destination to point to the folder that is used by the cloud service (e.g. to the Documents folder, in the case of iCloud Drive). Then, the files will be uploaded automatically. This avoids duplicating files on the local drive. You can either set the global capture destination under Preferences - Storage, or camera-specific capture destinations under Preferences - Cameras - Setup.

jay

Hi Ben-

As always, thank you for your very timely response!

Thanks for that… "Local files system copy" is that new in 5.5… I hadn't seen it last time I needed to review everything with the addition of the new cameras I added.

Can, SS manage files in that folder, and delete them after the prescribed amount of days… From the checkbox?

"Capture destinations" won't work, as I want to parse out only a few cameras to send only "motion" and "jpegs"... Not continuous.

VERY pleased with SS for almost a decade now or more… My only thought currently, would be facial recognition, that could cut down a lot of my notifications. Ideally, I'd like the action recorded, but if a face is recognized, no notification is pushed. But that should be selectable.

Thanks Ben!

Have a nice 4th of July 🫖🎆😎

Jay

Ben

Hi Jay, the local copy function has been there for a while - easy to miss though.

SecuritySpy will only manage space on disks that are set as capture destinations. I won't mange space on upload destinations, and this includes the local copy destination. This is because the primary use of this function is for uploading to FTP servers, and it's impossible for a client to effectively manage space on FTP servers.

Thanks for your additional comments on the software, I'm glad that it has been working so well for you! We will certainly consider facial recognition for the future, although there are some significant problems with the implementation of such a function, from privacy issues to differences in accuracy depending on race/ethnicity. So it's a feature that would require a lot of thought if we were to attempt it.

jay

Thanks Ben

I'm not exactly sure what you mean for LOCAL folder management (thanks for adding the drag & drop for the "path", well thought out!).

Using Google Drive as an example (https://www.google.com/drive/download/), as it's ideal for SecuritySpy… The synced folder allows you to either mirror the folder or a streaming index for download… Exactly what I need for an off property back up that would only be needed in a catastrophic event.

With Google Drive desktop, you simply drag one of your local existing folders onto the Google Drive app. You decide whether you'd like the folder to mirror or stream. That's it. It works great.

But with the allotted free 15 GB or even purchasing 100 GB for $2 a month, that folder needs to be actively managed.

On the Motion Capture screen grab below, specifically with the Google Drive folder set up in this example, what will the "delete old files after__days" due for this Google Drive folder on my desktop... if anything?

Is there any other way the older files in this Google Drive folder could be deleted automatically, based on size availability… Shareware?

Thanks Ben !

jay

Ben

What you'd have to do is set the capture destination for this camera to the Google Drive folder (under Preferences - Cameras - Setup), and then set the camera to delete its old files after a set number of days, as shown in the screenshot you just posted.

As I'm sure you are aware, when a capture destination is set for a camera, this applies to ALL files that the camera produces - both Continuous Capture (CC) and Motion Capture (MC). In the case that you want to record both CC files and MC for a camera, but you only want the MC files to be saved to the Google Drive folder, then you should create two instances of the camera with the same device settings. The first instance can save CC files to a normal destination on your file system, while the second instance can save MC files to the Google Drive folder.

When you duplicate a camera in this way, SecuritySpy will detect that you have done this, and won't pull an additional stream over the network, and won't count the second instance towards your license limit.

The above setup should give you what you want, without having to use the "Upload to" options to duplicate files to the Google Drive folder.

CallMeDave

Hi Jay, following up on this older thread.

Google Drive no longer uses a local folder in [~] but instead takes advantage of Apple's File Provider service to abstract the location to its own virtual volume, found in the "Locations" section of a Finder windows' sidebar.

The on-disk location is [~/Library/CloudStorage] but double-clicking the icons within open the same abstracted virtual volume.

All the major players are using File Provider; Box, Google, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.

[https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider]

These locations are visible via command line but I don't know if it's safe to make changes directly that way or not...

Is this something you've looked at?