just finished up the 2nd Beta for PhotoSync for WHS. (See this postfor an overview of what PhotoSync is)
The new version has several tweaks, bug fixes and the following enhancements, based on community feedback:
- Ability to name Flickr Images based on the file name
- Ability to automatically create Flickr ‘Sets’ based on the folder name
- Ability to set Flickr photo permissions (Public, Friend, Family)
- Allow selection of any WHS Shared folders as the sync folder
- Automatic upload throttling to keep large amounts of photos from bogging down your Internet connection
- Ability to disable PhotoSync from the WHS console
Other notes and changes:
- WHS console application no longer opens Internet Explorer on your server
- Setting changes take place quicker
- Config tools now use UNC shares (\\ServerName\ShareName\) rather than drive letters
- Note – If you have a free Flickr account, you are only allowed to create 3 photo sets. If you have more photo folders than this, PhotoSync will still upload them, they will just not be part of a set
- If you have Beta1 Installed, install this over it (don’t uninstall Beta1)to maintain your settings and upload database – if you do uninstall Beta1, you will need to reconfigure things and re-link to Flickr. You photos will also be re-uploaded (dupes).
Please enjoy, and send your feedback!
** Update Feb 26 2012 **
Download links were lost in blog migration. Updated links are here:
PhotoSync for WHS, Beta 2 Download
TechRepublic also has a nice install guide for PhotoSync here (This is from PhotoSync Beta1, so some screenshots will be different)
I tried upgrading to Beta2, and when I did it said it had to restart the server. After restart, PhotoSync wasn’t present in the WHS Console. So I uninstalled through the console both beta1 and restarted again. Still no PhotoSync. So I uninstalled/reinstalled beta2, and now I have the friendly PhotoSync icon, and it is configurable, but it isn’t syncing with Flickr anymore?
Thoughts?
@jstueve – I just sent you a PM – I’ll need to take a look at your log files.
Sorry you had the trouble.
-Ed
FWIW I also had issues with installing the plugin. The original 0.9 was installed. I selected beta2 from the available tab and after the install I was prompted to click ok to reboot the machine. I did so and immediately an error message popped up saying it couldn’t install with an error like 1403. Unfortunately it appeared on the screen for about .001 second before the console closed and the server rebooted.
After reboot the addin still wasn’t in the installed list but the button wasn’t available in the console. Back in available I clicked the beta2 install again. This time it installed ok, no reboot required and the console disconnected. Reconnected but still no button on the toolbar.
Don’t see anything obvious in eventvwr.
After removing both of the photosync addin’s I was able to install beta2 again (and start from scratch)
What version of WHS are you using? (Beta 2, RC1 etc..)
Thanks for the feedback,
-Ed
latest version, downloaded about a week ago – winver gives me 5.2 (build 3790.srv03_sp2_gdr.070304-2240: Service Pack 2) – phew, thats a mouthful.
Let me know if you need any log files.
Thanks! I’ll test with that and see what I can find out.
I installed B2 on a system that had B1 working, and now it won’t sync at all – I’ve gone through the reinstall a few times, but to no avail. I can’t seem to find any log files relating to PhotoSync, and there’s nothing appearing in the Event Viewer. Where should I look?
TIA,
Rory.
Try deleting Thumbs.db in any directory that you are synching. That got it to resync for me.
Jon.
09-22-02 107.jpg Originally uploaded by ckindel I just updated my Windows Home Server with Ed Halloway's
Ed, I think I figured out why photosync is wedging on me. I noticed that each time I re-started the service it would wedge on a particular photo: one with an apostrophe in it’s filename. If I rename that file on my system then photosync wedges on the NEXT file that has an apostrophe in it.
Ed,
Can’t tell you how much we appreciate you building this add in…
Wanted to see how the next beta or final version is coming…
I have a couple gotchas that keep it from not working for me…
1. Have a ton of pictures
2. Some of the files out there are not Photoes (AVI’s, etc)
3. Also based on some of the other posts pointed out if the file name is incorrect that stops it….
Are you planning on fixing these in the next release?
Thanks for the doing all this
Hi all,
Thanks for the input and feedback. I’m glad you have found some workarounds for the bigger issues.
Yes all these nuances will be fixed in the next rev. I keep finding small things that Flickr does not like when uploading sets (but were notand issue for stand-alone photos for some reason) and and plugging them as time permits. My goal is to have the next release be a solid V1 that is stable under all scenarios.
Anyway, please leave comments here if you find any other issues, or have any suggestions.
Thanks!
-Ed
I just installed the beta 2 on an OEM WHS. It uploads 1 pictre then stops. All pics are labelled dcs1***.jpg and there are no thumbs.* files.
Any ideas please?
Found the problem…the album folder had a “‘” in it, ie “Namibia ’06”
My windows home server has shipped!
Hi Ed, I can’t get beta 2 to sync. Beta 1 worked, I uninstalled it, rebooted, installed beta 2 and it doesn’t sync. I couldn’t find any thumbs.db files.
Tim,
Shoot me an email (link at top of page) and I’ll be glad to help you get this fixed.
-Ed
Ed – great idea! Trying to get it to work, but it doesn’t seem to do subdirectories for me. Is there any logging I can refer to and if so where? Thanks!
Mark
Hey Ed. I installed PhotoSync, followed the instructions and nothing seems to be syncing. I paid for a pro account so I could take advantage of your great add-in. I’m hoping I’m missing something obvious. I don’t see a button that allows me to sync. Once I’ve ticked the desired options, is it supposed to sync after the ‘Sync photos every’ time is reached?
Hmm, no reply. Can anyone else help? Has anyone successfully used this add-in? I’ve uninstalled, reinstalled, reconfigured, rebooted, checked ability to upload – the whole nine yards. Still nothing, nada, zip. Anyone able to help?
For those of you having issues.. Some of the advanced features in beta 2 (groups, titles, etc..) have some bugs. I’d recommend disabling those and see how it goes. Also make sure you only have supported (By Flickr) image files in your folder or you will have issues. This includes Thumbs.db if you turn on a thumbnail view while browsing the folder.
I’ll try to make some updates soon
-Ed
I have HP Mediaserver 475 and I installed photosync. It went normally but when I click on the photosync button in console and it tries to pull up the flickr web page but it doesn’t happen. Instead I get an error message in the browser window that navigation to the web page was canceled. I think there is a security setting that is preventing it from accessing the web page from console. I am able to pull the website up from IE on the server. Any suggestions?
…spoke too soon, everything appears to be working but hours have gone by and its not uploaded any photos. I linked the flickr account (upgraded). Any suggestions?
Not really mas obrigado por clicarem. Recomendo-vos vivamente este video saído das TED talks de 2007 (podem ir directo para o minuto 2:45 se tiverem pressa). Uma palavra: Wow. Mais sobre o PhotoSync aqui e a
Hey Ed – this is a really cool add-in. I don’t claim to be an expert on this stuff, but when I installed it, it will only sync the first folder in my collection. I pointed it to \\frenchesabroad\photos (my HP Media Smart server)and that location has about twenty subfolders. Cleaned out all the thumbs.db files but no go … still just the very first folder gets uploaded to Flikr. Any ideas? Thanks for you time and effort on a cool thing, regards, barry french
barryfrench – Did you get your problem figured out? I am seeing the exact same issue. I can un-install and re-install the add-in and it will always just upload the first folder and then quit.
I also notice that each time it will upload the same folder and all the same images regardless of weather or not the group and folder already exists.
Here are a few features that I think would help out in the future.
1. Progress indicator – This will show which folder is currently being uploaded and which image within that folder.
2. Sync Now Button – This way I can be sure that the add-in is working and also sync my images instantly after adding a folder to my photos folder
3. Turn Throttling on/off – This is helpful if I want to just upload a large amount of images from a folder all at once. (especially helpful if I have over 100 images in a folder)
4. Error logging – This will help with troubleshooting in the event photos are not uploading as they should. (especially for new users who bump up against that 100MB limit on free accounts the first time they use the software)
This has the potential to be an amazing piece of software – You have done a GREAT job. Thank you so much.
FRII
Hi Ed,
I just installed on HP MediaSmart Server. Configured flickr OK, set \\HPSERVER\Photos\ as sync dir but nothing gets synced..
Are there any logfiles to look at? There’s nothing in event viewer…any pointers to get this going appreciated.
Version 5.2 (Build 3790,srv03_sp2_gdr.070304-2240: Service Pack 2)
I’m with the rest of you, this is simply not working. It does the root folder pics and goes not further. I even tried rename files and directories and delelted every file that was not a jpg. It simply does not work. Is there ever going to be a final or at the least another release that will fix the issues. I have quite a few pics that I would love to have off site for preservation and manually uploading all those pics is not an option!
I was hoping to use your add-in to upload pictures to flickr. Once the bugs are worked out, it will become very useful. I am having the same non sync issue that others are having. I am also using the whiist add-in and I was hoping to point photosync to the same folder used by whiist. That would alleviate the pain of having one folder for whiist and one folder for photosync. So testing against a whiist folder would probably help you work out your sync issues.
Thanks for creating and updating the add-in.
Kevin
Hi Ed….I installed the PhotoSync Beta 2…looks nice, but right now, do we only have the option to do the root photo share? Or can we drill down and choose the one we want? Also, an enhancment would be a Sync Now button..for immediate transfer.
thanks