Hey, I’m wondering what everyone’s solution is for self hosted “cloud” storage of photos? I’ve been running a PhotoPrism server on my Synology for a while but it’s missing some features I’d like to have. While we’ve set up auto-uploading from different phones to the web server, I haven’t found an easy way to share read-only access to the pictures or specific albums. There is an admin login, but no way (that I’ve found) to create multiple users with different permissions.
So SelfHosted lemmy, what’s your solve for photo storage, sorting, and sharing?
I’m planning my homelab, and from the research I’ve done, Immich is the best but not ready for production and it can’t use an already existing photo library. NextCloud memories is the next best alternative, and supports already existing libraries.
I think it’s pretty new, in the last month or so. It’s currently something you have to run manually with the CLI to do an import, but they should eventually have it added into the web interface and run automatically.
The important thing is the --import flag which adds files without copying them.
Personally I run the CLI command inside the immich-server container, here’s the full command to make life easier since this took me a bit to figure out, make sure the directory is mounted into both the immich-server and immich-microservices containers. You can mount it as :ro if you want (I did) to make sure Immich can only read the files and not change them.
A PR was opened last week to add the biggest first element of external library support. Hopefully in the relatively near future it’ll be merged. I’ll be giving it a shot when it merges.
It sounds like we have similar setups. I do the same with syncthing, works great, and not only backs up my photos but everything else on my phone like custom ringtones, notifications, exported backups from many different apps along with full neo-backup exports… basically all the common /sdcard/ directories like: Audio, Backups, DCIM, Downloads, Pictures, Documents, Screenshots etc.
I’m interested in immich for it’s multiuser sharing so I can easily share photos with others in the house. I have a huge directory of images, all sorted in folders, so until I can add that read only, immich isn’t an option for me. I tried setting it up with the monolithic docker image, and it didn’t import the directory the way I wanted it to, and seemingly made full copies of all the images into it’s own upload directory when I tried importing with the cli-tool. I was looking at it recently and the read only mode seems early stages. How do you like it so far?
Immich seems like it’s aim is to be firstly a phone photo backup solution… and that is not what I want… I already have a backup solution. All I really want is a mobile friendly way to look at all the photos I have already. PhotoPrism works exactly how I want but the one feature it lacks that I would really like is multiuser. I have seen there is a workaround for sharing with PhotoPrism where you can run individual instances for each user and then share a common directory… and right now that is preferable to immich for me unless they sort out the read only feature.
I’ve never heard of this, but what happens if it shuts down? How is this really self hosting vs getting an generic we hosting service and storing files there ?
Photoprism is one user only, maybe some day they wil implement multi user. You can donate to give them an incentive to work more on it. For me it is good enough.
You used to be able to PHOTOPRISM_SPONSOR: “true” but they plugged that hole. They poor-mouth on reddit and GitHub. People that self-host are trying to get away from subscriptions, you think they’d see that
Synology Moments, which is their older version of their photo app. I still use the older version because it supports object recognition. I just wish it had a map view.
Have you looked at NextCloud? I have an instance running on an RPi that fits my needs (storage without sharing outside the home firewall). For anything that needs sharing, I just copy those images to an old Dropbox that I’ve kept and share from there.
Nextcloud on it’s own can’t read images EXIF data so it can’t sort them by date. I’ve tried Memories addon and it seems to work well, except for transcoding movies.
I have been using immich. It supports user accounts and album sharing. And recent updates on the machine learning part have made it a even more potent replacement of Google Photos imo.
Yes, but the Readme says it requires postgresql14 or 15 external. I don’t see how to set that up. I usually go through the app store that is included in unraid. Usually there are good guides but I don’t see one for this.
If unraid doesn’t support docker compose for some crazy reason, you should be able to bypass the webUI of unraid and just run docker compose files directly via CLI.
There are still some rough areas though. For example its not possible to further share/download photos sent to you in a shared album. And the ios app is a bit janky when swiping through photos. No slideshow mode either.
Overall very usable though and getting updated constantly.
I’m using the PhotoSync app to backup to Dropbox and to my local HDD from multiple phones and tablets. Seems to work like a charm. Better than the shitty Dropbox iOS photos backup for sure.
I just use a folder of photos and then use digiKam to manage them. But it’s just me, I don’t need to share photos with anyone else. I like digiKam but it doesn’t play great with concurrent users out of the box. I think there’s a way to use a shared database though.
I installed immich thinking I could use it to access my entire pictures collection that I had stored on my hard drives only to learn it currently does not support that.
Luckyly I saw the other day there is already a PR in the official repository trying to implement that, so I may wait for a bit to Immich to have this importer.
Followed that guide. Got redis and postgresql14 installed. When installing immich I get an error in the log that says "error:password authentication failed for user “postgres”. I’ve trirled every combination of changing password, no passwords whatever. It never works.
I’m not sure how I would do that. What sort of application would I use? Postgres doesn’t have a webui to log in through. So not sure how else I could test it.
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Another person using Immich.
It supports importing existing photos, so I pulled in all my old folders of stuff.
Also has multi user with album sharing and all that.
I’m planning my homelab, and from the research I’ve done, Immich is the best but not ready for production and it can’t use an already existing photo library. NextCloud memories is the next best alternative, and supports already existing libraries.
Immich can use existing libraries, either by importing (copying) existing files, or just by adding an existing folder of files in place.
Importing is another thing. But using an existing folder is exactly what I want. Is this feature new ?
I think it’s pretty new, in the last month or so. It’s currently something you have to run manually with the CLI to do an import, but they should eventually have it added into the web interface and run automatically.
https://immich.app/docs/features/bulk-upload#importing-existing-libraries
The important thing is the
--importflag which adds files without copying them.Personally I run the CLI command inside the
immich-servercontainer, here’s the full command to make life easier since this took me a bit to figure out, make sure the directory is mounted into both theimmich-serverandimmich-microservicescontainers. You can mount it as:roif you want (I did) to make sure Immich can only read the files and not change them.immich upload --key apikeygoeshere --server http://localhost:3001 --recursive /some/path/to/existing/photos --importAmazing ! Thanks for sharing!
A PR was opened last week to add the biggest first element of external library support. Hopefully in the relatively near future it’ll be merged. I’ll be giving it a shot when it merges.
I sync them to out local fileserver using syncthing and recently started using immich (since it supports custom libraries now)
It sounds like we have similar setups. I do the same with syncthing, works great, and not only backs up my photos but everything else on my phone like custom ringtones, notifications, exported backups from many different apps along with full neo-backup exports… basically all the common /sdcard/ directories like: Audio, Backups, DCIM, Downloads, Pictures, Documents, Screenshots etc.
I’m interested in immich for it’s multiuser sharing so I can easily share photos with others in the house. I have a huge directory of images, all sorted in folders, so until I can add that read only, immich isn’t an option for me. I tried setting it up with the monolithic docker image, and it didn’t import the directory the way I wanted it to, and seemingly made full copies of all the images into it’s own upload directory when I tried importing with the cli-tool. I was looking at it recently and the read only mode seems early stages. How do you like it so far?
Immich seems like it’s aim is to be firstly a phone photo backup solution… and that is not what I want… I already have a backup solution. All I really want is a mobile friendly way to look at all the photos I have already. PhotoPrism works exactly how I want but the one feature it lacks that I would really like is multiuser. I have seen there is a workaround for sharing with PhotoPrism where you can run individual instances for each user and then share a common directory… and right now that is preferable to immich for me unless they sort out the read only feature.
Android’s Gallery application
Saw recently that Shadow, the cloud PC company, has now a next cloud based storage offer: shadow.tech
I’d be interested by any feedbacks if somebody gives it a try !
I’ve never heard of this, but what happens if it shuts down? How is this really self hosting vs getting an generic we hosting service and storing files there ?
Oh my bad, didn’t see this was on self hosted. Then yeah, it’s a hosting service like any other one
Photoprism is one user only, maybe some day they wil implement multi user. You can donate to give them an incentive to work more on it. For me it is good enough.
They do support multiple users, but they gated the feature behind a subscription.
Ah, thanks for the heads up. Last time I looked the said they might implement it in the future.
You used to be able to PHOTOPRISM_SPONSOR: “true” but they plugged that hole. They poor-mouth on reddit and GitHub. People that self-host are trying to get away from subscriptions, you think they’d see that
Thanks for the effort but i might just toss them the coins.
For the rest of your life?
You can add a line to the docker compose to unlock it, let me see if I can find it
I’m a fan of Immich.
https://immich.app
https://github.com/immich-app/immich
Synology Moments, which is their older version of their photo app. I still use the older version because it supports object recognition. I just wish it had a map view.
Fwiw I read that object recognition is coming back with 7.2
There’s a DSM docker that enables the use of Synology Photos without having to buy a Diskstation as well if others are scrolling through this
Woah! I’ll need to check that out!
Have you looked at NextCloud? I have an instance running on an RPi that fits my needs (storage without sharing outside the home firewall). For anything that needs sharing, I just copy those images to an old Dropbox that I’ve kept and share from there.
Nextcloud works well for general files. Immich is the way to go specifically for photo storing. It’s got a whole lot of added features.
I hadn’t heard of Immich. I’ll take a look. Thanks!
Nextcloud on it’s own can’t read images EXIF data so it can’t sort them by date. I’ve tried Memories addon and it seems to work well, except for transcoding movies.
Good to know, thanks. I generally sort by hand if they need sorting, but using EXIF would be a nice time saver.
I have been using immich. It supports user accounts and album sharing. And recent updates on the machine learning part have made it a even more potent replacement of Google Photos imo.
Really can’t find a good guide on how to host this on unraid. Any tips?
The docker compose file should work fine I’d imagine? IIRC Unraid supports docker.
Yes, but the Readme says it requires postgresql14 or 15 external. I don’t see how to set that up. I usually go through the app store that is included in unraid. Usually there are good guides but I don’t see one for this.
Actually ignore my other comment, they have an unraid guide for docker compose: https://immich.app/docs/install/unraid
Their docker compose file has postgres in it: https://immich.app/docs/install/docker-compose
If unraid doesn’t support docker compose for some crazy reason, you should be able to bypass the webUI of unraid and just run docker compose files directly via CLI.
This looks promising. Thanks for sharing!
Also using Immich, can recommend it.
There are still some rough areas though. For example its not possible to further share/download photos sent to you in a shared album. And the ios app is a bit janky when swiping through photos. No slideshow mode either.
Overall very usable though and getting updated constantly.
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immich!
I’m using the PhotoSync app to backup to Dropbox and to my local HDD from multiple phones and tablets. Seems to work like a charm. Better than the shitty Dropbox iOS photos backup for sure.
I just use a folder of photos and then use digiKam to manage them. But it’s just me, I don’t need to share photos with anyone else. I like digiKam but it doesn’t play great with concurrent users out of the box. I think there’s a way to use a shared database though.
I installed immich thinking I could use it to access my entire pictures collection that I had stored on my hard drives only to learn it currently does not support that.
Luckyly I saw the other day there is already a PR in the official repository trying to implement that, so I may wait for a bit to Immich to have this importer.
So, what, it only lets you upload pics remotely but not view? I do not understand.
I was thinking of trying it out but the huge banner saying not to trust it for anything important makes me hesitate every time.
Sorry, my explanation was not very clear. Check this thread: https://github.com/immich-app/immich/discussions/1006 this is what I was talking about
Followed that guide. Got redis and postgresql14 installed. When installing immich I get an error in the log that says "error:password authentication failed for user “postgres”. I’ve trirled every combination of changing password, no passwords whatever. It never works.
Have you tried logging in with a simple postgres client?
I’m not sure how I would do that. What sort of application would I use? Postgres doesn’t have a webui to log in through. So not sure how else I could test it.
Are you comfortable in command line? There’s psql or there’s https://www.pgadmin.org/
It doesn’t have that feature you linked but you can do a bulk upload if you wouldn’t mind them hosted then in 2 places on your storage.
https://immich.app/docs/features/bulk-upload
Haven’t looked into sharing read only access, but you can look into this list
https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted#photo-and-video-galleries