Microsoft OneDrive just added this feature in the newest Windows 10 insider preview release build 16215: File placeholders. This is a fantastic idea that save so much drive space on synced devices while truly leveraging the storage utility offered by the NAS. The synced folder on the remote device shows icons for each of the files in the synced NAS folder peer, but the actual files reside on the NAS.
Thus, a large file uploaded from one device to the NAS during a sync is seen by all other synced devices, but it is seen by way of an appropriate icon without actually downloading that file to the device. If the user needs the actual file, the user can opt to download it by double-clicking. When the whole file is no longer needed locally, right-clicking and selecting an choice to clear from the local device (just leaving the placeholder) is selected.
This is a much needed feature, especially is syncing to a memory-limited device such as a smartphone. It saves bandwidth in that a large file is not automatically pushed onto connected synced devices just because it was uploaded to the NAS when synced by another device.
QSync file placeholders
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schumaku
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Re: QSync file placeholders
Opens the question if there is a generically available API...
As the name says, the OneDrive Demand Sync seems to be available for OneDrive only. Let's hope Microsoft has the bigger picture and does introduce (or already has ... I can't find many indications) something similar to what Apple has added with the File Provider Extensions to iOS 11 _or_ if they are going to protect their proprietary cloud infrastructure.
As the name says, the OneDrive Demand Sync seems to be available for OneDrive only. Let's hope Microsoft has the bigger picture and does introduce (or already has ... I can't find many indications) something similar to what Apple has added with the File Provider Extensions to iOS 11 _or_ if they are going to protect their proprietary cloud infrastructure.