Metadata Preservation When Migrating to Self-Hosted Ente Instance?
Hey everyone! I'm planning to migrate to a self-hosted Ente instance running on my Ubuntu VPS and have a question about data preservation. If I export all my photos and videos to my Windows PC first, then point my self-hosted instance to sync with that exported folder, will Ente properly read the metadata files to preserve the original dates and timestamps of my media?
I want to make sure all my photo and video dates remain accurate during the migration rather than getting reset to the sync date. Also, would it be better to use the official Ente app export feature or the CLI tool for this process? I'm concerned about maintaining metadata integrity across the Windows → Ubuntu transfer.
Thanks for any insights!
2 Replies
You can export your data from Ente to a local drive using the CLI tool or the desktop app.
You can use Ente's CLI tool, available at https://github.com/ente-io/ente/tree/main/cli#export, to export your data. Alternatively, the desktop app, which can be downloaded from https://ente.io/download/desktop, can also export your data. The desktop app supports continuous exports, automatically exporting new items in the background without needing cron jobs; more details are available at /photos/migration/export/.
To eliminate manual exports each time new photos are added to Ente, you can switch on the toggle to Sync continuously. This feature automatically detects new files and runs exports accordingly, ensuring that exported data reflects the latest album states with new files, moves, and deletions.
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I'm specifically concerned about whether the exported metadata files will be properly read by my self-hosted instance to preserve original photo/video dates, and which export method (CLI vs desktop) handles metadata better for cross-platform migration.