How to only upload certain folders to Google Drive

#1

Hello, I have a network drive (G:) that contains a lot of data. I would like to use it as my Insync Folder but only choose a few subfolders to upload. It seems that I can only “selectively sync” what I don’t want synced back to computer. Can I select what is uploaded?

#2

You can setup your Insync folder in another location then follow this method to choose which subfolders (in G:) to sync: How to sync folders outside of the Insync folder

#3

Hi, thanks for the response.
That would solve my problem but I don’t have that option in my right-click context menu.

I have also tried to create symlinks manually and couldn’t get it to work.

#4

Hmm I see. Tagging our engineer @dipesh

#5

Hello @Western_Plains_Group,

Did the symlinks get created successfully? Did Insync not upload symlink’d folders at all? What did the progress section say?

Thanks

#6

Hi,
No, the symlink did not get created. I don’t have the “add to insync” option in my right click context menu. I also had no luch manually creating a symlink.

Thanks,

#7

@Josh_Southgate: Please try installing Insync on the non-default administrator and see if it works then.

To manually create symlink, the command is:

MKLINK /D “[SOURCE_FOLDER_PATH]” “[DEST_FOLDER_PATH]”

Thanks

#8

Installing on a different account is not an option unfortunately. We need this computer to be logged in to this account all the time.

When I try to manually create the link, it says “access denied”.

#9

@Josh_Southgate Please run the command prompt as administrator to successfully execute the MKLINK command.

Thanks

#10

Thanks, I have tried that, but it doesn’t recognize my mapped G:\ drive as a location in DOS.
Any thoughts on why?

#11

Hello @Josh_Southgate,

Was the mapped network location accessible via Windows explorer at the time of running the command? Also, did you put the path in quotes? If not, it is important to put the path in quotes if it has a space character in it.

#12

Yes, I used quotes. Yes it was accessible at the time I ran the command.
I did some googling and it seems that I cannot make a symlink referencing a network drive location. Is there any way around this issue?

#13

@Josh_Southgate You can’t create a symlink on a network location, however, you can create a symlink from local drive to a network location. So, MKLINK /D [local_path] [network_path] is allowed but MKLINK /D [network_path] [local_or_remote_drive_path] is not allowed.

The workaround would be to move your Insync folder to a local drive and then use “Add to Insync” on local/network folders.

After you’ve moved your Insync folder to the local drive, you can also change/move the syncing location of subfolders to outside of Insync folder.

Thanks

#14

Thanks very much, I am closer now…

I have the symlinks made in my new local folder.
I just tried changing my INSYNC FOLDER LOCATION and when I hit apply, it started moving all the files from our network to the new location… I only want to move the folder InSync is looking at, not any files. How do I do this?

#15

So, I moved my Insync folder to a local location as per the instructions HERE then added symlinks to the previously syncing folders from my network location… It seemed to be sync up properly with the symlinks. Then I added another symlink to the Insync folder, but it is taking a very long time to get into sync. Its been three days and still says it has 12’000 files to go… The total file size is only a few hundred MBs. I dont know what it is doing.

#16

Now I am getting Errors on certain files… and I have 12015 in progress and increasing.
“Cant Process FILENAME - {“error”:{“code”:500,“message”:null}}”
I now realize that all syncing has been held up by this. Im going to try to remove the new symlink and hopefully the original folders will sync again.

#17

Ok in order for InSync to recognize my newly added symlink in local folder:

  1. Remove existing non-working symlink.
  2. Copy and paste part or all of the physical folder you need added. (I did the whole thing since it wasn’t too large)
  3. Let InSync sync and get caught up with new changes.
  4. Pause InSync and close application.
  5. Delete Physical folder and Recreate symlink in it’s place.
  6. Restart Insync. Hopefully it starts using symlink instead of physical folder.