Updating Media Indexes on Synology NAS

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Goal

Files are saved to a Windows 7 directory.

A scheduled task copies those files to a remote NAS drive.

A task runs on NAS that re-indexes its media nightly (making it available to Photo Station).

How to re-index NAS so the files are available in Photo Station before the nightly indexing.

Enable the command line on NAS

  • Log in to DSM.
  • Enable SSH
    • Open the Terminal Services Menu, from the Network Services Folder
    • Enable the SSH Service.
    • Click OK.
  • Grant remote access.
    • Open the Firewall Menu, from the Network Services Folder
    • Double click enabled rule
    • In Ports Section, press Select button next to Select from a list of built-in applications
    • Make sure Port 22 (SSH) is enabled
    • Click OK twice and then Save.[1]

Re-index media files

TODO: Research the differences between command line re-indexing and re-indexing through the DSM Control Panel. I think they do the same thing. If that's the case, using the DSM is easier.

Command line

SSH to NAS server

usage: 
    Add:    synoindex -a filename
    Delete: synoindex -d filename
    Add folder:    synoindex -A folder
    Delete folder: synoindex -D folder
    Rename/move file/folder:    synoindex -N newfullpath oldfullpath
    Update Photo Images:        synoindex -U photo
    Get from DB:         synoindex -g filename -t [video|music|photo|playlist]

Additionally, this command will re-index a specific media table:[2]

synoindex -R [video|music|photo|playlist|all]

synoindex -h for all command line options.[3]

synoindex can be used to retrieve metadata from indexed files.

Synology DSM

  • Login to the DSM with an account with administrator priviledges.
  • Control Panel > System > Media Indexing > Media Indexing tab > Re-index button.
  • It will report Indexing media files, which is a slow process.

Notes

  1. Enabling the Command Line Interface (Synology Wiki)
  2. Synology Indexing - Synology Wiki by Clemens Wacha
  3. More on the Synology NAS Automatically Indexing New Files ("codesourcery" blog, 11/29/2012)
    This includes a Python script for watching for file system changes and triggering the synoindex command.