New to seafile - really like so far

Seafile Server
#1

I have installed seafile as a docker container on an ubuntu-server 22.04 vm in proxmox. I added a 100GB zfs volume in proxmox vm settings for the “MyLibrary” folders and files to live. FWIW, the volume once added to the VM had to be partitioned and formatted (ext4), so im not really sure it still using zfs for at least this volume of that drive.

This drive already had all the files I want to add to seafile on that drive. In the docker-compose.yml for seafile, I have added a volume for the mount path of this drive share to /shared

What has happened instead, Is the ‘seafile’ directory is living amongst the files i want IN Seafile. How do I add these folders and files without having to upload them via the webUI, also without syncing them where they are as I want them to be in the folder for seafile and then accessible via desktop apps on my various machines and phones.

I dont want the files synced and left where they are. I want them physically moved into the seafile environment. I hopefully worded this right. I have beat up ChatGPT and Aria for about 2 hours on this with no love lol Thank you for any help!

#2

Seafile (unlike Nextcloud) does not directly store files in the filesystem. Seafile uses a data model similiar to Git and breaks files into smaller blocks. Which means your files need to be processed by Seafile in one way or another to be available in your library. Either via WebUI, Seafile Sync Client or Seafile Drive Client.

Assuming that space in your VM is limited and your host has more space available I would probably install and connect Seafile Sync Client on the host and transfer (SSH or rsync) the files from your VM to the Seafile Sync Client on the host.

#3

If you’re using the pro edition (maybe also CE, not sure), you can use the seaf-import.sh script to directly import files without having to upload them through the webui.
https://manual.seafile.com/deploy_pro/seaf_import/

#4

I just decided to use the webui to “upload” the files into seafile. They are going into the folder that I wanted them to, so its not ideal for speed, but it works. I appreciate the help!