DB-유

Synology Moments vs Photo Station: Which to Use

· synology, photos, dsm

The classic mistake I see: someone installs both Photo Station and Moments, points them at the same pictures, and wonders why the NAS is grinding for days. That's two indexes, two mobile apps and twice the thumbnails. Synology ships both on DSM 6.2. Photo Station is the older album-centric one for publishing and sharing; Moments is the newer timeline-centric one built around personal libraries and automatic recognition. They store data in different places and neither fully replaces the other. Here's how I choose.

What each one does

Photo Station:

  • Indexes the shared photo folder (/volume1/photo) and, optionally, personal homes/<user>/photo folders.
  • Albums are the folders. Permissions per album, public sharing with links and passwords, a blog module, comments.
  • Uploads go through the browser, DS photo mobile app, or by dropping files onto the share.
  • Thumbnails live in @eaDir folders beside the originals.

Moments:

  • Each user gets a personal library in homes/<user>/Drive/Moments, and there is an optional Shared Photo Library at /volume1/photo.
  • Shows a timeline; groups by date, place, subject (face and object recognition on x86 models).
  • Mobile app (Synology Moments) with automatic camera upload, which is the main reason most people install it.
  • Depends on Synology Drive Server for storage and the Universal Viewer for thumbnails; thumbnails also go to @eaDir.

Deciding by use case

Family phone backup, browse by date, faces        -> Moments
Curated albums to publish for clients/friends     -> Photo Station
Organize by folder yourself and keep control      -> Photo Station
Multiple users each with their own private photos -> Moments

Both can be installed together, and since Moments 1.3 the Shared Photo Library can be pointed at the same /volume1/photo folder that Photo Station uses, so a curated set can be visible in both. Just do not enable Moments' shared library and Photo Station's personal photo folders at the same time on homes, or every picture gets indexed twice.

Setting up Photo Station

Package Center → Photo Station → Install. Then Photo Station → Settings:

Photos
  Enable Personal Photo Station:   only if users need private albums here
  Thumbnail quality:               Normal (High doubles indexing time)
Sharing
  Allow public access:             no, unless you publish albums
General
  Enable conversion of raw files:  yes, if you shoot RAW

Copy photos into folders under /volume1/photo. Indexing runs in the background; you can watch it via Control Panel → Indexing Service → Media Indexing. Give users access through Photo Station → Settings → User Accounts (Photo Station has its own account mode or can use DSM accounts).

Setting up Moments

Package Center → Moments → Install; it pulls in Synology Drive Server if not present. Then Moments → Settings:

Personal Library:                  enabled for the users' group
Shared Photo Library:              enable, points at /volume1/photo
Enable recognition:                people and subjects (x86 models only)
Auto-upload from mobile:           configure in the Moments app on each phone

On the phone, install Synology Moments, log in with QuickConnect or DDNS, and enable Photo Backup. The upload path is homes/<user>/Drive/Moments/Mobile/<device>.

Recognition runs at low priority and can take days on a large library; you can restrict it to off-peak hours under Settings → Recognition.

Switching from Photo Station to Moments

There is no built-in migration; the folder structure of Photo Station's albums simply becomes date-based timeline content when Moments indexes the same folder as its Shared Photo Library. Moments keeps the folder view under the Shared Photo Library → Folders tab, so the album structure is not lost, only the per-album sharing settings, comments and blog posts are.

Checking the indexing

ls /volume1/photo/@eaDir | head
sudo synoindex -A 2>/dev/null; sudo synoservice --status pkgctl-SynologyMoments pkgctl-PhotoStation

The first command shows a thumbnail cache folder per photo once indexing has completed. Both services should report is running. In Moments the timeline should show the shared photos with location pins; in Photo Station the same folders appear as albums. Test the phone backup by taking a picture and watching it appear in Moments within a minute.

Notes

  • Moments shows "Indexing photos..." for days on an ARM-based model: recognition is not available on those, but thumbnail generation is slow. Disable Photo Station's High quality thumbnails and let it finish.
  • Photo Station shows blank thumbnails after moving photos with mv on SSH: the @eaDir did not move with them and Media Indexing did not notice. Run synoindex -R /volume1/photo to re-index.
  • Moments backup on the phone stalls on "Uploading" over mobile data: the app defaults to Wi-Fi-only upload. Change it in the app's Photo Backup settings.
  • Both apps complain about permissions when the photo shared folder has Windows ACLs denying the PhotoStation or SynologyMoments system users: reset the shared folder permissions in Control Panel → Shared Folder → Edit → Permissions → Advanced.

My own preference: Moments for the family, Photo Station only where albums go outward. On ARM units without recognition I'd stay with Photo Station.