[Gllug] cloud based backup and sync

[general_email at technicalbloke.com]

On 28/09/10 21:38, Sean Burlington wrote:
> Hi all,
>        I've been using an old server as backup system for ages - but
> the PSU died and I'm appreciating the quiet.
>
> So I'm looking into cloud based backup solutions - with the idea being
> that I can sync files between three laptops (ubuntu netbook, debian,
> and windows) - as well as having a remote backup.
>
> It looked like jungledisk would do what I wanted - but I found the
> software very flaky - and the network disk didn't quite work the way I
> wanted (it provided on demand download with a cache)
>
> I want all files held locally with sync occurring when a network is
> available - I don't need full backup just selected directories
> (photos, music documents etc - around 15Gb but not usually many
> changes each day)
>
> Ubuntu one looks good - apart from being Ubuntu only (as far as I can see)
>
> There seem to be a lot of options around
>
> http://www.nickhammond.com/2010/01/06/cloud-based-backup-choices/
>
> and I'm tempted to try dropbox next
>
> Have people on this list used similar setups?
>
> Any recommendations or warnings?
>
>
>    

Have been playing with Ubuntu One recently and it turns out I kinda hate 
it :/ The conflict resolution seems to involve just renaming conflicting 
files, as far as I can see there's no dialog to inform you about the 
existence of conficts let alone resolve/merge conflicting files. Also 
the sign in seems unreliable on 10.04 machines sometimes requiring a 
gnarly command line to be run in order to add a new machine and it 
fights with No-Script requiring you to disable the ABE (Application 
Boundaries Enforcer) to add a new machine.

Also I can't see a way of forcing a machine to sync and it seems to take 
an arbitrary length of time for changes to percolate after the file has 
been closed. AFAICS it simply won't sync a file until the app you're 
using to edit it has quit (as opposed to immediately that the file has 
been saved which would be more useful). In all fairness these last two 
issues may well be down to my ignorance so if you know better please 
clue me in!

I'm quite disappointed now. I had naively assumed that Ubuntu One (being 
the big deal new thing when it was launched) would be a silky smooth 
experience but I have found, even quite a while since its release, it is 
anything but for me :(

Roger.
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