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Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

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Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#81

Post by karmakaze »

crazygringo wrote: post #9
karmakaze wrote: post #2

Does anyone have experience using this to sync between a Windows PC and a Mac? I've tried using OneDrive and it's pretty bad. I basically keep it disabled until I remember, "hey I haven't synced in a while, turn it on until complete, then turn off again."

It's backup, not sync. Your basic consumer choices for cloud-based sync are OneDrive, Google Drive, or DropBox. I prefer Google Drive now that I can keep all my files in the cloud and download/cache on demand, rather than keep it synced -- this way I get a usable 2TB disk rather than being limited to my laptop's 256GB storage. Google announced a new unified app yesterday actually: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021…

I don't actually need/want any sort of sync integration.

I do however want a remote copy of only current local files, which is a kind of sync. Then be able to make a local copy of the current remote files in a device/directory of my choice. A command-line tool to start the sync operation is fine, especially if it can run incrementally/resume.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#82

Post by karmakaze »

yepthatsreality wrote: post #3
karmakaze wrote: post #2

Does anyone have experience using this to sync between a Windows PC and a Mac? I've tried using OneDrive and it's pretty bad. I basically keep it disabled until I remember, "hey I haven't synced in a while, turn it on until complete, then turn off again."

No but you may want to try rclone. Not exactly lightweight but it’s very easy to use and configure with a variety of storage services.

Thanks, this is the only answer that seems to understand what I want. Most of the other comments say sync != backup, but depending on your (or my) use case either could work just fine.

rsync is good enough for me so rclone may be too. Hopefully I don't run into any OS/filesystem difference problems, e.g. case-insensitivity, special chars, or path lengths.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#83

Post by karmakaze »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #30
karmakaze wrote: post #2

Does anyone have experience using this to sync between a Windows PC and a Mac? I've tried using OneDrive and it's pretty bad. I basically keep it disabled until I remember, "hey I haven't synced in a while, turn it on until complete, then turn off again."

If you using OneDrive as a backup, it is not designed for that. You need to use the service that are specialized for backups which BackBlaze is the right product for it. OneDrive is mainly a online storage/vault with syncing capabilities. If you have a thousands of file to backup to OneDrive, you will have a problem since OneDrive need to upload everything that you want to backup to. Imagine 500,000 files that OneDri…

My specific case is keeping a cloud copy of my audio media, in the order of 30 to 80 GB and most files do not change with metadata in auxiliary files. I started the initial upload and went to bed--it may have taken a few hours. Either sync or backup would be fine as long as unchanged files are not transferred. Automatic or manually (or scheduled) tasks are fine too.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#84

Post by crazygringo »

karmakaze wrote: post #81
crazygringo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's backup, not sync. Your basic consumer choices for cloud-based sync are OneDrive, Google Drive, or DropBox. I prefer Google Drive now that I can keep all my files in the cloud and download/cache on demand, rather than keep it synced -- this way I get a usable 2TB disk rather than being limited to my laptop's 256GB storage. Google announced a new unified app yesterday actually: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021…

I don't actually need/want any sort of sync integration. I do however want a remote copy of only current local files, which is a kind of sync. Then be able to make a local copy of the current remote files in a device/directory of my choice. A command-line tool to start the sync operation is fine, especially if it can run incrementally/resume.

I'm curious, can you clarify?

What do you mean by "current" in "only current local files" and "current remote files"?

What does it mean to want a remote copy of only current local files, as opposed to all local files?

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#85

Post by karmakaze »

Symbiote wrote: post #11
karmakaze wrote: post #2

Does anyone have experience using this to sync between a Windows PC and a Mac? I've tried using OneDrive and it's pretty bad. I basically keep it disabled until I remember, "hey I haven't synced in a while, turn it on until complete, then turn off again."

I've used Syncthing to sync between Mac, Linux and Android. They have a Windows client. It's not the most intuitive software to set up, especially on mobile where there are confusing filesystem restrictions from the OS, but once set up seems to work nicely. I don't use the versioning / read-only features, so I don't know how well it performs for sort-of-backup purposes.

This looks interesting, but I was interested in each computer doing a sync with cloud storage. I realize that's not well-defined, but even keeping the more recently updated version in any sync session is ok with me. The thing I wanted is that I only use one computer at a time and don't leave the others on so doing direct pc mac sync is less convenient, compared to run a sync on whichever machine I'm using at the time.

Should I just be getting some cloud VM that backs up its storage and use rsync/ssh?

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#86

Post by eyeball »

tomjen3 wrote: post #79
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still should backup your NAS to the cloud per the 3-2-1 backups strategy (3 copies of data, 2 types of storage, 1 offsite copy). Synology has an app that can do that for you. If you're stashing away a lot of data on your NAS the cloud storage fees won't be too much cheaper than BackBlaze.

You can save a lot of money if you buy a couple extra harddrives, make a copy and store it with your friends/family. As a bonus, less likely to get the NSA involved.

this was my thought instead of cloud backup

I don't care so much to lose the most recent few months. Can store some extra drives at a family members house and swap them out whenever I go to visit.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#87

Post by karmakaze »

Spooky23 wrote: post #23
karmakaze wrote: post #2

Does anyone have experience using this to sync between a Windows PC and a Mac? I've tried using OneDrive and it's pretty bad. I basically keep it disabled until I remember, "hey I haven't synced in a while, turn it on until complete, then turn off again."

OneDrive and Google Drive are similar and fail in similar ways, I think because they look at files and not blocks. A lot of the goofy OneDrive gotchas have been resolved, but I don’t trust it for backup. Dropbox is king of sync, especially if you are on the same LAN as it syncs locally. That said, Dropbox has a long-term strategy of alienating their customers through annoying upsell and doing weird stuff with clients…

Woah, it occurs to me that I've cloud-blinded myself. Do I really, really need offsite backup? If not having an always on third machine really does do the job, especially if I can get remote access set up for it.

I kinda don't want to handle the physical media though. It works well short term, but for longer time frames I can't be trusted. I have misplaced/erased/reused/damaged so many devices. It's also a pain to keep up with the upgrading/updating of the various interfaces the devices use.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#88

Post by karmakaze »

crazygringo wrote: post #84
karmakaze wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't actually need/want any sort of sync integration. I do however want a remote copy of only current local files, which is a kind of sync. Then be able to make a local copy of the current remote files in a device/directory of my choice. A command-line tool to start the sync operation is fine, especially if it can run incrementally/resume.

I'm curious, can you clarify? What do you mean by "current" in "only current local files" and "current remote files"? What does it mean to want a remote copy of only current local files, as opposed to all local files?

'current local files' are the files that are currently on the machine I'm using right now.

'current remote files' are the files that the cloud storage has from the last sync operation with any computer.

When I perform a sync between a computer I'm on and cloud storage, any new remote files (since last sync on this computer) are copied down, any files deleted locally are deleted remotely, newer local files copied up. I think I can script this with rclone (if it's anything like rsync).

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#89

Post by gogopuppygogo »

fletchowns wrote: post #47
gogopuppygogo wrote: post #31

I had backblaze on a laptop that was stolen. The thief uploaded all of their criminal activities to my backblaze account. I was able to inform five federal agencies on their wrongdoings as a result. Thanks Backblaze for adding the forever hold feature! You helped prevent more victims of a very bad human.

How was the thief even able to login to your laptop?

It was a spare on a shelf at my office in a co working space. Password was not set up so a low level worker could use it if I needed them to grab it. Worked out well as the thief used it and thought nothing of securing it.

It was a cheap wintel computer that could have had the os reinstalled if the operating system had been locked.

The thief had opportunity and access to the coworking space.

Thankfully they didn’t realize backblaze was on it.

Re: Subscription Changes for Computer Backup

#90

Post by killingtime74 »

brewdad wrote: post #50
chomp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely know people who not use it in good faith. Same people that crammed many terabytes into Amazon Drive back when it was unlimited so that they could "back up their plex server".

So what is the best off-site solution for backing up a NAS in good faith? I have about 10TB of data that is "backed up" to varying degrees but no all-in-one solution right now.

I use Backblaze b2. You can use any S3 compatible backup tool or file browser. Downloads routed through Cloudflare are free
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