Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#171

Post by JohnFen » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:26 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #101

latexr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess becausse someone made lots of money from it or it became popular or something. No, it’s because it was useful and simple in a way that non-techies could and would set up and use. That’s why Dropbox got popular.

Even as a techie, why would you put in the work to set up your own thing? Though, I moved away from Dropbox long ago when they introduced device limits. One phone, one laptop and one triple booting desktop -> over the device limit already.

> Even as a techie, why would you put in the work to set up your own thing?

As a techie, I do this so that I can maintain control and trust, and so that when something goes wrong, I can fix it instead of just refreshing the status page of the service and hoping.

I in no way think that anyone else should do like me, but when people are having trouble with a service, I will mention options that involve not needing that service.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#172

Post by Jamie9912 » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:26 PM UTC

rmm wrote: post #67

We use Dropbox business, anyone recommend a good replacement. Main features I want is version history and easy recovery.

I honestly recommend you just stay with Dropbox.. there's no fantastic alternatives

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#173

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

digital_voodoo wrote: post #142

generalizations wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. Just set up syncthing. Came back to it about a year ago, and it's worked flawlessly across 5+ devices with ~8 synced folders ever since.

Worth mentioning that Syncthing doesn't have a cloud part, while DB does. That said, I've been running it since the very beginning, even before it became public/known, and it had never failed me so far.

> Worth mentioning that Syncthing doesn't have a cloud part, while DB does.

I see that as a huge plus for Syncthing.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#174

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

bomewish wrote: post #141

eloisius wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Syncthing saved my ass last month. My Framework laptop got stolen while I was traveling. I was able to pick up a second-hand MacBook Air, connect it to my introducer, and within a few hours I had all my files back. I have a Pi with software RAID and two HDDs running Syncthing in my apartment. I rent a cheap Storage VPS from time4vps.com which is untrusted and set as an introducer--meaning, the data is encrypted befor…

why not use the syncthing introducer thingy? You concerned they gonna spy on the packets or what?

That's not what an introducer is. It's an easier way of configuring which computers can synchronize with each other, not to be mistaken for a relay.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#175

Post by JohnFen » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:28 PM UTC

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #162

nottorp wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even as a techie, why would you put in the work to set up your own thing? Though, I moved away from Dropbox long ago when they introduced device limits. One phone, one laptop and one triple booting desktop -> over the device limit already.

Putting in the work to setup your own thing is great. You learn a lot, if your doing it at an advanced level you start to understand some of the designs/tradeoffs that the commercial products made. Keeping that running and reliable and operating it for years or decades sounds like an absolute nightmare and I'd suggest avoiding that at all costs.

> Keeping that running and reliable and operating it for years or decades sounds like an absolute nightmare

But it's not. I run many such services for myself, and keeping them running and reliable hasn't been a large burden.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#176

Post by nielsbot » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:28 PM UTC

huggingmouth wrote: post #165

Synching telemetry can be disabled. In fact, it's disabled by default.

Can it? The article says disabling telemetry had no effect. Maybe this has changed.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#177

Post by JohnFen » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:30 PM UTC

abhibeckert wrote: post #92

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #19

Many times on HN, commenters have mocked those who questioned why someone would use Dropbox instead of a method controlled by the user. I guess becausse someone made lots of money from it or it became popular or something. I always found this perplexing because I look at solutions from the perspective of the user, namely, me, not from the perspective of a third party "tech" startup founder. It's insensitive to the pe…

> I confess I have never used it. I still rely on USB sticks Phew boy. You really should try dropbox or a competing service.* Picture this: 1. Double click a file 2. Type some words 3. Save the file That's it. There is no step 4. Your file is now synced to all your other computers and to any colleagues who also need that file. Seriously you shouldn't be using USB sticks these days. Also - I'm guessing you haven't sta…

> Seriously you shouldn't be using USB sticks these days.

Why not? You say that like there's a problem beyond not caring if there's a more convenient option.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#178

Post by dns_snek » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:30 PM UTC

Fatnino wrote: post #168

xorcist wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but without VC money the product space wouldn't exist at all, at least not as a free service. Who doesn't want free storage? No one, that's who. See also: everything from Sourceforge to Docker Hub. Very few can complete the transition into a paid service. The important distinction is whether you sell a product or a service. Dropbox is clearly a service, but it's easy to envision a product instead. Had the user…

People have been burned enough times by now that any fly-by-night that shows up promising free storage gets taken with a huge grain of salt. Why would I upload my data for you to hold for free if history shows you are going to be gone in 6 months? So to answer your question "Who doesn't want free storage?", everyone who's been burned before, that's who.

...Or worse, they start mining and monetizing your personal data under the pretense of a "free" service. There's no free lunch.

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#179

Post by dreamcompiler » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:31 PM UTC

netruk44 wrote: post #151

dreamcompiler wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Syncthing too, but only between my local machines. I don't use it for cloud backup because I've never found 2 TB of cloud storage as cheap as Dropbox. If anybody knows of such a vendor I'd love to hear about it. Edit: I should further qualify that I'm not interested in solutions that would lock me into Apple's walled garden or anybody else's.

If you’re okay with a VPS, Servarica’s 2022 Black Friday offerings (which are still available) has a 2 TB HDD VPS for $48/year.

This looks ideal. Thanks!

Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled

#180

Post by green-salt » Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 3:37 PM UTC

fuzzehchat wrote: post #160

rsync.net seem to be spaffing a lot on advertising, anyine ot any experience of them ? 1TB bonus if you sign up, but haow good is their product?

I really want to try their ZFS Send offering but minimum buy in at 4TB for $60 a month isn't worth it yet to me.