Duplicati recently released a v2.0 Preview
(http://www.duplicati.com/howtos/how-to-install-and-run-duplicati-2-0-preview),
which offers a browser-based GUI interface over a "block-based" storage
engine that knows how to access popular online storage from Google,
Microsoft, Amazon and more. It removes the need for periodic full
backups, and its block-based incremental approach is finer-grained than
file-level incremental backup. The backups are compressed and encrypted
on your machine before upload. There is a built-in scheduler. The
software is open source.
I don't think it supports file versions, and to back up open/locked
files in Linux it requires LVM. But otherwise, pretty darn good on
lots of counts.
I have it working under Windows, aimed at a Microsoft Onedrive account,
giving me up to 15GB of free online backup.
Nice.
In Lubuntu I had been running SpiderOak, which has a nice GUI interface,
supports some sort of incremental backup -- I forget the details -- and
provides 2GB of free online storage.
The Duplicati 2 Preview supplies a GUI that supports Linux, so it looked
like I was poised to take a giant step forward.
But after tripping over the installation, and then over the
configuration (see
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/duplicati/FSejerztk0c
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/duplicati/FSejerztk0c> for my
problems with those), I stopped and reviewed the fact that Duplicati
only works under Linux if you install the Mono runtime environment,
which supports running .NET Framework code in Linux and on a Mac.
Alluring if you are a developer: write once, deploy everywhere (like Java).
It seems to me, however, that installing Mono introduces additional
security risks similar to those posed by Wine. Anyone disagree?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I wondered if there were other Linux online backup solutions out
there that 1) provide a GUI that is friendly for the average end-user,
and 2) offer more than 2GB of free storage. Other considerations: the
solution is well-tested, secure and reliable; the provider has a good
track record.
I should add that I'm leery of trying to use sync services (e.g.
DropBox) in lieu of backup. It seems to me that in the event of a
disaster, an *average* user could inadvertently sync his online storage
down to zero instead of restoring his files from that online storage.
Anyone disagree?
My notes on a few near-hit candidates during this look-around:
*Cloudsync* - https://github.com/HolgerHees/cloudsync
Encrypts and uploads individual files to Google Drive or Dropbox. No
mention of compression. Requires some Java components. Seems
unpolished and thin on backing.
*Cyphertite* - https://www.cyphertite.com
Provides 8GB of free storage. The software is open source. Security and
the incremental backup method look good. There may be a question of how
to install it under Trusty -- see
https://opensource.conformal.com/wiki/cyphertite_installation for binary
package info. But the most significant drawback for my purposes is that
this is a command line program.
*Idrive* - https://www.idrive.com
Provides 5GB of free storage. Good on security and incremental backup.
But though it promisingly describes a desktop app at
https://www.idrive.com/remote-manage, Linux users find out at
https://www.idrive.com/online-backup-linux that scripts or the command
line are their only options.
*There may be a few other offerings at 2GB, but I haven't seen anything
that seemed superior to SpiderOak at that storage level*.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, so I found no elegant step forward from SpiderOak.
Though I'm leery of using a sync service in lieu of backup, it would be
more acceptable as a second level of defense. Maybe the next thing then
would be to choose a GUI local backup tool that will compress, encrypt
and also make nice use of a delta/block incremental approach, and save
those backups in a folder that's set for online sync. File versioning
would be a plus.
Are there packages that fit that bill? (I think that we have had here
some version of this discussion before, but things change. Kindly humor me.)
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