Gregg's Nearly Interminable Adventures in Linux Land

[Gregg Bell]

I got Copy.com on both of my computers. I know that if I put something in the Copy folder that will be available to both computers.

But how Copy does the backing up I don't know.

When I change a file or folder do I have to plop that into the Copy folder every time or does Copy somehow update the file or folder in the Copy folder automatically? (It doesn't seem to.)

Okay, when I, say, take the Documents folder from one computer and plop it into the Copy folder that's that. Then I take the Documents folder from the other computer and plop that into the Copy folder, then all the files from both folders will be in the Copy folder (and the Copy cloud), right?

Now I just removed a couple of files from a folder and copied and pasted the folder into the Copy folder. But then when I looked at the Copy folder the files I'd deleted were still there. What's the process? How does it work?

I mean, how does this work as a way of backing things up AND organizing things? To me it seems like a decent way of throwing stuff into the Copy folder (and cloud), but how is that different than Google Drive? I mean, that's not really a backup, is it? It's like a flash drive in the cloud.

And when I combined the same folders (with the same titles anyway, but they each had different files within them) from the two computers I'd expected each folder on each computer to have all the same files that were cumulatively on both. Instead, they're the same. And the cumulative is only on the Copy folder.

I like the notion of just throwing the folders and files into the Copy folder. It's much quicker than Google Drive. But the backing up feature eludes me and the syncing feature makes me fearful that I'll lose data or that the files will become hopelessly less organized.

Thanks.

[eschwartz]

Copy.com, like Google Drive, is a flashdrive-in-the-cloud type of service... the only difference between copy.com, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, and a dozen other services, is how much storage they offer, what operating systems they support (some don't support linux), and how reliable they are. I've never been overly impressed by copy.com, as far as I am concerned their desktop syncing program is a piece of junk. It is possible it works better on Windows (where I suspect most of their users lie).

Conversely, I have always been extremely pleased with Dropbox. If you don't yet have a Dropbox account, you can use the referral link in my signature.

[Glorfindel]

The thing I dislike about dropbox is the measly bit of storage they give. I have nearly 300 GB of onedrive storage for completely free, 20 copy.com GBs also free (free as in no referals used yet.) Dropbox? 2GB.

[eschwartz]

15GB of Dropbox, due to referrals.

Mostly by sticking my referral link in my sig.


What I like about Dropbox is that it works very well everywhere... even linux, which is notably unsupported.

OneDrive doesn't do linux. Okay, granted there is a third-party experimental solution.
Box.com doesn't do linux. Well, at least there is WebDav.
After years of promises, Google is still "working on it". The OSX installer includes now includes screenshots for linux setup (as well as the Windows screenshots), so... hope? Anyway, another third-party solution, grive/grive-tools, supposedly works all right. Except when Google has lousy APIs so renamed folders get emptied client-side and deleted in the cloud?.

Unofficial solutions do not inspire, honestly.

copy.com supports linux officially. Sadly, I am left with feelings of Slow.
I do fuse-mount my Copy folder when I need to upload media, say, this year's Purim Shtick videos.

Dropbox works with perfection, but you need referrals to get significant space. Then again, just how much space do you need? In my case, "5.6 GB of 14.88 GB used" -- and I have a bunch of junk.

[cromag]

Dropbox does work very well with Linux -- in my case, Ubuntu. It has the side benefit of also working very well with my Android phone and tablets. And it does a great job of automatically capturing pictures I take with my phone's camera. I wind up using this one the most, just with everyday things.

I also have, and really like, SpiderOak. It has more default storage, it's encrypted, and works great with Ubuntu. This one is the one I use the most for writing projects.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Copy.com, like Google Drive, is a flashdrive-in-the-cloud type of service... the only difference between copy.com, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, and a dozen other services, is how much storage they offer, what operating systems they support (some don't support linux), and how reliable they are. I've never been overly impressed by copy.com, as far as I am concerned their desktop syncing program is a piece of junk. It is possible it works better on Windows (where I suspect most of their users lie).

Conversely, I have always been extremely pleased with Dropbox. If you don't yet have a Dropbox account, you can use the referral link in my signature.

Thanks eschwartz. I thought Copy.com also acted as a back-up. Like when you first sign up you get this window that says something like 'do you want to put all of your files in the Copy folder?' (I said no.)

I can see that the Copy folder has files from both of my computers, but doesn't it serve as a back-up too? Or do I need to get something else to do that?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

The thing I dislike about dropbox is the measly bit of storage they give. I have nearly 300 GB of onedrive storage for completely free, 20 copy.com GBs also free (free as in no referals used yet.) Dropbox? 2GB.

Yeah, esp. with videos 2GB is not that much. But I have some questions for you. You wrote that I need to edit in the Copy folder. True. I can see that keeps everything I do there synced. Here are my questions.

1)Do the files (say I put the Documents folder from both computers into the Copy folder) from the two computers get combined when you put them both in the Copy folder?

2)If you put all your folders in the Copy folder that's basically a backup then, right?

3)Do the folders outside of the Copy folder sort of atrophy, if you will, as you edit in the Copy folder?

4)Isn't it easy to forget to edit in the Copy folder?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by cromag

Dropbox does work very well with Linux -- in my case, Ubuntu. It has the side benefit of also working very well with my Android phone and tablets. And it does a great job of automatically capturing pictures I take with my phone's camera. I wind up using this one the most, just with everyday things.

I also have, and really like, SpiderOak. It has more default storage, it's encrypted, and works great with Ubuntu. This one is the one I use the most for writing projects.

cromag, SpiderOak looks good. But a lot of my Linux friends say all of this cloud stuff (Drive, Dropbox, Copy, Spideroak, whatever) is bogus because they can do what they want with your info and you should just do something like rsync or something like that.

Is there anything to that or are they just paranoid?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

cromag, SpiderOak looks good. But a lot of my Linux friends say all of this cloud stuff (Drive, Dropbox, Copy, Spideroak, whatever) is bogus because they can do what they want with your info and you should just do something like rsync or something like that.

Is there anything to that or are they just paranoid?

Paranoid, I'm sorry. Amazon can do as they please with your data, and paypal, and any ecommerce place and....

To use a nice and traditional rsync, yes, it can works but is it necessary so bare bones command?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks eschwartz. I thought Copy.com also acted as a back-up. Like when you first sign up you get this window that says something like 'do you want to put all of your files in the Copy folder?' (I said no.)

I can see that the Copy folder has files from both of my computers, but doesn't it serve as a back-up too? Or do I need to get something else to do that?

All cloud storage sites serve as a form of backup. If you copy files to a flashdrive, that too is a backup.

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Yeah, esp. with videos 2GB is not that much. But I have some questions for you. You wrote that I need to edit in the Copy folder. True. I can see that keeps everything I do there synced. Here are my questions.

1)Do the files (say I put the Documents folder from both computers into the Copy folder) from the two computers get combined when you put them both in the Copy folder?

Yes, same as when you copy a folder called "folder1" from the "Downloads" folder to the "Documents" folder... if there is already a "folder1". The two folders will be merged.

2)If you put all your folders in the Copy folder that's basically a backup then, right?

Yes.

3)Do the folders outside of the Copy folder sort of atrophy, if you will, as you edit in the Copy folder?

They will indeed remain untouched. This is why...

4)Isn't it easy to forget to edit in the Copy folder?

Just move the files into your cloud storage, and the n you always have to edit that copy. Keeping multiple copies of the same file in different places is, ehm, inadvisable -- for that exact reason. enterprise-grade backup solutions (can be cobbled together by kowledgeable people using rsync) handle those extra copies automatically, using versioning -- which is why they are acceptable. You can manually, laboriously do versioning yourself, by copying files and appending dates to the filenames, b ut it is probably not worth the effort.
Do NOT try keeping the latest version in multiple places, it will only frustrate you.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

cromag, SpiderOak looks good. But a lot of my Linux friends say all of this cloud stuff (Drive, Dropbox, Copy, Spideroak, whatever) is bogus because they can do what they want with your info and you should just do something like rsync or something like that.

Is there anything to that or are they just paranoid?

I agree, they are just paranoid.

Think about it this way: They have so much darn information about you anyway. What exactly do you risk by storing your pictures and documents and stuff there?
They have your credit card information, for heavens sake.

rsync is a perfectly decent tool, I use it myself -- because an external hard drive plus my time in writing scripts, is cheaper than monthly fees for premium storage.
I certainly am not afraid of them "doing whatever they want with my info". I wish them much luck in getting anything valuable, e.g. Amazon already has my shopping habits, their knowledge of my personal pictures is considerably less useful to them (and could land them in legal trouble for no benefit).

All these companies have no need to steal your data, you already gave it to them long ago.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Paranoid, I'm sorry. Amazon can do as they please with your data, and paypal, and any ecommerce place and....

To use a nice and traditional rsync, yes, it can works but is it necessary so bare bones command?

Thanks Terisa. I hate that they can do that. There should be laws against it.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks Terisa. I hate that they can do that. There should be laws against it.

I hate it too, but I'm realistic at this moment, and I keep my paranoia for other matters

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

All cloud storage sites serve as a form of backup. If you copy files to a flashdrive, that too is a backup.



Yes, same as when you copy a folder called "folder1" from the "Downloads" folder to the "Documents" folder... if there is already a "folder1". The two folders will be merged.



Yes.



They will indeed remain untouched. This is why...



Just move the files into your cloud storage, and the n you always have to edit that copy. Keeping multiple copies of the same file in different places is, ehm, inadvisable -- for that exact reason. enterprise-grade backup solutions (can be cobbled together by kowledgeable people using rsync) handle those extra copies automatically, using versioning -- which is why they are acceptable. You can manually, laboriously do versioning yourself, by copying files and appending dates to the filenames, b ut it is probably not worth the effort.
Do NOT try keeping the latest version in multiple places, it will only frustrate you.

Thanks eschwatz. That was super-helpful.

So, say I combine my two Documents folders (one from each computer) into the Copy folder. Then I have all my documents there combined in my Copy folder. Then I delete (or 'cut and paste,' whatever) my Document folders that are not in the Copy folder on both computers?

If so, that makes me nervous. What if Copy.com screws up? Their TOS is all about 'we are not responsible if you lose data.'

Do you think it's safe?

I like the idea. No, I love the idea of having everything in the Copy folder. It's like having both computers in one place. But it's scary.

Do you think rsync and stuff like Deja Dup are over my head or more than I need?

And for back-up are there any that are free and simple (or maybe I should just stay with Copy.com)?

Here's all these Linux backup things:

http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20...03/Backup.html

One of them should work, don't you think?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I hate it too, but I'm realistic at this moment, and I keep my paranoia for other matters

Ha ha. Yeah, I've got plenty of paranoia to spare myself.