Ubuntu – Ubuntu One – Synch or Backup

backupdeja-dupsyncubuntu-one

Either I am not getting something or a lot of folks are not understanding the difference between sync and backup. This can be quite dangerous. My understanding of synching is that you are basically mirroring. Lets say you sync a folder on your hard drive with a folder on the web. This means that if you add files to your folder on the hard drive that it will be added to the folder on the web. This is great. The danger here though is that if somehow files are lost from the folder on the local drive then they are removed from the folder on the web. Remember this is synching NOT BACKING UP.

A backup on the other hand, of the same situation, means that if a file is deleted from your local drive it would still be available in the web folder.

Ubuntu One seems to only offer synching NOT backing up. Using third part utilities such as deja Dup Backup Tool.

Besides this backup tool does anyone know if you can FTP or another utility to upload/backup to Ubuntu One? If so what are the settings (URL/URI/address) for Ubuntu One?

Best Answer

I'm not 100% certain whether you are saying Deja Dup syncs or backs up, but to clarify, it will create a real backup like you want. It just uses Ubuntu One's cloud storage to store it's formatted backup files.

There are a couple ways to upload/download directly to/from Ubuntu One:

  • There's the web site itself which lets you upload and download files manually.
  • There's a web API that lets you upload and download files programatically. There's a tutorial and sample script explaining how. (This is what Deja Dup does behind the scenes.)
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