<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Duplicati recently released a v2.0 Preview (<a href="http://www.duplicati.com/howtos/how-to-install-and-run-duplicati-2-0-preview">http://www.duplicati.com/howtos/how-to-install-and-run-duplicati-2-0-preview</a>), 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 <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/duplicati/FSejerztk0c">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/duplicati/FSejerztk0c</a> 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? <hr size="2" width="100%"> 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 - <a href="https://github.com/HolgerHees/cloudsync">https://github.com/HolgerHees/cloudsync</a> 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 - <a href="https://www.cyphertite.com">https://www.cyphertite.com</a> 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 <a href="https://opensource.conformal.com/wiki/cyphertite_installation">https://opensource.conformal.com/wiki/cyphertite_installation</a> for binary package info. But the most significant drawback for my purposes is that this is a command line program. Idrive - <a href="https://www.idrive.com">https://www.idrive.com</a> Provides 5GB of free storage. Good on security and incremental backup. But though it promisingly describes a desktop app at <a href="https://www.idrive.com/remote-manage">https://www.idrive.com/remote-manage</a>, Linux users find out at <a href="https://www.idrive.com/online-backup-linux">https://www.idrive.com/online-backup-linux</a> 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. <hr size="2" width="100%"> 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.) </body> </html>