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After my hosting company referred me to the TOS,
mentioning the fact that I can't backup my PC on my servers.
I started searching for services that might do exactly that.
Now the thing is, I've seen services like Carbonite and Mozy
And I have a couple of issues with them:

  1. Both of them have proprietary
    software that doesn't work on Linux
  2. Both of them are mainly for backups,
    not for getting my Media Streamed to my Phone or another computer

My current status is:

  • about 60GB of Music Collection collected over 14 years.
  • 10GB of memories in Photos taken over the years.
    (and planning to have much, much more if I'll get a proper hosting
    so I would be able to scan old family photos).
  • some documents, code files, nothing much there.
  • 50-60GB of Movies made and collected.

This size of ~130GB is not static, that's for sure.
I want to be able to stream some of the media to my computer
so I'll have the option to listen to music I've deleted from my computer
or see photos that have been deleted.
(or even stream music to my Android?)

As you probably understand, my idea tends to the Unlimited plans
(or close to that)



thank you very much for your help, sorry for babbling.





Update
I've found 2 services that might be able to do remotely what I want:

  1. CrashPlan: Very nice service all-in-all, supports Linux and offers unlimited space.
    But, seems to be more for backup and less for accessing
    (for streaming, on my phone, etc.)

  2. Google Storage:
    Now this is a bit tricky because technically there isn't
    Really Google Storage, I can pay like 100$ per year
    for 400GB of Picasa, Google Docs and Gmail
    and with the use of GSpace (firefox addon to upload to gmail)
    I can technically upload files and they even
    added a Player mode that you can stream off it (doesn't work for me btw).

The solution of Google Storage seems to be a bit of an stretch..
Mainly because technically it's not suppose to do that
and I'm pretty sure it's a matter of time until
they'll either contact me from Google or GSpace won't work anymore.

The CrashPlan idea almost had it but once again, it seems
more for backup and less for accessing on a regular basis..
Not to mention the important fact that no streaming = no deal.

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  • Is the "proprietary" the problem, or the "Linux" part? Dropbox.com has a Linux client, however they only offer up to 100GB or so. The kind of usage you plan sounds expensive for the service provider, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.
    – Daniel Beck
    Aug 18, 2010 at 8:39
  • well, companies like Mozy keep account of well over 350GB. I really don't think it is as expensive as they may let you think it is... also Carbonite have been offering Unlimited accounts for ages and I have a friend that stores about 100GB there... but it wouldn't solve my streaming problem (nor will it work on linux)
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 15:56

5 Answers 5

3

Check out CrashPlan - Their paid option gives you unlimited online storage for $3-5 per month.

This is a distributed backup client (free) with the option of online storage (paid), but you could also just use the Win/Mac/Linux software to backup between several of your (and/or your friends) computers.

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  • I don't see anything about grabbing the files from another location (maybe even streaming the music?)... did you find any?
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 10:49
  • You indicated that you'd need this for backup purposes. You can restore from CrashPlan to any computer where CrashPlan is installed (with your username). I'm not aware of a Dropbox-like service with >100GB storage. Aug 18, 2010 at 11:24
  • Must I quote my own messages? 3rd paragraph mentions the fact that I want to be able to delete some of my music from my PC so I could stream it from the storage space..
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 13:10
  • D'oh, I missed that. Aug 18, 2010 at 13:33
1

S3QL (http://code.google.com/p/s3ql/) allows you to mount Amazon S3 buckets as an ordinary file system. That should do fine for your purposes. The amount of data that you can store in S3 is unlimited, but you'll be charged per GB. See http://aws.amazon.com/s3/.

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  • that would cost an arm and a leg
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 17:35
0

Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com) would work well for tour cause. It syncs well and streams as well.

Is multiplatform-Has clients on Mac, Windows, and recently Linux. Has light clients on the iPhone too.

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  • checked it out, for a 100GB I have to pay 20$ per month... to expensive for not enough storage
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 10:43
  • While expensive, I believe that Dropbox would be the perfect solution to your problem, if money is no object. It works terribly well with a situation like yours, is in no danger of the service shutting down, and the syncronisation system works very well.
    – JFW
    Aug 18, 2010 at 13:57
  • Dropbox just don't provide enough hosting, as you can see my current files add up to 130GB ..
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 18:12
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Google's Picasa tool runs on Linux although your mileage may vary as I think it runs using Wine.

Extra storage is pretty cheap (I use the service to back up about 50GB of photos/videos) and it would be possible to use the Picasa tool on your desktop to sync your photos (and video) with the online library for the purposes of backup.

If the rumours are to be believed, Google are also working on a cloud based music hosting service which might be a place to store your MP3 collection and play it anywhere. At least I'm hoping that those rumours are true!

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  • rumors tend to become true after the present moment. and considering the fact that I am living at the present - not in the future, I don't see how Picasa helps me with my Music.. Thanks though
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 10:47
  • Picasa is a little limited on Linux, mostly because of lack of movie support. So it would work only for photos... Aug 18, 2010 at 11:21
0

This question lists some alternatives you could investigate.

Since you're using Linux, may I assume you're good with computers? You could set up a separate machine specifically for hosting your own files, and use FileZilla or rsync (or others) to connect.

You could place this machine in your home (for quick access from any computer on your LAN) or at a friend's place (for offsite storage), then configure the broadband router to allow connections from the Intarwebs so you could access your files from anywhere. As long as transfer speeds and data limits aren't a problem, this would be equivalent to or better than CrashPlan.

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  • I thought about it and due to the fact that I plan on moving quite a lot in the next 3-5 years, I don't see how that's possible. However it could've been a good idea for someone with a similar problem.
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 13:12
  • If you're moving a lot, then it may make sense to build such a machine and put it with someone who doesn't move? Granted, if you need speedy access then this won't work. Aug 18, 2010 at 13:34
  • for that I would need a trustworthy friend, sadly these are hard to come by.
    – Asaf
    Aug 18, 2010 at 13:40
  • Do your parents have broadband? Aug 19, 2010 at 6:38
  • yes but they use laptops, less than 80GB of space at any rate.. crossed that out
    – Asaf
    Aug 19, 2010 at 18:13

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