[ubuntu-uk] Distributed Backup Proposal

[Dan Fish]

On Sat, 2010-07-24 at 10:02 +0100, Jon Spriggs wrote:
> I agree, and they aren't exactly fast. Remember that most of us have
> an upstream speed of less than 1Mb/s, so uploading data, either
> initially or at recovery time (because, let's face it, if this is a
> backup, the moment you realise you need your backup is 10 minutes
> before you realised you needed your backup).
> 
> I think writing something that can provide a fully Free as in Freedom
> replacement for something like Dropbox or Ubuntu One on a cheap
> webhost (which ultimately means PHP/MySQL or PHP/File) using PGP/GPG
> encryption on the files before upload would give us a much better
> starting point (and potentially, given the right license - I'd suggest
> APGL, a marketable product in the same way StatusNet has identi.ca and
> Status.net hosted solutions)
> 
> This also would solve the "I need to backup my files" as ultimately,
> what I need to backup is my photos, or my web portfolio, or my
> presentations.
> 
> I've written a few PHP scripts in the past, so I'd be happy to be
> involved in writing some of the back-end, but the main place I have no
> clue about is at the front end or a daemon service monitoring file
> changes and shipping them off to the right destinations.
> 
> As I've been writing this, there's no reason why, if we write the
> components as a FaiF solution, then aspects of the code can be
> modularized - the daemon and front end can talk different back-end
> protocols, like to the PHP/MySQL service I've suggested, over TOR to
> the PHP/MySQL service, to a Freenet stored file or something new.
> 
> What do you think?
> -- 
> Jon "TheNiceGuy" Spriggs
> 
> > On 24 Jul 2010 09:24, "Simon Greenwood" <sfgreenwood at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On 24 July 2010 09:04, Matthew Macdonald-Wallace
> > <matthew at truthisfreedom.org.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Sat, ...
> > 
> > Examples of distributed storage exist all ready - The Freenet
> > Project[1] has been going for ten years and offers encrypted,
> > distributed and non-attributable storage. It was based partially on
> > the old adage that the Internet routes around problems, particularly
> > in reference to regimes of censorship and the bits stored on your
> > machine are pieces of a file rather than complete files, so you're
> > not actually storing anything that can be identified.
> > 
> > 
> > Simon
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > BBC 6 Music saved! http://www.love6music.com
> > My CV: http://bit.ly/sfgreenwood_cv
> > Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/simonfgreenwood
> > Twitter: @sfgreenwood
> > 
> > --
> > ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
> > 
> 
Jon,

It a good idea and I agree with you that it wouldn't be about speed. I
suppose what I proposed is more about long-term storage/archiving, not
"I need that file now". 
I'm sure replicating dropbox/ubuntu one would be possible with some hard
work, but as we already have Ubuntu One, wouldn't that be needless
replication (though I do appreciate that the server end isn't open
source!)

Dan