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Self-Hosted Dropbox Replacements
Hey everyone!
I'm interested in sparking dialogue about self-hosted replacements for Dropbox. I want to hear your opinions on your favorite application for features, ease of use, compatibility, and security.
Here's what I've been looking at to replace Dropbox:
http://seafile.com/en/home/
https://owncloud.org/
https://pyd.io/
Basically, I assume that after using one for this task for several months I'll have developed a solid opinion about it over time. However, I figure many people here already have those opinions from months (or more) of usage.
The main reason that I use Dropbox is ease of use and confidence in it's reliability. Any advice?
Comments
+1 for Own cloud. We're storing our everyday files with own cloud and really pleased about the system.
http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/51594/file-sharing-suggestions-for-ftp-alternative
Using seafile at the moment although at somepoint I want to give owncloud another shot as I hear they've made massive improvements to the syncing process since I last used it.
And don't forget their list of extensions
I'm using Seafile for my personal needs and I find it very good.
It has a repo/folder concept and you can choose only certain repo to sync. It features client-side encryption, in comparison owncloud encryption module is sever-side and from what I remember the filename doesn't even get encrypted, just the file content.
Sure you can use something like encfs on your end, but just for feature comparison.
I see Seafile being easy to use also in a organization, there is support for shared folders and user groups (called organizations).
One thing I saw that Seafile has
and Dropbox hasn't, is the possibility to share a folder in upload mode only (users can upload but not see folder content - might be useful for a school / organization).Server installation was also very easy (Ubuntu), and there are clients for every platform and mobile phones. There is also support for Shibboleth authentication and in fact Seafile is used by some universities.
The client on windows works fine for me but I'm not syncing tons of data, I'm using it for light/personal usage.
As for resource usage I'm running the server on a Atom with 4GB RAM and it works fine.
I use OwnCloud and also use it to sync to my Google drive. My only issue has been upgrades, it breaks my working version everytime. Not sure if it's just me though.
Owncloud is also compatible with our object store and works really nicely with a small VPS and the files being offloaded. Pydio does too, but I haven't personally tested that yet.
I used ownCloud extensively in the past and my experience wasn't very good. It had plenty of bugs and the UX in general left a bit to be desired. Maybe this has changed lately, but somehow I doubt it.
Not the same, but I personally use BTSync now. Not perfect, but works fine for me.
off all the people, how can you select a closed source tool?
Seafile, looks very promising.
http://www.labnol.org/internet/dropbox-upload-folder/18898/
Not sure about "uploaded only' but its close.
So far Pydio has and Seafile have been in a tight lock. Pydio is really user friendly and I can rsync my files into it and have them read by the web app reasonably.
My only concern with Pydio is that it's just the new version of Ajaxplorer and I feel like AJaxplorer was made for people who log into their first VPS and go "Where's the file manager?" I always have a bad feeling about security for things like that. Granted, they don't look that bad here: http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-9254/Ajaxplorer.html
Why not?
Facepalm
if you are syncing normal files its fine, but confidential files it can be a risk. these days any file service i install i prefer it to be open source because its at least feels safer and can be customized.
I'm sorry to disappoint you guys but yeah, I use proprietary software!
I sync my servers with rsync, but BTSync is used on my personal computer, running on the evil and privative OS X. And it's fine
feels safer ≠ is safer. Looking at how the ownCloud suggestions are dominating... it's a bit of a joke.
Assuming you can code in the desired language and are ready to invest at least some hours.
That's why I sometimes prefer closed source with a strong development team. At least then I know someone has a strong financial interest in it, and open source to me only means "free" because I'm not auditing anyone's code... I'm so bad I would code everything with exec :P
I use OwnCloud for my personal use and certain business uses, though if it is going to be used to interface with the public or with multiple long-term business users I use Pydio (the feature set just fits me better).
@Nyr : i am a developer and would invest a lot of time to be safer and more productive. I recall i disabled all those call home code from an app and felt like a hero
@jar : i think you are now rich enough to hire us to do some of your work.
A good alternative to dropbox or cloud services is buying 5 + longevity usb flash drives for redundancy storage. I feel way safer and better knowing that my files are on a tangible flash memory device than the fucking cloud.
I'm looking for a program or service that lets you push out data to multiple drives at a click of a button. For example, I have 5 usb sticks plugged in. And I want to make a backup of a certain folder. Instead of using my mouse and dragging it over, I want a program that sends my special folder and copies it on ALL 5 usb devices (or how many I want to have for redundancy) {Around 127 I believe for maximum redundancy would be ideal} automatically and periodically. (like a cron job). Very, very good redundancy here that no cloud service offers but I've yet to see a script or program to do so yet.
Well yeah I'd love to backup all of my daughter's baby photos to flash drives placed in various safe deposit boxes around the world to avoid a single point of failure (fire, flood, etc) but being more realistic, ease of use and an rsync backup to another geographic location should pretty much do the job.
+1 for propriatary software.
Sent from my Windows PC
This brings up a good point. Do you really want your daughter's baby photo's on the cloud somewhere floating around on the internet? Fuck that. Although, I do agree, the ease of use would be easier just sending them to the cloud, but to each his own I guess. I can respect your view, I'm just really paranoid because my hard drive crashed (2 at the same fucking time) with some server files on it and now I have to re-code part of my project. So now, I bought over 15 flash disks from Amazon and about to do redundancy storage so I will never, EVER run into this problem again.
It's just a PIT(fucking)Ass to drag all the files to each folder every morning or night. I'd much rather have a cron job do it (which is most likely possible if I'm on a linux box), but I'm not
I've been uploading my family camera images to Amazon Cloud Drive. Don't see why not, it's not like there's dick picks in it.
Yeah cloud is pretty much key for that (need to constantly update, local+remote to keep safe from fire/flood) and although I'd prefer not to have it all dumped in a security leak, it wouldn't upset me too terribly. Basically my storage consists of these things:
Are you currently with dropbox? I might want to do this cloud storage thing too, but not sure on security (who is the most secure, etc).
Yeah I've been using Dropbox, Droplr, and CloudApp the last month. Dropbox for the rest, the other two for easy screenshots (the time saved is insane on that, and Droplr wins). Mostly getting a feel for what does what I need, and now trying to draw it all back in and compare that with what I can self-host.
Definitely +1 Own Cloud.
Check out DropShare - it's a standalone app that does the auto screenshot sharing and stuff, but self-hosted upload via SFTP/S3/etc. Can even upload a landing page type thing, similar to Droplr/CloudApp. Example: http://i.sprk.co/Screen-Shot-2015-07-08-18-12-38-MIZeFp7JyW/
One time $20 app vs. a monthly for unlimited screenshots/uploads - you probably have a spare VM or 10 floating around with some storage and where you can setup a light web server. I used a $15/yr 128MB/80GB Ramnode box for this for the longest time.
On the topic of file storage, since you're a Mac user, check out Arq. Not meant for syncing - it's an automated encrypted differential backup solution. I have it setup to backup my photos and other important files on my Mac + NAS to one of my dedi's via SFTP and then that rsyncs to another. You can have it backup to Google Drive/Google Cloud Storage/Amazon S3 or Glacier/OneDrive/SFTP/etc.
Doesn't answer your original question, but thought I'd toss that in.
You may have just changed the game for me, nice find! That particular function, though it easily makes up the most of what I do, was looking to me like something I may have to sacrifice, code my own, or pay for monthly. Not that I mind paying, but I love creative alternatives.