Online backup for mac.

December 15, 2005 4:37 PM

Backing up ibook with webspace?

I have an iBook running OSX 10.39. I'd like to backup my home folder. I know about the various backup programs (superduper etc.) but they seem to backup to another storage device, such as an external hard drive. Eventually I plan on buying an external hard drive, but for the time being I have a ton of webspace with dreamhost going unused.

Are there any programs that work with available webspace? Or is it simply too slow and inconvenient and not worth the trouble? Does anyone back up this way and if so how?

posted by gtr to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Does your host give you ssh access? If so, you can use rsync.
posted by team lowkey at 5:04 PM on December 15, 2005

Oooh, thanks team lowkey. Looks perfect.
posted by gtr at 5:07 PM on December 15, 2005

Great. It doesn't have to be as complicated as that guy's set up, btw, if you don't need to automate it. Just a simple:
rsync /path/to/local/folder/ user@remotehost:/path/to/remote/folder/
will usually do it.
posted by team lowkey at 5:32 PM on December 15, 2005

It doesn't have to be as complicated as that guy's set up, btw

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'll probably have it set up in an hour or so. Thanks again =)
posted by gtr at 5:51 PM on December 15, 2005

If you want a specifically designed backup hosting service, try Strongspace . You get 4 Gig for about $8 a month, or more storage if you pay more. Obviously, this is more expensive than rsync and DH which are effectively free for you, but Strongspace provide much more rigorous and frequent backups (daily to an offsite location, I believe) and you transfer files via SFTP so all transfers are encrypted, as opposed to the 'anyone can see what I'm putting up' FTP on DH.

DH are a great webspace provider, and I use them, but I wouldn't trust them with my most important files.
posted by pollystark at 3:15 AM on December 16, 2005

I am pretty sure you can tell rysnc to use sftp. If not, you can probably set up an SSH tunnel so that it does. Anyway, here is a very good to look at: How To: Back up Your Mac with Rsync. That should be all you need to know on the topic. (Mezzoblue discussed backups in the other direction, but it still might be handy to read.
posted by chunking express at 7:06 AM on December 16, 2005