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While I’m not liking the direction Dropbox is taking I still haven’t found anything that rivals it as general purpose online storage and meets the following req
by thirdsun 7y ago
While I’m not liking the direction Dropbox is taking I still haven’t found anything that rivals it as general purpose online storage and meets the following requirements:
- can be used as cloud backup destination - I use Arq[0] to backup a huge music library close to 1TB in daily intervals to my Dropbox. I have never used Dropbox‘ official app.
- since my music is located in a place of my , an external drive which might as well be an NAS at some point, I‘d need to be able to set the source folder for that backup/sync workflow. Moving my library to a special sync folder, like the Dropbox folder, isn‘t an option.
- I‘d also need be able to use that storage to upload and share large files for public download occasionally. S3 could certainly do that but I‘d prefer a simpler approach that allows me to quickly upload and share files from monile and desktop environments alike. Dropbox‘ mobile app and website work quite well in that regard. I don‘t want separate services for my backup and file sharing.
- preferably cross-platform, but macOS support and good browser UX is required at the very least.
- should be affordable, certainly not more than 10 bucks monthly for at least 1 TB. S3 pricing structure is too variable. It should be a flat fee.
Is there any worthwhile alternative to Dropbox that ticks all those boxes?
[0] https://www.arqbackup.com/ https://www.arqbackup.com/
- ac29 7y agoGoogle Drive is the only thing that comes to mind that ticks all those boxes. You'd need to use 3rd party tools for some of those tasks, but sounds like you're already doing that with Dropbox.
- sfotm 7y agoIf you were OK with S3, then I'd recommend backblaze. Very affordable object storage. I used rclone to back up my home server to it every night.
- thirdsun 7y agoSure, Backblaze covers the backup duties, but does it allow me to upload any files and get an easily shareable link? As far as I know Backblaze focuses on backups exclusively.
- GordonS 7y agoIf you're willing to put in a little work, Seafile fits the bill. For less than 5 users, you can access the "professional" version for free. I run it on a cheap Azure VM, backed with with Azure blob storage. It's $15/m for "cool" tier storage (not too far off your target), or $1/m for the "archive" tier. Unlike Dropbox etc, you can also sync files from anywhere on any disk - you're not limited to a single "Dropbox" folder. You get a nice web UI that let's you upload/download from there if you want, and you can also stuff with others if you want.
- thirdsun 7y agoThanks, while it looks interesting they seem to use a bring your own storage approach - that sounds like more work than I‘d like to put into it. I‘d prefer to avoid managing servers and VMs. Due to using Arq I‘m not limited to using the special Dropbox folder. I just tell Arq which folder to backup to Dropbox. I don‘t use the official client at all.