Is this an OK way to back-up?

I've been backing up my files from my Mac to my Dreamhost account and was looking for some input as to whether or not it was a good way to do it. If anyone has some advice on what I should or should not be doing, let me know. I'd really appreciate it. :-)

Here goes:

I set up a new user to have FTP access to my Dreamhost account.

I have Yummy FTP set up to synchronize, from my computer to the server, certain folders to that FTP account.

I have successfully uploaded my address book, Delicious Library database and my large iPhoto library. Yummy FTP is able to do incremental syncs without a problem.

(My private files I manually sync as an encrypted disk image.)

Now, I'm working on uploading my iTunes library, which is taking weeks because it's large.


It seems to be working fine, but I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong. No one should have access to those files and if someone (even a Dreamhost system admin) does find them, I still encrypt my private files.

I looked all over the internet for a way to do this and the only other way mentioned using rsync from the terminal. I figure Yummy FTP does the same thing, but with an interface that shows me progress. It seems too easy to be true (other than taking a long time for the initial sync). There might be a reason why that I don't know about.

Thanks for the feedback!

I use rsync. It's quick, and it's smart:

rsync -avze ssh --delete '/Users/me/music' 'me@mydomain.com:./music'

This will make the ~/music directory on the server look like my music directory on my Mac.

If you want to do a dry run, use 'rsync -avzne ....' as the 'n' flag tells it to Not actually do the sync.

-Scott

I tried rsync and it worked OK, but I like a GUI and Yummy FTP seems to do the same thing.

I just want to make sure I'm not violating a terms of service or putting mp3s in a place that people can get to and suck away my bandwidth.

Thanks for the reply!

You're going to face two TOS issues:
1) Making copyrighted material available to the public. If it's strictly for backup, then that's not an issue.
2) Using your disk space for file storage. TOS "MATERIAL PRODUCTS" section 7 wants users to use the servers for web and e-mail only.

You probably won't get much flak for #2, and it sounds like #1 isn't an issue as you're just using it for personal backup, or so I think. Your second post made it sound like your MP3's may be publicly accessible.

-Scott

Sorry if I wasn't clear:

I don't intend to allow anyone access to the files I'm backing up. I wanted to make sure that an FTP only account is not visible on the Web. (I'm pretty sure it isn't.)

As for #2: I thought Dreamhost partnered with a 3rd party (Bandwagon) that backed up iTunes to your Dreamhost account. I figured I'd skip the middle man and not install another app on my computer to get the same result.

Thanks for the reply :-)

Here's the full text of that section:

In reply to:

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The customer agrees to make use of DreamHost Web Hosting servers primarily for the purpose of hosting a website, and associated email functions. Servers are shared with other customers, and as such IRC-related activities or severely CPU intensive CGI scripts (e.g. chat scripts, proxy scripts, scripts which have bugs causing them to not close properly after being run) are not encouraged. Any application that listens for inbound network connections (even if the application would otherwise be allowed) are not permitted. BitTorrent clients, IRC bots and bouncers (BNC) specifically may not be run on any DreamHost Web Hosting server. If your processes are adversely affecting server performance disproportionately DreamHost Web Hosting reserves the right to negotiate additional charges with the Customer and/or the discontinuation of the offending processes.

---

Note that it says that the customer agrees to use the servers *primarily* for web hosting and email. It also specifically calls out running long-running server processes listening for inbound connections as specifically verboten.

I wouldn't worry too much.

The Bandwagon makes for an interesting point while easing my guilt over storing a few gigs of non-web data in my account.

Sounds like you're set. About my guilt, I created a New User with a name like "mydisk" and didn't create any domains owned by this user. I use this new user's home directory for my data. Some people will gripe that I've blown out any logs directories, or any other default files there, but I'm really just using the directory as a spare disk drive and nothing else.

As a point, I don't even allow FTP on this account. It's a Shell account with FTP disabled. If I really wanted to go all out, I'd make it an SFTP-only account. If your FTP program supports, SFTP, I'd go with that.

-Scott

I think I'll look into the SFTP option. That does sound like a good idea.

Thanks for the feedback.