On 8/03/2012 9:24 PM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
On Ma, 06 mar 12, 19:18:49, Rob Owens wrote:I'm considering using bittorrent to back up large files such as pictures and home movies. I am the admin for several of my family members' computers. The idea would be to back up my files onto their machines, then eventually back their stuff up in the same manner, resulting in several off-site backups for each of us.From what I know of the BitTorrent protocol it is beneficial only if the data needs to be transfered to more than 1 site, where the remote site(s) are not sharing the same internet connection, otherwise it doesn't bring any benefit over ftp/rsync/etc. It's not obvious from your message if this is the case.
A bit torrent client that is still downloading content can and does serve whatever it has already downloaded to other clients.
With multiple machines in various locations involved, BT might be a good solution. As one piece [chunk] of the data gets to two or three machines, then the fourth or fifth machine in the group can maximize downstream links.
A shared drop box or better still, wuala storage might be an option too, but then you have to worry about how much data needs to be in the shared storage.
Wuala at least encrypts everything and if you forget your password, then the data is not even good for you. They don't store your password, they cannot do password resets and they also cannot decrypt your data at all -- but again you have limits on storage space.
A couple of other ways to deal with the issue, at least for historical data, is to swap HDDs or memory cards often or even keep sending new HDDs or memory cards -- they are quite cheap.
For the current and changing folders, probably rsync is worth using. Cheers -- Kind Regards AndrewM