Re: using bittorrent for backup of personal files
On Wed, Mar 07, 2012 at 06:18:40PM +0100, 0xAAA wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 06, 2012 at 07:18:49PM -0500, Rob Owens wrote:
> > I already use BackupPC successfully for offsite backups between family
> > members. Very large files are sometimes a problem, however, which is
> > why I'm considering bittorrent to supplement BackupPC.
> >
>
> Thats the problem with a very slow bandwidth (I have only 250 kbps) which makes
> a backup of more than 1500 GB stuff nearly impossible! The p2p torrent network
> has - in this situation - no advantage! The upload with ftp or http has the same
> speed. p2p networks are designed to provide a constant "download-speed". But
> upload is the problem of your dsl provider.
> p2p is more about "sharing" things. It was not built to backup large files. This
> is the task of ftp or maybe nfs
>
What I like about bittorrent is that it is very easy to throttle the
upload and download speeds. That makes a big difference in internet
usability (at least in my experience). Rsync (as done with BackupPC)
tends to max out your connection speed, making web browsing slow.
> > I want to keep this data private. What are my options, besides a VPN?
> > I hesitate to use a public torrent even on encrypted data, because the
> > computers of tomorrow may easily crack today's encryption using brute
> > force.
>
> One possible solution to your privacy problem is that you can encrypt your data
> at your local site and load the crypted stuff up to the p2p server. Furter
> details can be found in gpg(1).
>
Yeah, but I don't like the idea of allowing my encrypted data to be
downloaded by anybody. The data will essentially be available forever
if I use a publicly-available torrent. Someday my encryption may end up
being crackable. I'm not dealing with extremely sensitive data, just
family photos and stuff. But I still would rather not rely on gpg to
keep my data secure *forever*.
-Rob
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