It has been over two years since I wrote my “Linux Online Backup Options” post so I thought it was about time I took another look at online backup options for Linux and offer my suggestions for what the best services there are available for Linux.
Here is my top list of the top Linux options available:
CrashPlan – While I had some issues running CrashPlan on Windows, when I tested it on Linux I had no issues at all. They are one of only two services that offer an unlimited option for Linux users. If you have a lot of data to backup on your Linux systems CrashPlan is really the best option available.
SpiderOak – While SpiderOak is not unlimited, it does offer a few more features than CrashPlan. You can easily share, sync and access your files via your favorite mobile device with SpiderOak. With their new referral program you can also refer other users and get up to an extra 50GB of storage space.
Jungle Disk – Using Jungle Disk with either Rackspace or Amazon cloud storage services is still a great system.
Diino – The offer both a 32 and 64 bit versions for Linux and is a fairly easy system to use. They are also offer unlimited space and mobile apps for iOS and Android. If you are in Europe Diino could be your bet choice since they are based in Sweden. Those of us in North America could find the service a little slow.
Memopal – Memopal is based in Rome, Italy and has been around for awhile. While their Windows and Mac clients are stable, their Linux client is still in beta and has been in beta for quite some time. Being in beta use the software knowing that it could change before it is considered stable.
IBackup – IBackup does not offer a Linux client like the other services, but rather uses Rsync on Linux to do backups. For the people that are familiar with Rsync or want to learn it IBackup is a great choice.
Dropbox – While Dropbox is not really a backup service but an online storage service I included them here because on Linux they can act more like a real backup service. On Linux it is easy to add files from anywhere on your file system to you Dropbox folder using symbolic links. This makes it easy to add files and keep them updated in Dropbox on Linux systems. Given Dropbox’s recent changes to their privacy policy though if you want to keep you files truly private I would recommend you look at SpiderOak.
Here is a handy table with the best Linux online backup services
| Company | Free / Trial | Status | Size | File Sharing | File Syncing | Mobile Access | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrashPlan | Trial 30 Days | Stable | Unlimited | No | No | No | $49.99 |
| SpiderOak | Free 2gb | Stable | Packages start at 100 GB | Yes | Yes | Yes | $10.00 / 100GB increment / month |
| Jungle Disk | Trial 30 Days | Stable | Unlimited – pay for what you use. | No | No | No | Pay for what you use. Starts at $0.15/GB/Month |
| Diino | Trial 30 Days | Stable | Unlimited, 100 GB of online file storage | Yes | No | Yes | $49.00 / Year |
| Memopal | 3gb Free | Beta | 200 gb | Yes | Yes | No | $49.00 / Year $99.00 / Year |
| IBackup | Trial 15 Days | Uses RSync | 10gb | No | No | No | $9.95 / Month $99.50 / Year |
| Dropbox | 2 gb free | Stable | 50gb | Yes | Yes | Yes | $9.95 / Month $99.50 / Year |
If you are a Linux user what service do you prefer to backup your data online with?
Similar Pages/Posts:
- Best Online Backup Services
- Online Backup Comparison
- Linux Online Backup Options
- Mozy Sync and Mobile Apps
- IBackup Improved Linux Backup
A few of our customers have been using a script to automatically backup a Linux box using our SmartDrive product.
You can read about it here: Bulldog Backup Linux Script
This script will work with Livedrive‘s product as well if you change the script accordingly.
Hopefully this is a help to some people.
Interesting script but I don’t think anyone should backup their data via FTP. That is one of the main reasons Livedrive ranks so poorly as an online backup service.
A quote from Wikipedia on FTP.
Very true John.
If you wanted to secure your FTP connection using this method then simply substitute FTP for SFTP in the script. You will then be transferring data securely.
Although it’s good practice to use SFTP as opposed to FTP many people still use the later.
That only solves part of the problem though. By using SFTP the transfer is encrypted but the files are not encrypted on the server. People would need to encrypt their files before sending them to you. I am sure there are people that do it but it is certainly easier to install CrashPlan or SpiderOak and use them.