Is BTSync for me?

[djdwosk97]

I have a FreeNAS server that I frequently try to backup certain files on my computer to (documents folder, downloads, etc...), but I'm finding it very annoying to try and keep everything sync'd. So I started to look into solutions for my issue and i came across BTSync.

Basically what I want is a personal cloud that either updates in real time (so like dropbox), or a personal backup cloud that backups my laptop (only certain files/folders) once a day/week/etc...

Also, is the BTSync plugin good/secure to be exposed to the internet (or is it exposed by default)? I'd like to have access without being on my home network and without having to SSH/VPN in.

 

[pirateghost]

I prefer syncthing personally.

 

[djdwosk97]

I prefer syncthing personally.

Any particular reason? (and is there a plugin for Syncthing (https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/freenas-9-plugin-syncthing.21008/ )? I don't consider myself good enough with FreeNAS to try and configure something myself)

Also, is my understanding of the BTSync plugin correct? -- Is the plugin secure enough to be exposed to the internet/is it by default (because I know the plugin version of Own Cloud plugin shouldn't be exposed). And does BTSync offer the functionality I'm after?

 

[pirateghost]

Syncthing and btsync will both do what you want, and there is indeed a plugin for each. The difference is that syncthing is open source, and btsync is not. The closed source nature is not very inviting for me when I'm syncing files with my own computers. I trust syncthing to have internet access but I would not install btsync on my network again.

 

[djdwosk97]

Syncthing and btsync will both do what you want, and there is indeed a plugin for each. The difference is that syncthing is open source, and btsync is not. The closed source nature is not very inviting for me when I'm syncing files with my own computers. I trust syncthing to have internet access but I would not install btsync on my network again.

Do they both encrypt the data? And do either offer some solution for multiple users to have different access (i.e. like there own accounts)?

Is closed source a turn off just because it's not as mod-friendly (on a philosophical level), or is there a particular advantage to syncthing that you need/want?

And why wouldn't you install btsync on your network again? (Again, is it just because you don't like the closed source nature, or is there an actual issue with it -- lack of security, runs poorly, lack of functionality, etc...)

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I respect anyone's preference for an open source solution, but I trust BTSync (just rebranded Resilio Sync). But I don't use it for backup, because sync is not backup, although when you combine sync with snapshots it looks a lot like backup. The real issue is that I don't want to sync my entire active dataset.

I'll take this as yet another opportunity to plug Arq Backup, which I use to backup to cloud storage but which works just as well to FreeNAS via SFTP (i.e. you just need to have SSH working).

 

[pirateghost]

It's not really a closed source vs open source matter. When btsync was released they refused to tell anyone how their networking functioned and "somehow" had stats on all their users. Without their permission.

Their practice from the get-go was kind of shady and then when they moved to the paid model it kind of turned me off. I could produce a similar effect for what I was using it for, by writing some scripts to sync my data. It wasn't worth it. Syncthing came out and it was open source and they had developers working with the users and were open and up front about its inner workings.

Btsync lost my trust years ago.

Nobody knows if btsync encrypts the data because nobody can look at the code and verify it is doing what it says it's doing. I'm sorry, but that does not fly in my book.

 

[djdwosk97]

snip

Alright, thanks. I'll probably play around with Syncthing a bit....Since I'm not with my NAS (and I'd rather not screw around with it over a VPN if I don't have to), I'm going to boot my desktop into FreeNAS and make a temporary test machine. Does FreeNAS automatically do anything with drives (assuming I don't add them to any pools)? i.e. should I unplug them before creating/running FreeNAS?

 

[pirateghost]

If you don't have data disks, FreeNAS is useless. You won't be able to configure any jails/plugins without storage space.

 

[djdwosk97]

If you don't have data disks, FreeNAS is useless. You won't be able to configure any jails/plugins without storage space.

I have an extra SSD lying around that I'm going to use for that.

 

[djdwosk97]

If you don't have data disks, FreeNAS is useless. You won't be able to configure any jails/plugins without storage space.

Actually, would I be able to use a flash drive as storage too? (just because I'm lazy and since it's only for testing purposes I don't really need much space).

 

[pirateghost]

Actually, would I be able to use a flash drive as storage too? (just because I'm lazy and since it's only for testing purposes I don't really need much space).

In theory it should work...

 

[djdwosk97]

In theory it should work...

Is this a good setup guide for syncthing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKkPeyrK10U

 

[pirateghost]

For what? Just install the plugin. Add storage to the jail with a test dataset as the source. Browse to the web gui and configure from there.

I hate "tutorial" videos

 

[djdwosk97]

For what? Just install the plugin. Add storage to the jail with a test dataset as the source. Browse to the web gui and configure from there.

I hate "tutorial" videos

For random permission issues (because I missed one that was preventing it from working) and how to use syncthing properly (because what I think when I see something isn't always right -- like when I first set up my NAS I created a volume but not a dataset -- so I had /mnt/vol1/___data here rather than the proper way of /mnt/vol1/myData/___data here__).


Also, I think I set something up wrong (or it just takes a while to sync) because I synced a folder from my laptop to the NAS's cloud folder and it's been at 32% for like twenty minutes (and it's only like 1.5gb total).

 

[djdwosk97]

Is there a way to view the files from a web browser? Like if I wanted to preview a document/picture?

Also, is there a way to sync/backup an iPhone since there doesn't appear to be an app for iOS (BTSync supports iOS though, so I may end up going with iOS....or possibly both and just keeping my iPhone backup separate).

 

[pirateghost]

No. There is no way to view files in a web browser with either sync software. If you need that functionality, then use owncloud.

I don't use iOS so that's up to you to find out.

Is btsync still charging users for more than 10 folder syncs? Lmao

 

[djdwosk97]

No. There is no way to view files in a web browser with either sync software. If you need that functionality, then use owncloud.

I don't use iOS so that's up to you to find out.

Is btsync still charging users for more than 10 folder syncs? Lmao

I was originally going to use OwnCloud until I heard that the plugin version isn't secure enough to be exposed to the internet.

No, the free version has unlimited folders: https://getsync.com/individuals/compare/#nav-start

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Btsync lost my trust years ago.

Is btsync still charging users for more than 10 folder syncs?

I know a lot of users were alienated by broken promises associated with folder limits the free version. They eventually walked that back, which took guts. I have never needed to sync more than 10 folders, so it didn't affect me in a practical sense, but it was an ugly situation.

As for encryption, we know they know how to do it, because they grew out of BitTorrent. I think the idea that they might not be doing it properly with BTSync is a bit silly.

I've been on and off with BTSync since version 1.2, and it's been a bumpy ride for sure. I tried every alternative I could find, including Syncthing, and ran with AeroFS for a while. In the end I came back to BTSync because it's the only thing that handles my use case properly (mostly idle, with occasional surges of many thousands of small files all being changed within a very short time interval) without choking, and with reasonable resource usage. It's been solid and reliable for me for over a year now, and it forms an important part of our workflow.

So yes, I feel a bit defensive about BTSync, but have no axe to grind against any alternative that works properly for others.

 

[pirateghost]

I was originally going to use OwnCloud until I heard that the plugin version isn't secure enough to be exposed to the internet.

No, the free version has unlimited folders: https://getsync.com/individuals/compare/#nav-start

You think owncloud is insecure to put on the internet but some other service is? It's all an equal attack vector. You should read up a bit on security if you think one service is safer than the other.

The free version used to be limited to 10 folders...that's around the time I stopped using them because they screwed over the community that grew them into what they have become.