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The command 'rsync' provides the basic backup logic, synchronizing two machines, or the portions of them you designate. The secure shell, ssh, is the technique to make the connection between the two machines secure. Using rsync and ssh together to do backups is covered in about 67,800 hits on google for "rsync ssh backup" - the first few should get you going. The commands work natively in *nix and OS X, and can be added to windows with CygWin (http://www.cygwin.com/).

Thanks, Ted. But I'm looking for something simpler, with a graphical UI, that runs on Windows. Maybe I should have mentioned those requirements in my "spec." Damn users. Always changing their minds.

I use a program called beinsync to do similarly to what you described...

Hi, David. Cringley had a great column on the idea of distributed backups a little while ago. Here's my comments on it

http://glinden.blogspot.com/2004/09/i-cringely-on-distributed-backups.html

a direct link to his column

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040909.html

and some discussion of it on Slashdot

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/12/1731249&tid=198&tid=95&tid=1

I use my iDisk for this, so Apple has all the trouble of storing my stuff--and they're open 24/7. The UI is pretty simple--I drag files to it as I would to any directory.

This isn't one of those "get a Mac" suggestions--you don't need to own a Mac to get a mac.com account, and you can log onto your iDisk from a PC: http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/mac_help/pages/2-login_idisk.html

Hi. I do some work with Outhink.com and I backup files this way using their SpinXpress product on both my Win and Mac boxes. It's P2P, secure, encrypted, invitation only, secure client and https access to files, very simple UI, no spyware or ads, no firewall config required. Currently they offer service similar to BeInSync for $4.95/month. Free 14 day trial (no credit card needed up front). Rumor has it that Outhink is about to drop the price to 0$/month (they intend to provide add on services) and is also considering going open source like Laszlo did (please send a message to Outhink's prez to encourage him).

I did a little more checking. SpinXpress does not currently allow you to set a limit on the space shared (e.g., 5GB). However, it is possible to make SpinXpress do this by creating a simple extension using their public Java API.

BTW, if anyone downloads spinXpress and wants to create a group around this topic, please invite me. My SpinXpress ID is markus@spinxpress.us

David,

You should try out iFolder (http://www.ifolder.com/). It was recently open sourced by Novell.

It is C#/Mono (cross-platform) and easy to setup. You basically designate a folder to synchronize with a trusted party. It is not really a backup utility and there is no compression or on-disc encryption (there is over-the-wire encryption, but your buddy will be able to read what you backup), but it will work.

Cheers,

Dan

David,
For those of use stuck with Windows and wanting a GUI, we could use the free (as in beer but not libre) Grouper p2p client http://www.grouper.com/ and make a group of 2. I played around with Grouper a couple of months ago after reading a review of it. It's not exactly designed for your use case, but it should work reasonably well for it. We might need to write a little script to automate copying the files from one person to another, since it is designed around a "pull" mentality.

I'll give you 5 GIG on my disk anytime you want, but you are responsible for encrypting the stuff (graphical open source PGP http://www.winpt.org) that you don't want someone else seeing.

It sure beats the idea of dropping off a DVD at my mom's house every time I come to the East Coast.

Unison - http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
may meet your needs - runs on Windows, Linux, OS X,
has a GUI, etc.

While designed primarily for synchronization, it works fine for backups. It's free, open source, and it's been around for a while, so it should be pretty reliable.

Two true p2p backup solutions (although not necessarily free or GPL) are:- LeanBackup from www.312inc.com and MagicMirror from www.pensomos.com. Both are based on Java so are cross platform.

Sorry, there was a typo in my post. MagicMirror is from www.pensamos.com.

Hi,

NasBackup offer p2p nackup.
Please take a look at this url:

http://www.nasbackup.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=8

Milutin

Hi David,
Do have a look at Vembu StoreGrid at www.StoreGrid.com - though it is primary intended for backing up over intranets, it can be tweaked to suit your purpose - and yes, it does offer encryption, compression, disk space limit setting, and more.
Lux

Check out SafetyNet which I am heavily involved with (www.safetynettrial.com).

This software is an (invite only) peer-peer backup system specifically designed for home/small office users.

It has all the stuff you'd expect - encryption, data redundancy but also some novel bits and pieces such as using delta compression so that you don't end up unecessarily re-sending the same data over and over.

It also benefits from being able to work from behind NAT routers without any additional setup.

Its only at the trial stage at the moment but it is currently free.

I send SafetyNet - have been using the trial to back up my files from work with no problems. Also has the side effect of versioning files which is handy.

Have a look at http://freenet.sourceforge.net/

It is exactly what you're looking for.
Encrypted p2p, but only between trusted nodes.

Freenet has the p2p part down, but it doesn't have backup software built into it. Yeah, I'm being spoiled, but I'm looking for p2p _backup_ sw.

FolderShare is free and seems to be exactly what you want: https://www.foldershare.com/

Did you find a solution to this problem? This seems interesting...

Thanks, Gudule, but foldershare requires setting up a Fedora linux server. I'm looking for a p2p system that will allow two clients (preferably Win and Mac) to back up to each other's drives.

I am about to start work on exactly this system, I hope to have something working by the summer (uni work permitting). it will be windows+linux, encrypted and also function as a conventional backup system (ie backup locally to cd/dvd)

Alan, could you let me know when you have a beta? I'd even be happy to look at an alpha.

certainly, if you sign up to my mailing list then i will probably send out an email when its ready for testing

"Thanks, Gudule, but foldershare requires setting up a Fedora linux server. I'm looking for a p2p system that will allow two clients (preferably Win and Mac) to back up to each other's drives."

I am sorry, but foldershare does not need a Fedora linux server. FolderShare consists of two components: "My FolderShare" account and the FolderShare Satellite (client).

Gudule, you're certainly right now that Microsoft has acquired Foldershare. I may have misunderstood Foldershare's site back when I looked into it, but I (obviously) thought I read it right...

Let me know when you are done with the backup software, I am very ready to make this app a business success, I am really interested.

Thanks!
Antonio

may be you can find some useful tools at http://www.yaodownload.com/utilites/

We are currently working on exactly this, a P2P backup client. In the future other features will be added to our "information agent", but P2P backup is the beginning. The RSync algorithm support means that it is easier to do backup-resumes, if backup of a large file is interrupted. It also means that

The backup application is written in Java, will be able to run both with and without UI (service style), and has the RSync algorithm build into it from the beginning.

We are not far from the first milestone, but do not yet have a downloadable copy. It will come sometime this year though.

You'll be able to see the project page sometime this year (summer we hope) on http://www.jenkov.com.

Hi David,
I'm currently also searching for a similiar tool. I would like to have it under Linux, but that should not matter.
I found a p2p solution which is available for Windows and Linux and shares encrypted diskspace for backup:

DIBS Distributed Internet Backup System

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=69007

Cheers
Achim

David,
I see that many of these suggestions point to solutions which are service-based, charging a monthly fee. They allow P2P backup but the "service" brokers the connections.

I wanted something truly P2P, and completely de-centralized. And, I have found it!

Check out StorGrid.

With StorGrid your buddy and you will each run both a client application and a server application. Your client will be used to store your backups on your buddy's server. Your buddy’s client will be used to store his/her backups on your server.

No Big Brother. No service fees. It's entirely between you and your pal.

In addition, StorGrid offers compression, encryption, multiple-version backup, open file backup, SQL Server backup -- even Exchange Server backup.

Optionally, when a file changes only slightly, StorGrid can me configured to not once again blindly backup the entire file. It can identify the minor changes within the file and backup only those minor changes, as an incremental addition to the already backed up file.

You can buy the current version (2.1) outright for a one-time total of $71.95

OR

A $29.95/year (notice it’s not per month) subscription supports development, which seems to be actively ongoing right now. I truly HATE annual fees but this one is pretty modest and I don't mind paying in this way for new features which I and others are continually requesting.

Here are some key links:

http://www.vembu.com/storegrid/storegrid-screenshots.html

http://www.vembu.com/index.html

http://www.vembu.com/storegrid/help/deployment.html

http://www.vembu.com/storegrid/help/index.html

What about this:
http://peer2peerbackup.sourceforge.net/

I am going to use it.

You might look at "Backup To Neighbor" here:

http://www.melody-soft.com/html/backup_to_neighbor.html

The download includes both a client for you and a server for your buddy, or run both the client and server on both machines for two way backup sharing in the way you describe in this blog. The client and server can be on the same LAN or on any two machines connected by the Internet.

The only drawback I see is that backup scheduling is not supported.

Both the client and server are free for personal *and* commercial use.

Thanks, GRSmith for the tip on StoreGrid (note the spelling :) - I'm using the Free version though for now - within my subnet, and am considering using the service provider edition for offering online backups - one of my new year resolutions for 'new services to offer' in 2007


Oh, and a minor point (may be of help elsewhere) - the < a > and < /a > tags by themselves without the href don't render URLs as hyperlinks, i.e. the URLs in your post are not clickable. It should have been http://www.vembu.com Hey, but like I said, its a minor issue (I can always copy & paste it :) but thought I'd let you know anyway. Thx again!

http://www.cleversafe.org/

You might try CrashPlan, since it is a P2P backup program that can backup and restore between computers just like you described. It is free to try 30 days, after that there is a one-time fee per client. Strange that there has not been any OpenSource initiative for something like that!?!?