3w ago

Cloud storage solutions with Linux

I am trying to get away from Google and am looking for a decent cloud service that's integrated well into Linux, either by itself or by using rclone.

I tried Proton drive, but it is laggy and overall not very good.

I just need storage, nothing fancy. Self hosting is not an option tough, at this time.

EDIT: I don't want to write the same answer 15 times, so I'll just put this here: Thanks a lot for the recommendations to all of you! I've got some reading up to do now :-)

56 comments

I'm using filen.io. E2ee and zero knowledge service from Germany. Their desktop client just works.
- I use it too, as well as Infomaniak KDrive (not E2EE)
  
  E2EE is irrelevant if you encrypt your files before uploading them. This can either be done with a tool like Veracrypt or Cryptomator but a simple locked .7z file is also easy to use. I just store a locked folder in my Filen account and update it every month or so to keep everything up to date.
- Also been very happy with Filen.
- Same, filen is great and their client is the best I've used, being able to set up individual syncs with one-way backups is fantastic.

Nextcloud works well, and has a desktop client that integrates well with linux DEs (at least gnome and KDE).
Self-hosting is obviously what a lot of people do, me included, but it is not the only option. Nextcloud accounts are available through several hosting providers.
More info on the nextcloud website.
- Nextcloud is usually integrated into the distro itself. Just head over to the accounts section in settings and sign in.
  
  Can you elaborate? That "usually" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, I've never heard of this.
  What is integrated? How do sync folders work? Does it support calendar syncing? Contacts? How do you browse the stuff stored on nextcloud after logging in?
  I use the desktop client to sync files, and Merkuro via caldav to sync calendar events. For everything else I open nextcloud in firefox.
  Edit: There is an Online Accounts section in my KDE settings. There is only an option for OpenDesktop.
  I assume this can be expanded with additional software packages. Anyway, this is a KDE feature. Not "integrated into the distro".

I use sycthing and it'setup and forget.
- Syncthing has been amazing. The downside is that you need the space to do the whole share replica on each box. Of course, that just makes me be a better steward of my own data archival.
  
  You can put a share send only and another receive only
- And it can also do three-way, bi-directional sync. Which feels kind of crazy to me

How much storage do you need and how much are you willing to spend?
- 250 GB to 1 TB. Not more than 5 Dollars a month.

I've been using pcloud. You can choose for the data to be hosted in EU. Doesn't have a client but works well with rclone (and Round Sync on Android). And from time to time they offer "lifetime" package - no subscription
- I have a pCloud client running on my EndeavourOS system. I think it may be an appimage, but it updates no problem when they release one. Releases page: https://www.pcloud.com/release-notes/linux.html
  
  Ah. Then it must have not fit my use-case at the time. I don't remember
  Can you define which remote dir should be synced where? That might have been my issue

I think of cloud storage as meaning automatic synchronization to a phone app and crap like that. If you just want plain storage, I'm happy with Hetzner Storage Box. The one I have is in EU so that adds some network latency. I don't think they have it in the US yet.
You could also go on lowenspirit.com and look at storage offers. servarica.ca has some nice ones that are supposed to be good, but I haven't tried them myself. They are in the Montreal area.

The question of how much Data produces different recommendations. For example if over 5TB rsync.net
- Man $500 a month for 50TB.
  For less than that, I could buy 5x10TB hard drives every two months. Sure there's value in the hosting and internet, but why is it so damned expensive compared to the price of hosting it?
  
  Technically you can buy a 10TB Seagate EXOS for $114; so you could buy the disk storage even more frequently if you wanted.
  But if you don’t want to host your own storage, you will have to pay the hosting company’s building rent, taxes, salaries for their staff and their executives bonuses.
  Or you can build a Machine that is at a friend’s house and pay only the hardware costs and benefit your friend. You know, building community…
  
  You're paying for redundancies in different regions, migrations, backups, upgrades, maintenance, generally not having to worry about losing your data. The storage costs nothing.
- you could also use some s3 object storage service, backblaze's one is $6/TB/month
  
  Yeah but S3 egress fees are a kick in the face if you need to recover.
  Wasabi is also an option

Linux only, SSH works fine. Not e2ee. Nextcloud works fine but extra work unless you use a service provider. It can be e2ee but not normally so. Syncthing worth a look too. It is not cloud storage, but direct device transfer. Bitwarden send is useful too if you want to juat send file someone, and thunderbird is working on thunderbird send which might be interesting.
Maybe Synology if you want your own lan NAS?

Take pCloud - I paid one time, for a lifetime of 2 TB...

Koofr has desktop client for Linux.

For me personally, I split up my data into different cloud storage solutions depending on the sensitivity of the data, and frequency of access on the data.
For stuff I need quick access to, I use cryptomator with MEGA. MEGA has a pretty decent Linux App, but recommend using with cryptomancer or any sync-friendly encryption tool so that they can't read the data.
For stuff I infrequently access, I personally just use Proton Drive. Plan to fully switch to using them once they have a functional Linux desktop application that supports syncing.
For more sensitive stuff like SSH Keys or documents that might contain my sensitive personal information, I personally just use VeraCrypt and store the encrypted file on a thumb drive, backing it up to another thumb drive every week.

Jottacloud is pretty good. They have a Linux CLI too

rclone with the integrated file encryption and one of the supported Provider.

Can you elaborate on why "self hosting is not an option"? Not all self-hosting requires Docker and terminal and all of that. You can use SyncThing which just turns all your existing devices into "the cloud" with an app. If you leave any of those devices turned on and connected it becomes a "server".
- Syncthing is not a cloud solution though... Rather a sync solution. What's the difference? If you delete the file on 1 device it gets deleted on every device who shares the directory...
  While a Cloud solution, your file is on a central server and you can download/delete that file on your device without affecting the server.
  Cloud service ≠ Sync service but have a similar purpose.
  Edit: And doin' 1 way sync is still not a cloud service !
  
  What's the difference? If you delete the file on 1 device it gets deleted on every device who shares the directory...
  That's not correct. SyncThing has versioning
  That's not a necessary component of "the cloud".
  Let OP answer the question, please.
  And doin' 1 way sync is still not a cloud service !
  It's not 1 way sync. Please look up what you're talking about before speaking.
- Can you elaborate on why "self hosting is not an option"?
  I don't feel that I have the skill to set a server up, but what you describe does sound interesting and I will look into it.
  I also don't have hardware I could just use and am not in the position to spend a lot of money all at once.

I've been using mega. They have a decent linux client and file manager integrations.

56 comments