Subject: Re: Cloud Storage Backup and Encryption Solution
Hi Professor John,
I read your note about the impending loss of your uOttawa VPS and your desire to avoid U.S. servers. I had a very similar need at the past few years ago, and here’s a simple, low‑cost setup that has worked well for me:
1.
Rent a small VPS in Canada
*
I use a 1 TB VPS (~US $30/yr) advertised on lowendtalk.com. They’re based in Montreal, Quebec, and the network performance has been solid.
*
Link (no affiliation or referral):
https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/199994/servarica-black-friday-2024-dedicated-servers-unified-plans-and-storage-incredible
2.
Subscribe to Google Drive
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100 GB of storage for roughly US $20/yr.
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Mount it on the VPS using rclone (rclone mount).
3.
Host your repository on the VPS
*
I run GitLab on my VPS, but you could likewise install Subversion.
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Store your primary repo on the VPS filesystem.
4.
Automate off‑site backups to Google Drive
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Create a cron job that runs rclone sync or copy (e.g. once per day or twice per week) to push your SVN or Git working copy up to Google Drive.
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This ensures you always have a recent copy in two places.
5.
Optional encryption
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Rclone supports a “crypt” backend. You can configure an encrypted remote so that all files uploaded to Google Drive are encrypted client‑side.
*
Alternatively, use a tool like git‑crypt for Git or manually tar/encrypt your SVN dump before syncing.
In total, you’re looking at about US $50 per year for VPS plus Google Drive, with automated off‑site backups and the option to encrypt. This avoids U.S. jurisdictions entirely, keeps your server management minimal, and gives you peace of mind against data loss—or unwanted scanning—on the cloud side.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or want more details on the rclone setup or encryption.
Best regards,
Qingwei
________________________________
From: Nash JC - NCF via linux <linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org>
Sent: April 22, 2025 10:02 PM
To: Linux-Ottawa <linux [ at ] linux-ottawa [ dot ] org>
Subject: [linux] cloud storage with versioning
I've been using a VPS that uOttawa lets me have as retired/Adjunct prof. However, it's
likely to disappear soon, as IT has been outsourced (given away!) to Micro$oft. I keep
getting notices that I should use Outlook for my email. When Micro$oft board chooses
to get their carbon and nitrogen for protein from KCN I might do so, but not until.
For the last year or so, I've been exploring how I might use cloud storage for my needs.
Of course, I'm aiming to avoid servers in the USA.
Unfortunately, my biggest storage user is my book writing, for which I currently use
Subversion over SSH on the VPS. Essentially I'd like to avoid actually managing a
server. The storage needs are in the 60GB zone due to lots of background material.
One possibility is using mounted cloud storage and file:// access for the Subversion.
BUT ...
I discovered that there are glitches with permissions. The idea works nicely with
pCloud, but not with Icedrive. Git gives similar issues. I also tried curlftpfs
with the NCF web space, but got problems with file ownership.
I've not tried Stormweb or Proton or .... And I've not explored what might be
possible in partnering with someone else.
Has anyone in the group tried using cloud storage in such ways? It would be useful
to compare notes.
I might also like to encrypt some stuff -- I do screen prints of some material that
has factual tid-bits for my work on historical novels, and don't want to get into
arguments over fair dealing. There have been a number of complaints about pCloud
closing accounts (and keeping the money!) because they got a hash positive for
supposedly copyright material. This also means they are scanning material. Sigh.
That would mean local encryption before upload of the sensitive material, which
is a pain, but not impossible, as the background material isn't accessed often.
In fact, I keep a small svn repo for some personal docs so I can get at them when
travelling.
I've been documenting this investigation, and probably can share the write-up at
some point.
Ideas welcome.
John Nash
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