

Ask HN: How to sync an external HDD with Dropbox? - ansimionescu

Input:
- data sitting in a Dropbox account (mostly media)
- 2 macbooks that sync with said Dropbox account
- external HDD (that at the moment has a slightly older copy of the data)<p>Output: 
- automated way of syncing Dropbox changes to the external HDD (2-tier backup better than 1-tier, right?)<p>I guess the solution involves rsync somehow, but I&#x27;d like to know what HN thinks is the best way of doing this, and what people use. Bonus Internet points for easily-portable solutions.
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Piskvorrr
"(2-tier backup better than 1-tier, right?)" \- there's the catch: if it's
automated, and you accidentally delete your files on one of the macbooks, the
delete will propagate to the other macbook, as well as to the hdd. Dropbox
offers synchronization, which is not backup, IMNSHO (it also offers a form of
limited backup, keeping the 30-day rolling file history in the cloud, but
that's independent of the number of synced devices).

I'd go for rdiff-backup - based on rsync, last version of the backups is
accessible without special tools, previous versions can be retrieved using
rdiff-backup; plus a daily cronjob to sync it with your dropbox folder.

------
hashtree
rsync -az --delete ~/dropbox/ /volumes/myexternalhdd/

Treat Dropbox like RAID rather than a backup (i.e. RAID is not a backup). I,
personally, have a set of rotating hard drives that snapshot data over a
month's time. I also buy cheap HDDs that are frozen and forever hold data from
a specific date, back a few years. Duplicates are held in a safety deposit
box.

Example of cheapo hard drives (I use them in pairs):
[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136...](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136979)

