[nmglug] using Dropbox to sync & restore

[Eric Krieger]

There's no need for any shell scripts or anything extreme.   The process is
simple enough...


1. Copy the file or directory that is desired to be synced across systems
into the Dropbox directory.

cp .bashrc Dropbox/Backup/linux/
cp -R .mozilla Dropbox/Backup/linux

*NOTE: Let Dropbox finish syncing before creating the symbolic link.
** NOTE: The path within your Dropbox directory may differ.

2. Rename the old file or directory...

mv .bashrc .old-bashrc
mv .mozilla .old-mozilla

3. Create a symbolic link to the new location in the Dropbox directory.

ln -s Dropbox/Backup/linux/.bashrc
ln -s Dropbox/Backup/linux/.mozilla




Here's an example of the files and directories that I sync...you may or may
not wish to do the same.

lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     29 2010-12-31 06:56 .bashrc ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.bashrc
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     33 2011-01-01 09:18 .evolution ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.evolution/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     29 2010-12-31 06:56 .fonts ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.fonts/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     29 2010-12-30 17:37 .gconf ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.gconf/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     30 2010-12-31 06:57 .gnome2 ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.gnome2/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     29 2010-12-30 17:36 .local ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.local/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     31 2010-12-30 17:35 .mozilla ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.mozilla/
-rw-r--r--  1 gcleric gcleric   3353 2010-10-30 17:41 .old-bashrc
drwx------  5 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-10-30 17:39 .old-evolution
drwxr-xr-x  2 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-11-14 11:45 .old-fonts
drwx------  4 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-10-30 17:19 .old-gconf
drwx------  9 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-10-30 17:28 .old-gnome2
drwxr-xr-x  3 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-10-30 17:12 .old-local
drwx------  4 gcleric gcleric   4096 2010-10-30 17:20 .old-mozilla
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     30 2010-10-30 17:34 .sshmenu ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.sshmenu
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     35 2011-1-1 16:26 .thunderbird ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.thunderbird/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 gcleric gcleric     28 2010-12-24 05:38 .vimrc ->
Dropbox/Backups/linux/.vimrc


The one thing I'd be careful of doing is syncing the above across systems
running different releases of the same operating system (i.e. Ubuntu 9.10
and 10.10).


- Eric



On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 2:06 PM, Le Nguyen <lenguyen0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Eric,
>
> I am all ears when you have the time to expound on this subject. I do have
> a Dropbox account, but it never occurred to me to use it this way.
> Any shell scripts, procedures, methods you want to share would be highly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks to Anthony for starting the email thread, and to the others who
> contributed, I am learning something!
>
> Le Nguyen
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 2:05 PM, <nmglug-request at lists.nmglug.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Eric Krieger <grammatoncleric at ubuntu.com>
>> To: "NMGLUG.org mailing list" <nmglug at lists.nmglug.org>
>> Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:00:11 -0700
>> Subject: Re: [nmglug] "save the data" fresh install ubuntu 10.10
>> Lifehacker has a bit one...
>>
>>
>> http://lifehacker.com/5154698/sync-files-and-folders-outside-your-my-dropbox-folder
>>
>> Works flawlessly and whats best about using Dropbox + sympolic links,
>> apart from keeping everything in sync?   When something gets hosed just
>> force the restore from the Dropbox web interface.   :)
>>
>> I can do a more in depth howto post holidays if there is interest.  But
>> it's pretty straight forward.
>>
>> - Eric
>>
>
>
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> nmglug at lists.nmglug.org
> http://lists.nmglug.org/listinfo.cgi/nmglug-nmglug.org
>
>
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