Dropbox is probably the most popular online file storage and synchronization tool among Linux users. And as we have seen earlier, it is rather easy to install Dropbox in Ubuntu. But as a Linux user, what really are the alternatives to Dropbox for online file storage? Lets find out.
SparkleShare is free and open source collaboration and sharing tool that is designed to keep things simple and to stay out of your way. SparkleShare creates a SparkleShare folder in your home directory in which you can add different remote folders (these can be on different servers). It has the same DropBox like notification system.
SpiderOak is an online backup tool for Windows, Mac and Linux users to back up, share, sync and access files at will. SpiderOak uses encrypted cloud storage and client-side encryption key creation, so even employees of SpiderOak cannot access any user information. SpiderOak offers free 2 GB version and several paid plans that starts at $10.00/month for each 100 GB increment. Some components of SpiderOak are open source, and the promoters have made it clear that they will open source the client in the near future.
Ubuntu One needs no introduction. It is Canonical's own cloud service. If you are a Ubuntu user, you have Ubuntu One client installed already in your desktop. Ubuntu One client offered in Ubuntu 11.04 has a revamped interface and offers 2 GB of free storage space. There is even an Ubuntu One client for Windows which is now in public beta. The only drawback being the lackluster support for platforms other that GNOME and the proprietary nature of Ubuntu One server side. This askubuntu thread gives you more info.
Wuala is yet another secure online storage, file synchronization, and backup service which have clients for Windows. Mac and Linux. Wuala offers only 1 GB of free storage space for registered users and the application is proprietary as well. DEB packages for Ubuntu and other Debian based distors and RPM packages for Fedora, Red Hat and CentOS are available.
Minus online file storage service is probably the simplest of them all. Minus desktop app allows you to simply drag-n-drop photos, music, documents and files into the taskbar and instantly upload onto Minus. Read our previous post on Minus desktop app for Linux too.
ZumoDrive cloud-based file synchronization service offer 2GB of free storage space to its registered users. ZumoDrive has a cross-platform client with support for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and Palm webOS. Users can choose from paid plans ranging from 10 GB to 500 GB for a subscription fee that starts from $2.99/month upto a maximum of $79.99/month. Packages for Ubuntu and Fedora are available for free download.
- SparkleShare PPA available for Ubuntu users, do the following in Terminal.
mkdir -p ~/.ssh sudo add-apt-repository ppa:warp10/sparkleshare sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install sparkleshare libwebkit1.1-cil git-core
- First command is required because if the ~/.ssh folder doesn't exist, SparkleShare crashes. See webupd8 for more info.
- For those using other flavors of Linux, visit SparkleShare downloads page.
SpiderOak is an online backup tool for Windows, Mac and Linux users to back up, share, sync and access files at will. SpiderOak uses encrypted cloud storage and client-side encryption key creation, so even employees of SpiderOak cannot access any user information. SpiderOak offers free 2 GB version and several paid plans that starts at $10.00/month for each 100 GB increment. Some components of SpiderOak are open source, and the promoters have made it clear that they will open source the client in the near future.
- Download SpiderOak for Windows, Mac and almost all major Linux distributions that include Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS/RHEL, Slackware among others.
Ubuntu One needs no introduction. It is Canonical's own cloud service. If you are a Ubuntu user, you have Ubuntu One client installed already in your desktop. Ubuntu One client offered in Ubuntu 11.04 has a revamped interface and offers 2 GB of free storage space. There is even an Ubuntu One client for Windows which is now in public beta. The only drawback being the lackluster support for platforms other that GNOME and the proprietary nature of Ubuntu One server side. This askubuntu thread gives you more info.
Wuala is yet another secure online storage, file synchronization, and backup service which have clients for Windows. Mac and Linux. Wuala offers only 1 GB of free storage space for registered users and the application is proprietary as well. DEB packages for Ubuntu and other Debian based distors and RPM packages for Fedora, Red Hat and CentOS are available.
Minus online file storage service is probably the simplest of them all. Minus desktop app allows you to simply drag-n-drop photos, music, documents and files into the taskbar and instantly upload onto Minus. Read our previous post on Minus desktop app for Linux too.
ZumoDrive cloud-based file synchronization service offer 2GB of free storage space to its registered users. ZumoDrive has a cross-platform client with support for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and Palm webOS. Users can choose from paid plans ranging from 10 GB to 500 GB for a subscription fee that starts from $2.99/month upto a maximum of $79.99/month. Packages for Ubuntu and Fedora are available for free download.
TeamDrive is yet another proprietary online file storage, synchronization and collaboration software for Windows, Mac and Linux. Just like others, TeamDrive offers free 2GB storage space for registered users as a basic plan. To make things even more interesting, there exist a TeamDrive OpenOffice plug-in that facilitates collaboration on documents using OpenOffice.