[OT] Files in the 'cloud'?

[John Rumm]

If you install google drive on the PC(s) then you can mirror folders on the drive and share them between platforms fairly transparently.

[SH]

Wonder what it would be like on a 500 Mbit/s synchronous fibre link like mine... :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Fast, but how fast depends on the protocol. Old style NFS over UDP was very slow over a link with delay in it.

I think SMB over TCP (Netbios/TCP IP)would be pretty good and sftp will fly even with the inherent encryption overhead.

[Andy Burns]

Last time I tried it on Fedora, the default gnome/nautilus file dialog couldn't navigate to the GoogleDrive (or maybe it was OneDrive) because of the way it was just using gvfs instead of an actual /mnt/point folder, it didn't appear in the filesystem tree?

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes, it will appear as a different tree altogether starting with it as a mounted device not attached to root at all.

In fact though gvfs devices are part of the tree - generally /run/user/[uid]/gvfs

[newshound]

I was going to mention OneDrive. With Windows, you can set up a "OneDrive" folder that automatically synchronises with the cloud. So it looks, on your PC, just like an ordinary folder with directory structure, you navigate to the file you want as you would with File Explorer, click to open (assuming you have the extensions associated with the right program), and save after editing. Fewer stages than navigating straight to the cloud.

You can create editable or non editable links to a file or folder if you need to share documents (easier than email, especially for large files). Editable links allow the recipient to trample on your file.

There is something similar on the Mac, in my case it must be associated with one of my other outlook accounts because it does not find the same files.

[Brian]

Before embarking on a solution, you should check with your employer. They may have a policy re the storage of data etc. If they don?t, they almost certainly should have.

The last thing you want is getting dismissed when you were simply trying to be productive.

[Andy Burns]

I'm sure he'll ask himself.

[John Rumm]

ITYWF he *is* the employer :-)

[Pancho]

The Pi is 2 to 3 watts. An old x64 server will be 40+ watts. Always on that will cost at least £50 quid a year.

I actually have an old core duo I want to use to serve my remaining 3.5 HDDs. But I need to bodge it to turn off and respond to wake on lan. I'll probably use an old Pi to do this, might need a relay, or might be able to use the Pis pins directly.

My Pi is in a cupboard, which already has 35 watts of hardware in it, about 10 devices, any more and I would need to ventilate it.

Don't hospitals block mobiles, so they can charge for their own wifi (extortionate).

[The Natural Philosopher]

And 8TB of disc?

An old x64 server will be 40+ watts. Always on

But where I spend most of my time in winter, so it would be spent on heating anyway...

They don't block a damned thing here in UK and the wifi is, when its working, free.

Well obviously we pay a shitload of taxes for it.

[Paul]

The low-end RPi are kinda I/O starved.

However, the RPi 4 has USB3, and there's some deal to connecting a SATA drive to the USB3 port and perhaps even, boot from it.

This would allow connecting a large hard drive, subject to current availability (pickings kind of slim, above 6TB or so, at the local computer store).

An RPI 4 uses more electricity, compared to a PiZero.

Paul

[SH]

What about this:

build your own NAS or cloud with 4 SATA HDDs/SSDs....

[Pancho]

USB3 speeds are better than Gigabit ethernet, so I'm not sure what the point of the SATA hat is? USB3 to Sata adapters are cheap. The problem is power needed to spin a disk up.

SSD fine with just USB3

2.5 HDD need additional USB power supply. 3.5 HDD need a proper power supply.

I successfully use a SSD and a 2.5 HDD with my Pi.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I am reminded of a conversation with a garage mechanic : "That your yank tank?! "Yep! gotta 5 litre V8 in it". "Doesn't it use a lot of fuel?"." "Yebbut it only cost me £1200 - the £8000 I saved buys a lot of petrol..."

[The Natural Philosopher]

Disks don't come with SATA interfaces.

In the end its all total cost of ownership. Free Pcs are cheaper than Pis, no matter how much fun it its.

[Fredxx]

No they're not. A Pi takes 10W, a PC considerably more. Over one year a £35 Pi is equivalent to 19W over one year at 20p/unit.

If your PC takes less than 30W you might have a point.

[Chris Green]

My Fujitsu Esprimo desktop machne takes only 18 watts.

If you shop around carefully there are a lot of full sized desktops which are really low power nowadays. It is, however, very difficult to find actual power consumption figures.

[Robert]

+1 for pCloud I pay for it but you get a decent amount free. Works well with Windows and on my ANdroid phone. Good Customer support as well

[Fredxx]

It looks good but not sure what the short/long 'idle' settings are:

I also doubt NP would use anything like this. The 10W for the Pi is also worst case and assuming 2A @ 5V whereas in reality it's going to be 1/4 of that for most of the time. You can also throttle down the CPU clock so it runs cold. After all it is a mobile phone CPU.

NP goes on cost of item rather than overall cost of ownership. I doubt he will have chosen 'free' low power machines. I expect the fan(s) in his machines would take more than 18 watts.