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Comment by noir_lord | Hacker News Reader

Yep, I think this is basically the problem with this post, it's Dropbox with an open source client and maybe that is what he doesn't want it to be.

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If you think Tarsnap is Dropbox with an open source client (but marketed differently), a) you do not understand the engineering reality of Tarsnap (or you have a very... curious understanding of Dropbox) and b) Colin, please note that your marketing is creating fans who think that Tarsnap is Dropbox with an open source client.

How about Dropbox + TrueCrypt, except easier to automate and much cheaper beyond Dropbox's free tier, in exchange for taking the risk on a one-person business?

You realise that Dropbox isn't a backup system, right?

I have a backup file there, so can confirm it does work for that purpose.

Um, no.

Delete that file on one device, it is gone from all that share it.

Put only a backup copy (not the source file) into Dropbox or Tarsnap. Don't delete the file on either system. Same boat.

Scripts can copy out from the Dropbox to both negate your issue and proliferate backup copies to many physical locations.

Dropbox preserves history of the file even after file was deleted.

Especially with Packrat feature.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en

Didn't know, thanks! Also didn't know that (from Dropbox help) "Your files are stored using 256-bit AES encryption". You have to trust them with the keys though.

I meant the product described in the blog post not tarsnap as it currently is.

I'm quite aware of what tarsnap is.

I think Patrick's comment still applies if you think he described "Dropbox with an open source client." Since it's still tarsnap, it still retains all of the security benefits of tarsnap. Saying "open source client" does not capture that.

Things tarsnap would need to be anything like dropbox:

* Mobile support

* Windows support

* A web interface

* Any way of using it other than CLI

TFA left all that stuff in place. "tarsnap the software" does not change at all.

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