Need an encrypted online source code backup service.

Question

Please note this is not a question about online/hosted SVN services.

I am working on a home based, solo developer, project that now has commercial significance and it is time to think about remote source code backup. There is no need for file level check in/out, all I need is once a day or once a week directory level snapshot to remote storage. Automatic encryption would be a bonus to protect my IP.

What I have in mind is some sort of GUI interface app that will squirt a source code snapshot off to an Amazon S3 bucket on an automatic schedule.

(My development PC runs on MS Windows.)

Answer 1

There are a number of encrypted backup solutions that use S3. Perhaps the best known is Jungledisk. I would highly recommend using a version control system with a private repository, however; you'll be glad you did the first time you realize you need to recover some code from 2 revisions ago, or need to reproduce a bug that occurred in a previous release of your software. Github offer private git repositories starting at an extremely reasonable price; you have full access control. There's a good overview of private SVN repositories here.

Also, you don't need to 'protect your IP' - your IP is protected by copyright law. You might need or want to protect the confidentiality of your source, but if I was given the choice between using source control and using encryption, I personally would choose source control in a heartbeat, then choose a private repository host that I trust not to compromise my data.

Answer 2

S3 is good and easy to automate but as a developer the time between backups or checkins can be very costly if something goes wrong such as if both RAID 0 RAID 1 hard drives overheat and pack it in at the same time :(.

I use LiveMesh which keeps all my important files in sync in near real-time. It's zero effort to use once set up and the set up is also very simple. You also get the added bonus of having your files acessible remotely should it ever be needed. The only caveat is if you're on an internet connection where you have very low upload limits.

Answer 3

I have some confidential data I might need on the road (mostly usernames/passwords) stored in a TrueCrypt volume located in my DropBox with a copy on my SkyDrive