Backups on Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One
2GB Might not seem like much, but is actually enough to store a few documents. There are some primitive command line utilities that can be used to perform some basic tasks. Once a folder has been created on the server, then simple commands can be used to keep them synchronised between machines that have subscribed to them. It is sort of tricky as the default behaviour is to subscribe to all folders. And as subscription requires a folder Id, unsubscribing to a folder before it gets synchronised is a bit of a pain.
Installation
Installation is very easy with:

apt-get install ubuntuone-client ubuntuone-client-tools

An example

Here is a simple Ubuntu One example to show how to:

• start server and connect:
  

  u1sdtool --start
  

  u1sdtool --connect

  Then show current status with:
  

  u1sdtool --status

• link a local folder to the server:
  

  u1sdtool --create-folder=[local_fully_qualified_path]

  Then to list folders on server:

  u1sdtool --list-folders

• subscribe or unsubscribe from a folder on the server:
  First you need to get the Id of the folder. The simplest way to do this is to get a list of the folders. This will give you a folder and its associated folder id. This folder id is then used by the subscribe commands:
  

  u1sdtool --(un)subscribe-folder=[folder_id]

• refresh a folder:
  This uses the folders path:
  

  u1sdtool --refresh=[local_fully_qualified_path]

• disconnect and stop server:

  u1sdtool --disconnect u1sdtool --quit

All of this can be a bit tedious. Furthermore, it may take sometime to fully synchronise the folders. There are some options to show status, waiting and current transfers. Ubuntu One has some tools to help. Using ubuntuone-launch to start the daemon. Then use ubuntuone-preferences to start a passive synchronisation process. You can leave it running until it idles. You must be running Gnome services otherwise you'll get an error reporting:

gnomekeyring.IOError

If you are running Gnome and still get this error, then try:

gnome-keyring-daemon; ubuntuone-launch; ubuntuone-preferences