from Hacker News

Ask HN: Best Way to Store Files in the Cloud Without Third-Party Sync Apps?

by Daunk on 3/8/25, 3:55 PM with 4 comments

I recently lost a lot of data due to issues with my cloud provider, so now I’m looking for a more reliable way to store files in the cloud—something that includes automatic backups but doesn’t rely on third-party sync apps like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.

I have multiple server computers that need to upload and download files reliably, preferably using standard protocols (SFTP, WebDAV, rsync, etc.) rather than a dedicated syncing client. Keeping the data at home isn’t an option, and I don’t want to have to think about it—I just need to know my data is safe.

Ideally, the solution should:

- Allow direct access from multiple machines

- Support automatic backups (whether for individual files or full disk images)

- Be cost-effective and scalable in terms of storage size

- Not require installing proprietary syncing software

What are the best options for this?

by pwg on 3/8/25, 4:12 PM
Take a look a rclone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rclone). It supports numerous cloud providers. You'll have to build up the rest of your requirements yourself.
by tdurand on 3/8/25, 6:28 PM
rsync.net supports rsync and sftp and has a neat snapshot feature (https://www.rsync.net/resources/howto/snapshots.html)
by stop50 on 3/8/25, 4:08 PM
Ceph and its s3 service?
by johntitorjr on 3/8/25, 4:06 PM
If just peer-to-peer syncing between a group of devices is ok, syncthing is great. You could use it as cloud backup if one of the devices is running on a server.
https://syncthing.net/