Using Git as off-line alternative for Dropbox

Question

I am working with lots of text files daily and I use Dropbox as a way to restore earlier versions of files in case something goes wrong.

I am looking for simple way to suplement/replace Dropbox in that function in case my Internet connection goes off and Dropbox is not working. Basically, I would like use git to:

1) Automatically save every revision of every file on disk or in given folder, but limited to certain extensions (.html, .tex, .txt, .doc, .odt etc.)

2) Easily browse previous versions and restore them. Ideally, I would be able to choose destination folder for keeping revisions

Creating a new Git project for each file is not very good idea, so I am looking for something simpler that will just re-create folders structure with an option to restore previous versions.

Answer 1

How about using SparkleShare?

SparkleShare is intended for synchronizing projects between multiple contributors automatically using Git. You can use it basically as a tool for automatically saving changes to files it a version controlled Git repository, and don't need to use its multiple contributor features.

It will connect to various services, including BitBucket:

Here you can see the history it presents of a folder:

SparkleShare only saves changes and keeps a list of the changes. There is no way (that I know of) to use it to view a file at a particular commit. Clicking on the file in the Recent Changes dialog just opens the newest version.

So, you can use a Git client, such as Giggle to view changes at particular commits:

However, Giggle will not let you view the actual file at a particular commit, instead forcing you to view changes. So, you might want to use a different client such as gitg :

(The black everywhere is a bug because I'm using the GNOME 3.8 PPA.)

You can install SparkleShare by clicking on this button:

Or, you can use this command in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install sparkleshare

Answer 2

If you're looking for an advanced backup tool, I'd recommend Back In Time .

You can configure it in many, many ways, but here is how I use it:

• Take a snapshot every hour
• Keep hourly snapshots for the past 24 hours
• Keep daily snapshots for the past 7 days
• Keep weekly snapshots for the past 4 weeks
• Keep monthly snapshots for the last 24 months

Answer 3

If you use Linux, you can try Btrfs file system, it has wonderful backup functionalities.

If you move to FreeBSD or OpenIndiana you can use XFS.