What storage software could I run to have an archive of my personal files (a couple TB of photos) that doesn’t require I keep a full local copy of all the data? I like the idea of a simple and focused tool like Syncthing, but they seem to be angling towards replication.
Is the simple choice to run some S3-like backend and use CLI or other client to append and browse files? I’d love something with fault tolerance that someone can gradually add disks to. If ceph were either less complicated or used less resources I’d want to do that.
I want like one local device to have a full copy, but the devices writing new data into that one do not need a full copy.
I think you just described using a NAS as primary storage.
Do you have a software you like for that?
Open Media Vault
It’s basically a RAID + File shares like SMB.
Loads of DIY options, but I use a Synology so I don’t need to mess with anything.
I’ve been using TrueNas with a nightly sync to Backblaze for years and I like it.
It used to be called FreeNas and used FreeBSD. Now the BSD version is called TrueNas Core, and a new Linux based version is called TrueNas Scale.
I would go with TrueNas Scale if I were starting a new one today. You probably won’t use the “jail” functionality immediately, but they’re super handy, and down the line if you start playing with them, you’ll run into fewer compatibility issues running Linux vs BSD.
In technical terms you mean doing an incremental or differential back up to a local network storage location, correct?
“Incremental” sounds right. I want it to act like rsync without deleting files on the destination, so all the folders are merged. (It would be cool if it kept versions but I don’t absolutely need that.) Tools like Borg or Restic look great, but I have been searching to see if they support this kind of usage and they seem not to.