Sync computer to separate folder

[32-bit]

I use Google Drive for three things. First is just a remote storage area where I can stash files and sometimes make them available to others. The other two things are for backup. I have a windows computer where I store some files that I need local direct access to and I back them up with the Google sync and backup app. But I keep my main files on a linux file server. I use a low power small box computer that works great to serve files. I would not however it is 32-bit so I have to use the old 1.4.x version of insync. Well that is the plan anyway; I am on my 15-day trial.

I installed insync and it works, but not the way I wanted it to. With the windows google app, I have it sync my computer and it creates a new subfolder below the main drive:

As you can see in this image, there is a folder called computers, and a subfolder called map which is the windows computer’s folders that I sync.

When I run insync on linux (Debian stretch) it starts syncing but puts it in the top level folder.

You can see in this screen shot the files/folders with the little blue marks are the ones being synced from the file server. You saw how they were showing up in the web interface in the first image.

That’s not what I want. I want them to be in a subfolder like the “map” computer. Is there a way to do that? The only other screenshot from my Debian file server that may provide insight it this:

I am hoping it can do this. Is the command line version of the 1.x series still available? Can it be done from the command line?

[kyle]

When I run insync on linux (Debian stretch) it starts syncing but puts it in the top level folder.

Insync puts items in the ‘My Drive’ folder which is the expected behavior. Your base directory (/biggig) will always be synced under ‘My Drive’, consider it an alias. Files & folders in your base directory will appear in the root of ‘My Drive’ in the google cloud. This is a Google thing and there is no way around this. The native gdrive app on my android phone does the same thing.

As far as I know only the google backup program can create folders under ‘Computers’. In fact, only one of 7 of my google accounts even has ‘Computers’ listed in the web interface but they all show ‘My Drive’

That’s not what I want. I want them to be in a subfolder like the “map” computer. Is there a way to do that?

Technically, ‘bills’, ‘dave’, et al are subfolders. Click ‘My Drive’ and the menu will open up just like ‘Computers’ and list the subfolders in your base directory. You can put all those items in another subfolder if you want, just create the folder in /biggig and move all those items into it. /biggig/maps/ will show up in the web interface as essentially ‘My Drive/maps/’

As an aside, I understand you’re stuck with 1.4.x due to 32 bit OS but I’m not sure how well 1.4.x actually works. It’s pretty ancient and I’m guessing your first request for support will be met with something like 'that was fixed in 1.5.x, please upgrade.

edit: if you want biggig as the subfolder, you just need to put it in a new folder, call it whatever you want, I use the google account username as the base directory. In this example let’s use ‘my drive’, i.e. c:\my drive\biggig. In insync settings you have pictured above click ‘Move’ and select the ‘my drive’ folder, i.e. c:\my drive. Then what you’ll see in the web is a folder ‘biggig’ under ‘my drive’

[jaduenas]

Thanks for the assist @kyle!

[jaduenas]

Our latest 1.x versions are available here: Insync version: 1.5.7

[32-bit]

Thanks for the quick response and confirming that only the google app does the “computers” thing. After I posted this question, I did some thinking and came up with the same idea of putting all the directories in the file server under one directory and backing that up.

A little more detail and why this should work. These older low power computers I am using for file servers are old eeebox computers running an atom processor. I have one currently serving as the file server, and a second one running a backup program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BackupPC). That handles onsite backup, but I used to use crashplan for offsite backup, since that had a linux client I could run on the server. However, crashplan stopped offering consumer plans so I decided on google drive as my offsite backup, even though it isn’t really what it is for. It’s been a year or more now since no offsite backup since my debian version on the file server is older than insync supports (don’t want to risk a failed upgrade). I have one more eeebox that I started to generate a fresh install, but I may instead use that for the onsite backup simply with rsync and then run insync on that to backup the local backup to google drive (the backuppc program doesn’t save the files in a user friendly format, as it uses versioning to keep older versions around which is pretty slick).

Anyway, this is a long winded way of saying I can do the rsync into a master directory and then backup that master directory to google drive, keeping it separate.

And thanks for the link to the later 1.5.X versions, but those are all 64 bit. The atom processors are low power which is great for saving electricity and reducing fire risk, but they are 32-bit unfortunately.

[32-bit]

The approach of nesting the folders on the server to be backed up inside another folder works very well. Finally implemented this last night as today is the last day of my trial.

So one more question: I will buy a license tonight. I don’t need the “team” product. However, the one 32-bit product available for download and which I installed says “Insync Teams Trial” at the bottom. I would prefer not to pay the extra for the “team” product since that is not what I am using it for.

What license should I buy?

[jaduenas]

The team license is our default license for trial. You can opt to purchase just prime @32-bit