Store Virtual Hard drive on Dropbox

[Benb96]

Hey,

 

I have a windows server and it is running Genius Visiom NVR as a Surveillance server, recording 24x7.

 

I already have 2 3TB WB Purple drives which are currently being recorded to.

 

With the software I'm using, to set a location for the recordings to be stored, they have to be stored in the main directory of the drive in a folder called "gvrec". e.g. If I was recording to the C drive I'd have to record to "C:\gvrec" or else it wouldn't work.

 

I wanted to store the last 3-4 days of footage on a cloud storage service (preferably Dropbox). I want to do this as in the event that my server is destroyed during a home invasion, I will have a saved copy of the footage. (Will this method actually achieve this? As my thinking is that Dropbox might not sync the changes in real time)

 

So, I've created a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) in Dropbox and mounted it. This tricks the program and allows me to save the recordings in Dropbox.

 

Can anyone suggest a better solution as I'm not 100% sure whether Dropbox actually syncs the changes to the VHD.

 

ps I do not have physical access to the server as I do not visit my home that often.

[nobiggieBIG]

Set up a scheduled task that it forces dropbox to backup a certain folder every night at 12am? 

[Benb96]

Just now, nobiggieBIG said:

Set up a scheduled task that it forces dropbox to backup a certain folder every night at 12am? 

It needs to be realtime

[nobiggieBIG]

http://blog.nguyenvq.com/blog/2011/07/18/real-time-file-synchronization-like-dropbox-via-unison/

2 minutes ago, Benb96 said:

It needs to be realtime

 

[manikyath]

9 minutes ago, Benb96 said:

It needs to be realtime

for realtime, (which you sorely need for security reasons) i'd rather suggest you rent a VPS somewhere with some storage along with it, and directly offload footage there as it is being recorded (mounting an FTP directory perhaps?)

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, Benb96 said:

It needs to be realtime

Does your security system record to one fairly large file at a time, or does it split it up into small chunks (Eg: Each file is a few minutes long)?

 

DropBox, assuming you have it running in the System Tray, will constantly watch the folder. When a change is noticed, it'll start uploading the changed (or new) file to the Cloud. It might not be "instant" in the sense that it might take a few minutes to recognize a change, but it should be close enough to instant for your needs.

 

I don't even think you need to create a VHD or anything. Just set DropBox to watch the "C:\gvrec" folder.

 

If you need "actual" instant, you need to setup a different kind of system, eg: an Offsite FTP upload to a VPS, or an offsite NAS.

 

I feel like you're over complicating this. Did you even try just having DropBox watch the folder, and just check to see the progress?

[Benb96]

59 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Does your security system record to one fairly large file at a time, or does it split it up into small chunks (Eg: Each file is a few minutes long)?

 

DropBox, assuming you have it running in the System Tray, will constantly watch the folder. When a change is noticed, it'll start uploading the changed (or new) file to the Cloud. It might not be "instant" in the sense that it might take a few minutes to recognize a change, but it should be close enough to instant for your needs.

 

I don't even think you need to create a VHD or anything. Just set DropBox to watch the "C:\gvrec" folder.

 

If you need "actual" instant, you need to setup a different kind of system, eg: an Offsite FTP upload to a VPS, or an offsite NAS.

 

I feel like you're over complicating this. Did you even try just having DropBox watch the folder, and just check to see the progress?

Thanks for the help. I've set up FreeFileSync and It now monitors the folder and copies the last 3 days worth of Footage to Dropbox.

[samiscool51]

i'm not sure if that would work

sure you can sync the file but files that get written to constantly (e.g temp files) don't play well cloud syncers....

something like a virtual drive would do the same

you might get a corrupt virtual drive or lose some files on the virtual OS