Prepurchase questions from a linux user... (ssh/borg/rclone)

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

Hi,

I’m considering purchasing a WD My Cloud mainly for backups and cannot decide between this or a Raspberry Pi and USB HD setup.

I’m wanting to backup 2x linux systems and understand that is not officially supported via WD apps so I’m just wondering to what extent they are locked down.

  1. I’ve read SSH can be enabled (only for root), with port forwarding set up can I access the my cloud via SSH from outside the LAN? I’m guessing nobody has managed to do this via keys/non root logins.

  2. I was planning on using borg for some of the backups which can run over SSH but would ideally need borg installing on the my cloud as well. Is anybody using this?

  3. Can anyone confirm if they have managed to install rclone and setup a cron job to backup files on the my cloud? I understand I can run these on my laptop against the networked files, but it would be preferable to have a daily cron on the my cloud handle this rather than relying on the laptop being turned on.

My plan for the Raspberry PI would be to carry out backups over SSH via rsync/rsnapshot/borg, then rclone them to backblaze b2/google cloud storage or similar. I’m just wondering if I could achieve this easily enough with the my cloud. PI is not locked down which leaves me free to tinker, but the my cloud comes with a HD and might be better hardware?

Thanks in advance!

2

If you turn on ssh access via the dashboard, the MyCloud units will respond to sftp, and rsync.

They can also be configured to share natively over nfs.

rsync is a bit of a prickly thing though. You would have to stab a rsh command at the mycloud to make it run rsync in daemon mode, or hack the mycloud so that it starts rsync in daemon mode, if you want to be serious about automated backups to the device.

3

What specific My Cloud device are you looking to purchase? The single bay My Cloud, the general subject of this subforum, appears to have been pulled from distribution/shelves in the United States.

If you are looking at the My Cloud Home line, note that those devices are not the same as the My Cloud line despite using the My Cloud name.