An experiment with BitTorrent Sync
I've been finding more applications for BitTorrent Sync, which is a peer-to-peer file sharing utility that works much like Dropbox, without storing the files on a central server.
I've been looking for a reliable way to back up the S3 bucket that serves the content for scripting.com. I want to maintain a copy on one of my servers and desktop computer. I'm also working with a university library to create a permanent archive of the site. That's an interesting project because the site is changing all the time, as I add new blog posts, so we need a sync protocol, not to just save off a snapshot.
Chuck Shotton suggested using BitTorrent Sync, and I set it up and it's really nice. As an experiment, I want to share this content with anyone who reads this site.
Download and install BitTorrent Sync.
Launch the app.
This dialog should appear.
Click on the I Have a Secret radio button, and enter this string below it.
BEJ77EYTJFLI2DY7WZ2PKKLGJMO2H2MUC
In the next dialog, choose a folder where the contents of scripting.com will be stored.
As soon as you click Next, BTS will start downloading the archive.
Click on the Folders tab in the BitTorrent Sync app.
Click the + icon in the lower left corner of the window.
Where it calls for you to enter a "secret key" enter this string:
BEJ77EYTJFLI2DY7WZ2PKKLGJMO2H2MUC
Choose a location for the folder to receive the content of scripting.com.
Click OK.
There may be a delay of a minute or two before it starts downloading the content.
You can see the progress in the History panel.
It takes about 50 minutes to download the full contents of the folder, which is 2.2GB with 71,819 files.
It's pretty cool, 10 people have hooked into the BitTorrent Sync archive for this site.
When I post this update, they will all get updates to this file, and to its parents.
Let's see if it works!