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I have been trying to sync all my documents on Ubuntu One on one Ubuntu Lucid system and one Windows XP computer.

My trouble starts when Ubuntu One sync deleted folders I deleted from one computer from the server and when I opened the other it deleted that too. My files are gone forever.

How do i fix this from happening again?

I have seen that is coming when I see the sync on one computer removed the files from server, I got copy by chance. But there are some files lost before i could back up the whole folder.

2 Answers 2

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Ubuntu One keeps things in sync. This means if you change or delete a file on one system, it is changed or deleted on all of them. All synchronized folders will always be kept the same.

If you want to put something in Ubuntu One and then remove it from your local system but keep it on Ubuntu One you can do the following:

  1. Select a folder for synchronization in Ubuntu One.
  2. Wait until the synchronization is complete
  3. Open the Ubuntu One control panel. Go to the "Cloud Folders" tab, find the folder you synchronized and uncheck the "Sync locally" checkbox.
  4. Delete the files or folder on your local system.

Then your files will be online in Ubuntu One and gone from your local system.

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  • Is is possible to set this behavior of file sync by default. I think deleting files on server because it is deleted from one computer makes back up completely useless. I need the files deleted only when forced to be deleted. Dropbox has this kind of sync behavior. It has other drawbacks though. I can't seem to find the solution anywhere. One way or other sync is non possible concept for two computers. When i deleted files from one computer , I thought I had been deleting those file that i don't need for backup on server, not to delete the other backup from other computer. If you know? Jan 1, 2012 at 18:06
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    Again, Ubuntu One is not a backup system, it is a synchronization system. If you want to back up files you should look into something like Deja Dup (which is included by default in 11.10).
    – fader
    Jan 1, 2012 at 18:55
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There is one other solution to deleting files on just one computer. Before you delete any files go to the Devices tab and remove that device from your authorized device list. Since it is no longer part of the Ubuntu 1 system, it will not be synchronized. Once it is no longer part of the system, it can be deleted without emptying the cloud or affecting any other computer listed.

Also, if you have two or more computers on Ubuntu 1, might be a good idea to remove one from the list that you want to keep in sync. That way, you have one to reload your cloud account if it does empty your cloud account. I figured that out when I learned the hard way that deleting from one deletes from all.

Kathy Yearwood

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