[Already Implemented] Version Control of folder content

[rwoolf]

In this rising world of ransomware, it would be really good to have the ability to turn on a version control of a synced folder.  Now I have a simple way to ensure my critical files never fall victim to ransomware.  

Without version control of the content, If I sync my critical files to other PCs, if one of them gets hit by ransomware, those encrypted versions of the files are just going to be replicated to the other PCs, and thus I have now lost those files to all locations. 

With version control of content, if one of the PCs become infected by ransomware, and the files are encrypted and replicated, I am still safe.  I can go to one of the PCs that is not infected with the ransomware and I can restore the files to the pre infected/encrypted state.  

This makes BitTorrent Sync a very powerful tool in the fight against the rising world of ransomware.  It ensures my critical files are always backed up, but because the other PCs folders are under version control, it does not matter if encrypted files get propagated to them.

Aside from ransomware, it is a nice tool to ensure that items are not mistakenly lost or deleted.  

It becomes very easy for BitTorrent Sync to do this version control.  As it updates files it saves the differential so that it can efficiently store old copies.  Then provide a UI that allows someone to see a timeline of changes to the folder and move back in time to get at older versions of the files.

Bottom line, I have been looking for a good solution to ensure I can recover from ransomware without being held hostage to them.   BitTorrent Sync would be a good solution if it had version control of folder content.

[GreatMarko]

Sync already has a form of "version control" through files saved to a folder's hidden .sync/Archive folder.

i.e. make changes to a file named "test.txt" on a given device and when changes sync to other devices, the current "test.txt" file on those devices will first be moved to .sync/Archive and renamed to "test.1.txt". Make more changes, and the file will be moved and renamed to "test.2.txt", etc.

See: http://help.getsync.com/hc/en-us/articles/204754239-Does-BitTorrent-Sync-support-versioning-

...so Sync does have "version control", however, this would unlikely offer protection against ransomware which encrypts certain file types, as versioned/archived files in .sync/Archive still retain their original extensions.

To prevent propagation of ransomware infected files between devices, you could consider read-only syncing, rather than read-write syncing.

 

[rwoolf]

I'm glad that there is an archive and for now this will allow me to do what I would like.  

However, the archive could be made more efficient if it kept a differential of the file rather than a full second copy, and a UI in the app let you select the version you want and it provided the file, just like a source control does.