Ensure that syncing is OK

[maxcampb]

Make sure that we have a fool proof system on working with GitHub and Git, and Dropbox, Google Drive, HPC and Research Drive.

[maxcampb]

Max:

"Do you think it is safe to store your project with a git repository on and unshared google drive or dropbox when you are using github too and you are working from multiple computers, when both of them have a desktop client for google drive/dropbox?

I have been reading that you can sometime corrupt your .git file because of differences between in the way cloud systems and git store files (although this is uncommon with the way they update), which could be a real death to the project if you wanted to maintain version control outside of dropbox (and maybe inside dropbox which would be scary because you might lose everything). However, in my view, if you use GitHub to keep your git repos, and you pushed every time before swapping over to your other computer you would be protected from this because even if the git repo and the dropbox had a nasty conflict and they both became corrupted and unusable, you could always clone a new copy of the repo from GitHub. Plus, I expect you would probably be able to retrieve an old version of the project from dropbox. What do you think?"

Eric:

Yeh I reckon if you make sure the most important stuff is pushed up to GitHub, it is the solid source of truth and you can pull it down if it goes wrong. I’ve got a few repos I actively use that live in Dropbox and never noticed any issues, but it does “feel” cleaner keeping repos out on their own.

[maxcampb]

I think that this is probably OK, but there are potentially some significant risks here. Need to resolve the following:

• [x] Make sure we have systems in place to minimise the hazard here.
• [x] Have a contingency plan in place
• [x] Discuss with CB, and determine if it is worth the risk

I have decided that a risk assessment is probably the best way to do this, so can close this issue after the risk assessment is complete and I have run by CB.

[maxcampb]

Largely solved by the commit 881cb8f66b6e6a50a42c30fc0908ea0e1b8e2470. Just need to run by @cbrown5

[maxcampb]

@cbrown5 can you have a brief look at the limitations, risks and solutions document. Mainly, so you know that it exists and can point people in this direction if needed.

• [x] @cbrown5 close this issue when done :)

[cbrown5]

Looks good, thanks for doing that. Will be sure to point people to this if issues arise, and be aware that these are important training points.