Has anyone used Transmit talking to either Amazon S3 or .Mac as an off-site backup solution? Does it work well?
Michael
Transmit is brilliant, imho, and definitely works with S3 (not sure about .Mac, as I’ve never used it) but I’m not certain what you’re asking. Do you mean using it with Automator to make automated backups, or just manually?
I use Transmit all the time to upload stuff to .Mac and it works brilliantly. I don’t use it for back-ups, though I could very easily.
And apparently you can create a drop-box for Transmit to upload any file automatically. I haven’t used that either as I would have to create about a dozen as different files have to go into different folders on my .Mac space, but I imagine it would work just as well as the rest of Transmit.
I’ve tried other ftp clients … Transmit is by far the best in my opinion … I’ll give it 5 of whatever you wish!
Mark
Transmit connects to Amazon S3 just fine.
I know that it doesn’t have Amazon S3 support (about the only feature Transmit has up on it), but I highly recommend YummyFTP if you’re looking for FTP software. YummyFTP is possibly the best kept secret on the Mac. Transmit’s alright, but when I discovered Yummy I jumped ship without a backwards glance.
Okay, I’m done being a Yummy fanboy. If Amazon S3 is what you really need, Transmit will serve you well, I’m sure.
Heh. We’ve had this discussion on here before - I just can’t get on with YummyFTP. I find it clunky, unintuitive, and unreliable. But horses for courses, as they say…
Same here with Yummy … couldn’t get it to connect to my ftp account on the university server, which Transmit does with consummate ease, and I have a feeling SpeedDownload would to, and I seem to remember having trouble getting Yummy to talk to my .Mac account, though I’m not sure of the latter. Both of those are essential for me.
Mark
I just wish Transmit had a folder watch like Yummy does. I keep my backup on my local machine synced with a remote ftp space. All I do is update my local files and Yummy handles the rest. Transmit’s drop is similar but I still have to drag it over. Yeah… I’m that lazy…
That’s hilarious. I switched to Yummy because, while I thought the interface was several notches below Transmit’s in polish, it was far more reliable for connecting to FTP servers (Transmit used to drop me during large transfers, which was completely unacceptable). It also offers far more powerful tweaking of the FTP connection and so forth.
But so it is with software; everyone’s mileage varies. 
Yep, that’s so … but it’s at least a couple of years and a number of upgrades of Transmit since I have had any trouble with it dropping the line. And even back then, I thought the problem was more likely to be the network here in China!
Oh, and while we’re at it, I also tried ForkLift, which was recommended on an earlier thread. I really liked it, and found the fact that you can use it to move files around on your local drives a real benefit … but it simply wouldn’t connect to the university’s FTP server, either.
Mark
I’ve also heard great things about Interarchy. It’s a different take on FTP: basically, it tries really hard to make the server look as much like a finder window as possible.
And I can dig that. I’m all for “good interface” being as dependent upon the user as it is upon the program. I ended up going back to Transmit, but I know lots of people who SWEAR by Interarchy. Downside? It’s like twice as expensive.
Ack! As if the Finder had a good interface! 
I used Interarchy for years, going back to it’s Archie days on Classic. It’s a fine choice, something of a power user’s toolkit, but I always found its interface quirky. They’ve made great strides in that area with newer versions. Interarchy is overpriced IMO, but is otherwise a fine program. I still have a current license for Interarchy, and have it loaded on my iMac, but Transmit is my choice on my Macbook. It just works more like I expect a Mac app to work.
I second George’s endorsement. I’ve used InterArchy, Fetch, CyberDuck, and now Yummy, and it’s the best of the lot. The interface duplicates a Finder look, and connection (at SFTP) is quick and flawless. I use it all the time to update Web sites and backup Scrivener ZIP files. If you have trouble making connections, write to support@yummysoftware. He’s quite responsive and frequently delivers free upgrades. [/fanboy rave]
Amber, can I ask you seriously what you think is wrong with the finder interface? I’ve been using Macs for years – I think the first time I used one it was whatever version of the system preceded Mac-OS 6; the first Mac I owned, the short lived and I guess not much remembered IIvi, had 8.0 – and have used every version of Windows except Vista, had one of the original Atari 520STs – from before they had a built-in floppy-disk drive – and used command-lines on DOS, VAX and UNIX, though I’ve only had the briefest acquaintance with X11 on a hugely expensive translation set-up that never really worked and never got used … Each version of the Mac interface has brought in new features and been an improvement, but at no point have I ever felt “This is not a good interface.”
You obviously do think that, so, seriously, what do you think is wrong with it? What am I missing?
This is slightly off-topic, so do PM me if you prefer.
Mark
Hi,
until now I was satisfied using the free Fetch, the other apps I knew did not offer enough merits to justify the price. Today I heard about Yummy FTP for the first time, tried it, love it, will buy it.
Thanks,
Maria