Cheap offsite version control

If you’re any sort of developer, one of the most important tasks you can do is secure your code–not just keeping a good version history, but also keeping the code in a safe place in case your computer fails or house is destroyed.

Most of us have a hosting plan which we use to tinker and host our own personal stuff.  Mine has far more disk space than I’m likely to use, plus the drives are backed up and securely located–just the kind of thing you need for your source code.

There are a number of inexpensive options to maintain your code on your own hosting plan.  One is FTPVC, which I’ve covered before.  FTPVC combines revision control and FTP upload to your hosting plan in one convenient package.

If you want to use a more popular  source control option, such as Subversion/TortoiseSVN, you can.  TortoiseSVN has a local folder mode, which means you can turn ordinary folders into repositories without installing a full Subversion server.  You can map an FTP folder as a local folder with a tool like NetDrive.

There are all sorts of other options available that will accomplish the same thing, and it doesn’t really matter what you use, just so long as you’re securing your code.