How to install and use the Megasync client on the Linux desktop

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If you’re looking for another cloud storage provider that has a Linux desktop app, Jack Wallen thinks Megasync might be just what you need.

Image: GettyImages / da-kuk

Mega.nz is a cloud service from New Zealand that offers a free 20 GB account and includes all the features that you have become accustomed to with similar providers. And like Dropbox, Mega.nz has a Linux desktop client that’s not only open source, it’s just as easy to use as any client in the cloud space.

Mega.nz includes features such as:

  • User-controlled end-to-end encryption.
  • Cross-platform clients for Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.
  • Full synchronization or selective synchronization.
  • Supports
    two-factor authentication

    .

  • Password protected or exprable sharing links.
  • Integrated file version management.
  • MEGAdrop allows you to create a folder that anyone can upload files to.
  • MEGAchat: Audio / video calls using MEGA’s end-to-end encrypted chat.

I will explain to you the installation of the Megasync GUI on Linux, as well as its integration with the Nautilus file browser.

SEE: Research: Video conferencing tools and cloud-based solutions dominate digital workspaces; VPN and VDI less popular with SMEs (TechRepublic Premium)

What you will need

To use the Megasync client, you must first create a free account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need a working Linux desktop. I will be doing a demo on Pop! _OS 21.04 (which is based on Ubuntu 21.04). If you are using a different distribution, you will need to modify the installation instructions accordingly.

How to install Mega.nz

Once your Mega.nz account is created, go to the downloads page and download the desktop app and the Nautilus sync app (saving them in your ~ / Downloads directory). Once these have downloaded, open a terminal window and navigate to the Downloads directory with:

cd ~/Downloads

Let’s start by installing the desktop client with:

sudo dpkg -i megasync*.deb

This installation will likely result in an error. Fix these dependency issues with:

sudo apt-get install -f

Next, we will install the Nautilus integration with:

sudo dpkg -i nautilus-megasync*.deb

Restart Nautilus with:

nautilus -q

The Megasync.nz desktop client is installed and ready to go.

How to log into your account

It’s delicate. When you first launch the Megasync client (found in your desktop menu), it should open a login screen. This has not happened to me. Instead, the only thing that popped up was the notification bar icon. If I clicked on the Settings entry, the Megasync window would open, but not allow me to interact.

Eventually I figured out how to bring up the login screen by clicking on the Megasync system tray icon and selecting Show Status (Figure A).

Figure A

megasynca.jpg

The Megasync system tray icon menu.

At this point the login window appeared, where I could enter the credentials for my Megasync.nz account. The Megasync desktop client setup wizard opened (Number B), where I selected selective sync (because I want to determine what should be synced with my account.

Number B

megasyncb.jpg

The Megasync setup wizard.

Finish going through the wizard (it’ll ask you to select a local and remote folder and that’s it) and you’re good to go.

Since we installed the Nautilus integration, you can now open your file manager and right click on any file / folder, and add it to your Megasync cloud sync (Figure C).

Figure C

megasyncc.jpg

Synchronizing a file to Megasync from the Nautilus file manager.

And that’s all there is to installing and using the Megasync desktop client on Linux. If you’re looking for an alternative cloud storage service, you can’t beat 20GB of free storage including an open source desktop client. And if you end up enjoying Megasync.nz, you can always upgrade to a Pro account (from $ 5.85 / month for 400GB of storage to $ 35.15 / month for 16TB of storage).

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