I recently started using this awesome tool for backing up and location tracking personal data across multiple laptops, servers and usb drives. I want to create a simple backup archive on bunch of usb hdds so my family can have access to this data without having to learn any tool or me being around.

I am able to do "rsync -PavLh" from my annex to usb drive and create a full simple backup. However, i lose location tracking with that since git-annex won't know what files are already copied. How do i prepare a simple exFat or NTFS usb with all data clearly visible without sim links or anything so that anyone can use it?

Is it good idea to just create an annex on ntfs drive and then mark it unlocked before disconnecting? That way, however, connects that ntfs drive to a windows machine, they can just see directories without symlink shenanigans. Any other alternative? Any way to always mark a repo unlocked?