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Dropbox

doug reich

doug reich

Some guy
Joined
4/23/08
Messages
684
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This seems like a real life-saver -- Dropbox. It continually backs up & mirrors your files, as well as providing versioning, sharing, and a web interface for remote access. If you have two computers and you ever say "Darn, the files are on the other one," I definitely recommend it. Even if you have only one machine that you use, it's still darn handy, as it backs up (ever had a computer crash on you? Yeah... back up your files) and makes immediately available all your documents wherever you are. I just set it up yesterday, and I'm already quite pleased with it.

EDIT: Apparently you can also use their software for collaboration: two people have different accounts, but their content overlaps on one subfolder.

My caveats: I would NOT recommend it for writing code, though; you will want to use subversion or the like so you can branch, merge and edit conflicts from collaborators. Also, if you are concerned about the security of your files, it's a no-brainer that you should stay away from it. Probably overkill if you have a lot of files, e.g. music or other media files, that don't really change and take up a lot of space, and you're just looking for a backup solution.

There's even Windows, Mac, Linux versions. Has anyone else tried this out?
 
Hey Doug,

I'm interested to hear more about your experience with Dropbox, I have heard things about it, but have not yet had a chance to test-drive it myself. However, I wanted to share with you a couple alternatives you may try using: MS Groove 2007, FolderShare, and Live Mesh. Interestingly enough, all three are Microsoft products.

I've looked into synchronization software recently to help moving files between two of my computers (a tablet pc for school and a desktop pc at home). Since the syncronization is my primary need and all three support this feature, I have decided to stick with Groove for the time being because it has the lightest footprint out of all three. Here is what I think of the trinity though:

Groove - The "overlooked cousin" in the Office 2007 suite. It's primary use is as a collaboration software, but it's folder synchronization is very streamlined. It's actually a very nice piece of software that I hope to have more opportunities to use. The only drawback with Groove is that for synchronization to happen, both computers have to be either connected on a LAN (Wi-Fi), or connected to the internet. Luckally, this isn't a problem for me because I leave my desktop running all the time.

FolderShare - Just syncing, no online backup. This works a lot like just the folder syncing in groove... unfortunately I don't like how you have to set up folders through the web interface. Also interestingly enough, it has a much larger memory footprint than Groove. It does, however, offer a mac client.

Mesh - Definitely a hatchet for a scalpel's work when it comes to what I need. It promises everything you would ever want from a synchronization utility. Promises support for Mac, iPhone, PC (of course), and pretty much everything else under the sun. It stores backups online (as well has version histories) just like dropbox. It has remote desktop that works over silverlight (think: using a web broswer for remote desktop). I have used this and it's actually very nice. Drawback is that mac/iphone support hasn't been implemented yet... it's still in beta.

That's just a quick look at those 3 pieces, there are many more alternatives out there.

So bottom line, Groove offers everything I need (and more) but has the thinnest client. Furthermore, if I were to to collaborate with someone, it's much more likely that they'll have Groove installed (and ready to go) because it comes with the Office suite.

On another note, Live Mesh supposedly plans to take care of all sorts of syncing. I hope that soon there will be a clean solution that will sync my calandar, contacts, mail, and documents between my iphone, apple laptop, tablet pc, and desktop pc. They've made a lot of promises with Mesh, so I would keep an eye out for that.


Cheers,
Jing
 
Jing,

I have wanted to set up Groove to work between my laptop and desktop for some time to easily sync my c++ projects between the two computers. After reading your review of it I think I will carve some time out and actually give it a serious run through.
 
Eugene - why add that extra requirement instead of an online hosted solution that has the added benefit of online backup? What does groove offer that these other services do not?

Another couple such "cloud computing" programs: gspace, nomadesk.
 
Doug, primarily because groove is already installed with Office 2007 so it's really just a matter of making it work.
 
That's a non-starter -- it takes 5 minutes to get these online programs working. That's not an exaggeration -- download software, register on website, organize files. Completely uncomplicated -- why be the IT guy when you already have one? (let's not pretend making windows software work together is fun)
 
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