Dropbox, a great way to keep files in sync between computers

Mattykins

Mattykins

Cute Member
I came across a find worth sharing last week.

It's a company called DropBox. I've been trying to set up a NAS (Network Attached Storage) server here to keep some files in sync between computers remotely. I failed. And some searching online sent me to these guys. I've been testing it out for the past few days.

Basically it's a folder on your computer that keeps files in the cloud. So you can drop a file into the DropBox folder on your computer, and it updates to all the other dropboxes you have linked to your account. So you can drop a script into the dropbox on your laptop and it syncs with the one on your desktop. You work with the script just as you would if it were in your documents folder. When you save again, it saves to the dropbox and updates across all dropboxes and their online portal. So no more emailing revisions to yourself to keep everything in sync.

It also allows you to share files pretty seamlessly via public urls that you provide. You can share photos, videos, and documents. I transferred over a 700mb video file to myself to make sure it could work via public URL. Seamless download. It also keeps your files securely online. So in the event your computer dies the file still exists.

Figured I'd share it since it's really handy. Especially for people like us with files lying all over the place.

I'll be lame and put a referral code below. If you use it, it gives you an additional 250mb of storage on top of the free 2 gigs. Pretty simple really. If you need more storage you can always purchase more too.

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTc0NjgwMDc5

or:

www.dropbox.com
 
I usually never share companies that I find. I read it a few times and finally decided to give it a spin since I'm trying to come up with a way to keep documents in sync between creative teams. Google Docs isn't really there yet, so I keep using MS Word and Excel. And dropbox has been impressing me all the way.

I only wish there was a way to allow people to upload to your dropbox without having a dropbox account. I haven't found a solution for that yet.
 
They say: All transmission of file data and metadata occurs over an encrypted channel (SSL).
All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES-256) and are inaccessible without your account password.

I think as with anything you wouldn't want your files ONLY there. In the event something occurs at dropbox and the files go MIA.

I guess if you were really crazy, you could pop the files in dropbox on one system, transfer it over, then take it off dropbox. I've found so far that it's good to send large attachments back and forth without emailing.

I trust it enough as a backup and sync system. I will never store my files only there. Data handling is always something that is questionable. It's as much as you are comfortable with. I just thought it was cool.

-Matt
 
Yeah, because you never know if a file could all of a sudden become corrupted on a transfer as well. It does seem a lot easier than an ftp server though.
 
Upon further investigation, it appears as though dropbox doesn't actually store on the cloud. It stores a copy. Your files are still on your computer. It works as a regular folder. The sharing feature is pretty awesome. Drag a file to the "public" folder and you are given a url for the person to download.

The major downfall is people can't upload to you without logging in as you. So I don't see it being used as a corporate account anytime soon. I've yet to find a reliable option for people to upload files to you aside from FTP.

Well, the tech search continues.
 
Stephen Mick said:
DropBox also has an iPad/iPhone app, which I've only played around with but looks really nice.
Click to expand...

I use it every morning for my iPad and really like it, my only complaint is I want to read my PDF files in full screen without the column on the left that list your other files.

It's been REALLY good to me tho, people think I'm at the office when I'm on the road.
 
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