Spice Mines of Kessel

Have you ever gone somewhere and needed some files, only to find that you forgot your flash drive? Well, that can all change with a simple solution: Dropbox. As long as you have a connection to the Internet, your files can be with you wherever you go. Using Windows? No problem. Using a Mac? No problem. Using Linux? Of course, no problem. And soon there will be an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Prices are quite reasonable, and they even offer you a free 2GB account that never expires.

Installation is quite simple. After downloading the installer application appropriate for your system, run it and follow the install guide. During the installation, you will be asked to log into your Dropbox account. The installation is pretty straight forward and should be completed within a few minutes. The Dropbox install will create a folder in your user directory called, “Dropbox.” This is the directory that will be synced with your files stored online. Any files or folders put in this directory will automatically be uploaded to your online storage. If and when any changes are made, the changed files will be uploaded. The Dropbox application is small and, by default, runs when you log on to your computer. It’s out of the way and it doesn’t pester you with pop-ups and useless messages. When your files are successfully synchronized, the application will show you a minimally invasive message near its icon for a few seconds letting you know that your files are currently backed up.

I have Dropbox synchronize files between three computers. The first computer is a self-built PC running Ubuntu 9.04 (Linux). The second computer is an iMac running OS X Leopard (10.5). The third computer is a Dell running Windows Vista. The installation was consistent and easy across all three systems. Once each of the three systems were set up (they weren’t set up at the same time), it was a matter of seconds before they were hard at work synchronizing the files in my Dropbox folder. As predicted, when the sync was complete, the small notification informed me that my files were successfully synced. After that, I was able to access and change those files on any of the three systems without a hint of trouble. (A note to make here is that Dropbox was the best online data synchronization/backup service that worked as easily with Linux as it does with Windows and OS X. I’m a Linux user, so this was quite important for me. I greatly appreciate it when companies include the Linux community in their user base. For that, I will give Dropbox my highest recommendation for Linux users.)

If you look inside the Dropbox folder, you will see another folder created during the install. This folder is named, “Public.” This folder allows you to give public access to your files, via link. To give such access to a file in your Public folder, simply right-click the file and choose “Copy public link” from the Dropbox sub-menu. This will store the link to your computer’s clipboard, from which you simply paste the link to wherever you want. A really neat use of this Public folder is that you can set up a basic website in it, and use it to host your website. The main drawback is that you don’t get a personal URL or domain name and you don’t have any available server services (i.e. PHP, MySQL, etc.). I use it to give access to files which my CMS provider will not allow me to upload to their servers. It also provides a great way to share files which are too large to e-mail with friends and family.

I have only signed up for the free 2GB account, which is more than enough for my personal use of the service. However, Dropbox offers packages of higher storage capacity at very reasonable rates. You can find the pricing on the Dropbox pricing page. Currently, other than the 2GB account, they offer a 50GB account, and a 100GB account.

I really have nothing negative to sya about Dropbox. It has solved my need to synchronize or transfer files to different computers running different operating systems in different locations. In my opinion, that’s a killer application, because it means I have fewer physical items to forget or lose (i.e. small USB flash drives, or SD cards), and my files are always available wherever I go. I highly recommend Dropbox for anyone who has need of a data synchronization service, or a basic online backup service. For 2GB of free storage space, you have nothing to lose using Dropbox.