Online File Synchronization (aka The Cloud)

There are a number of services available today that provide free online file storage, some of these even provide file-sync (which you can think of as automatic and ongoing file back-up). All of these services provide some way to share files, including, in some of them, easy ways to collaborate on work.

A few words on file-synchronization: you need this. File-synchronization automatically makes a copy of your files on an online server. If your hard drive dies, your computer gets stolen, or you forget to bring it to school, then you can access your files via the web. You never have to do anything to make this possible. Every time you modify a file, an updated version gets uploaded to your online account.

I’m going to provide quick summaries of the best online file storage services below; the last three provide file-sync, so you can skip to those if that’s all you want.

Box.net (wikip) offers 5GB of free file storage. Stored files are secure, and there’s a way to collaborate on files. But that way, is like the file upload, browser based. You have to log-in to a web page to upload and/or work on files, so it’s not so convenient.

Windows Live SkyDrive (wikip) used to be called Windows Live Folders. When you want to go “To the cloud!” as in that obnoxious commercial, this is where you go. It offers 25GB of free storage. SkyDrive offers quite a few useful synchronization options through Internet Explorer, and it offers some work collaboration for MS Office Docs. If you’re a Mac or Linux user, you’re stuck using a web interface. But, hey, 25GB! If you’re just interested in backing up Office files, and you work in Windows only, this looks like a really good option.

Dropbox (wikip) offers 2GB of free storage with sharing and file-sync. To accomplish the file-sync, Dropbox relies on an application running on your local computer. This application is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This app monitors a folder on your hard drive called “Dropbox.” Anything you put in it is automatically and continuously backed-up to that 2GB of storage. If you accidentally delete a file in the folder, you can go online and retrieve it, because Dropbox stores the files you delete for 30 days. You can install the Dropbox application on multiple computers, too. This means, for example, that you work on the same set of files on both your home and office computers without carrying around a flash drive (which is easily lost). Dropbox also offers client apps for several mobile phones: iPhones, Android phones, and Blackberry.
        If you want to try this and do me a favor, you can sign up using this referral link, which will give us both 250MB of additional storage space. By offering your own referrals, you can boost your free storage up to 8GB.

SugarSync (wikip) offers 5GB of free storage with sharing and file-sync. It’s more or less like Dropbox. It requires an application running on your computer that manages the file-sync/back-up. The SugarSync application requires Windows or Mac 0S 10.5+, and a Linux version is in development. (Mac users should note that the 10.5 requirement means that PPC Macs are not supported, because they can only run up to OS 10.4.11.)
        I don’t have much to say about SugarSync. It looks pretty good, but I’ve only started trying it out this morning. If you want to try it, here’s my referral link (we both get 500MB more space).

Syncplicity (wikip) offers 2GB of free storage. It’s pretty much like Dropbox too, but you’re limited to using it on two computers. It’s application runs on Windows XP+ and on Mac OS X 10.6+; there’s no word on Linux yet. There’s one way that Syncplicity may be better than Dropbox: you don’t have to put files in a special folder; instead you specify files and folders to be backed-up within the Syncplicity application. This is a little more complicated, but it allows you to keep files where you’re used to finding them. I personally prefer this option, but there’s something to be said for the simplicity of the Dropbox folder method.
        If you want to try Syncplicity, and you don’t mind helping me out, you can use this referral link and get me 1GB more space. By offering your own referrals, you can boost your total free storage space to 5GB.
        Update: If you install Syncplicity on a Mac, good luck trying to uninstall it. I’ve left a request for information at their tech support, but I see that someone else asked the same question ten days ago and has received no answer, though that question is near the top of the list in their forums.

Conclusion
Of all these, I recommend first trying Dropbox (at this point). It provides file-sync, which is the real killer application for “cloud storage.” There are a lot of good how-to pages out there for Dropbox, and it’s got a good track record (SugarSync and Syncplicity are newer). It’s also the simplest of the three, and the customer support is fast and helpful. See second update below.

NB: This entry didn’t start out as a way to solicit referral clicks, but after writing this, I realized I’d like to grow ONE of these big enough to drop the others.

Update: A new service, Wuala, offers one gigabyte for free, with file-sync like DropBox.

Update: Dropbox has had a couple of recent security scares. First it was revealed that the data they store for you wasn’t as inaccessible to others as initial marketing led you to believe, and then they had on 20 Jun 2011 a four-hour period in which all stored data was open to everyone, due to a programming bug. The first issue was bad enough, but the second seems irresponsible, especially given reports that there was insufficient testing of the new software. I no longer recommend Dropbox.