Dropbox
Dropbox is something that I’ve been sharing with my friends over the past… quite some time. While the technology that it employs isn’t new – the synchronization and sharing of data – their execution is flawless. At least, I haven’t found any flaws yet… well, flaws that aren’t in direct relation to my connectivity speed at the time. ;]
Dropbox allows you to synchronize files across multiple machines. The main draw that I’ve had with this software is that it is cross-platform compatible. You can set it up on your Linux, Mac, or Windows computers (and iPhone… still waiting on Android and other mobile releases *peer pressure* now also available in the Android Market), and it’ll sync your data across them all flawlessly. Never have to rely on a USB drive again (but keep them around because they can do cool things on their own)!
Have a look at the full list of features.
Here are just some of the things that I’ve used Dropbox for so far:
- NaNoWriMo
For the entire month of November, I used Dropbox to synchronize my novel across the various machines that I was using. It hurts to loose a large chunk of writing. It also hurts to forget something you were working on on a USB drive, or even worse, suffer from some sort of computer malfunction that results in data loss. Rejoice in knowing that if you religiously save your work, it’ll be auto-magically backed up elsewhere for you should you need to access it. - Invoices & Time Sheets
I keep copies of all my invoices and time sheets, neatly organized by year and company. - Specific Program Settings
Sometimes it’s something as simple as a collection of Adobe Photoshop brushes or a Firefox profile (although Weave is looking promising). Other times it’s game saves or gedit plugins. Anything program-specific that I don’t want to lose, I put it in Dropbox. - Typography
There are a few fonts that I can’t live without. - School Projects
Okay, I’m done school… but damn, this could have saved me a few times. Upload your essays and print them from school (why waste your own ink?). Need to make a midnight run to a 24/7 printing company? Dropbox would have been nice then too. Of course, due to the time sensitive nature of some school projects… your data access is about as trustworthy as your school’s internet connection. If it sucks (like it did at ACAD), you might just be better off using a USB drive. - Passwords
Wait, what? Yes, you can do this too. The servers that Dropbox uses are encrypted (AES-256) and inaccessible without your password, so that your sensitive data is safe. I use KeePass Password Safe (another nice cross-operating system application), to manage my passwords. It creates an encrypted password database file that can easily be stored and shared by Dropbox. It’s really useful if you’re like me and create a new randomized password for each site you sign up with.
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Tags: android, backups, cross-platform, data loss, Dropbox, file sharing, Linux, Mac OS, mobile, NaNoWriMo, synchronization, Windows
