Comments on: Software Recommendations – Anyone Tried Dropbox?

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:48:12 +0000

Russell… Windows 7? What about it? :D

By: Russell

Russell — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:39:09 +0000

I guess you’re not using Windows 7. ;)

By: archatas

archatas — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:21:35 +0000

If you want to be sure that your shared data is secured, you can always archive it with password protection. Having said that, Dropbox lets you have one public folder which files you can download if you know public URL, and also some private folders which would only be accessible from one of your computers and also in the web interface when you login to the site. I am using Dropbox for months (not too extensively, but anyway) to share data with friends and I’m quite happy with the service.

By: infocyde

infocyde — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:26:56 +0000

I looked at DropBox, and it looks really cool. I just wish they had a junior varsity edition. Right now it is free for 2 Gigs, $10 for 50 gigs, and $20 for 100 gigs. So you are paying 120 bucks for a storage device for a year. That is about the price point of an external 1 Terrabyte HD. True, you have to lug it around, and your drive could die, which are both things you don’t have to worry about with DropBox. If they had a smaller option, something like 10 gigs for $3 or $20 gigs for $5 a month, it would be a lot more tempting for me.

Also, looking at their website, they have an aweful lot of people on staff. Assuming they are all getting paid decently, they need to sell about 200,000 $10 a month subscriptions to break even. Might work, but makes me nervious just a bit about long term viability. So even though the convenience of the service is great, I’d still want my files backed up on an external as well.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:18:33 +0000

Awesome, thanks everybody. You convinced me.

Downloading now…

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:10:05 +0000

I use Dropbox on my PC, iPhone, and via browser. I don’t put much content there or keep anything online BUT I use it to quickly transfer photos from my PC to iPhone (if I don’t want to sync the photo library), and I access other items via a browser at work.

It has worked great for my various uses, especially since there is an iPhone app as well. Though, your security concern is valid. I do restrict what type of content I put on Dropbox.

By: Lachlan

Lachlan — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:55:54 +0000

Dropbox is excellent, I’ve been using it for over a year now. Never had any problems except with giant files. Most recommendable!
I just wish the iPhone version had an editor built in.

By: Russell

Russell — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:13:40 +0000

I love Dropbox and have used it for 6 months using Windows XP at work and OSX at home, just for keeping the same files on both. They even have an iPhone version.

BUT, when I upgraded to Windows 7 at work, I lost the overlay icons in Subversion that show the version control status of a file or folder. Apparently there are only so many overlay icons that Windows 7 can keep up with. There is supposed to be a workaround, but in the end, I had to uninstall Dropbox to get Subversion functioning correctly.

By: sb

sb — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:06:59 +0000

I’ve used it as an ad-hoc FTP. When I need to send someone something large but don’t really need an ongoing relationship/repository. (Only necessary if they don’t have/won’t get Skype.) If I was smart I’d have a general FTP on my server, but Dropbox is actually easier for to manage because I don’t have to think about it after the fact, clean it out later, etc.

I haven’t used it for ongoing storage, but think I might check it our per Dan’s description.

By: Jack Dracon

Jack Dracon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:03:34 +0000

Dropbox is a excellent tool and very easy to use.
A++…Totally awesome.