[QUESTION] Re: DropBox or other file synch software

[Dick Keaton]

I think I've seen some discussion a few weeks ago about file
synchronization software or services. Does anyone have any updated
info or insight they would care to share? I'm currently trying out
DropBox, and so far it seems to work okay. The only issue/
inconvenience is the need to put all directories and files to be
synched into the DropBox folder. This requires redefining
configuration parameters here and there that have to do with file and
directory locations. Until now, I've been carrying data back and forth
between two computers on a USB drive, but I just had one die on me and
it required considerable manual effort to re-synch everything. To
mitigate this risk in the future, I'd like to use another, possibly
more reliable method. I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice anyone
might have.

Thanks.

Dick

[Brian Payne]

It's been mentioned before, but I'll plug it again.  SynchToy, by Microsoft.  It's free, fast, and (so far) reliable.

I use it to sync a USB drive to two desktops, one at work and one at home.  It works with the dynamic drive letter that my work PC insists on using.  It hasn't complained once about the setup and keeps everything nice and tidy.  And you specify what folders you want sync'd, it doesn't require you to use specific ones.  Plus you can use filters to ignore certain files.

Very handy stuff.

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/synctoybeta.aspx

--sofaspud

[Dave Shaw]

There's also Simon's own ySynch program.  I haven't tried it (I've been using SynchToy for a long time), but we already know that Simon writes good tools.

 

Dave Shaw
--
"The universe doesn't care what you believe. The wonderful thing about science is that it doesn't ask for your faith, it just asks for your eyes" --- http://xkcd.com/c154.html

[Nicholas Van Weerdenburg]

On the Mac or Linux you can use symbolic links into the dropbox folder.

http://www.rousette.org.uk/blog/archives/dropbox/ for a OS X approach.

For NTFS on Windows, you could try with the Junction tool from Winternals (since bought by Microsoft). I used that tool extensively and it worked great.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point for more details on NTFS junctions.

Or, keep everything in your DropBox and create junctions/symlinks for shortcuts into it. I prefer that, since I can then browse my DropBox for all key files without having to worry about missing links.

Regards,

Nick

[Jennifer Brinn]

I use Dropbox without a problem. I just installed yWriter into my
Dropbox directory but you can just point your project at it.

Jennifer

[Dick Keaton]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. DropBox looks like
the ticket. I just need to do a bit of minor housekeeping to get
the most out of it.

Happy Writing! I trust everyone is busy cranking out their
one-month Pulitzer Prize winner for NaNoWriMo.

Dick

[Adam]

I have started using a very wonderful solution to this. I have
installed NoIP (the DUC client) on my computer, so I have a free URL
which always points to my computer - this literally takes maybe two
minutes to set up. With that, I can RDP (remote desktop) in to my
computer from anywhere. It's like having a static ip. This way I
just always work on my project from my computer - no need for multiple
synced copies etc. etc. Of course, I do still make backups off my
main HDD.

[Silver]

Actually I found that DropBox was lacking a few things, mainly that
you can only sync what is inside the DropBox folder, so I found
another program that I've been using every since, which is also free..

It's called Syncplicity.. I have stopped using DropBox and I use
Syncplicity instead, because it's much easier and it has a few other
features that I love (mostly syncing with Google Docs)..

Here is a referral link for Syncplicity, by using it you get 1 GB of
extra free space.. https://my.syncplicity.com/Signup/?token=G8LRBCPG

If you don't wanna use it, just go to www.syncplicity.com and signup,
though who would say no to an extra 1 GB of free space. *grins*

[mattias...@gmail.com]

There's one exception at least to syncing only what's in the dropbox folder and that's with the Linux/Ubuntu client. Using Dropbox on Ubuntu, adding shortcuts to the folders you want to sync has worked real good for me. It doesn't work that way on Windows, unfortunately but that's not a big deal for me.

I will have to check out Syncplicity though...

Mattias
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone powered by ACS!

[Nicholas Van Weerdenburg]

Have you tried the junction tool for Windows? It works more like *nix symlinks rather then windows shortcuts. Search for junction + winternals. MS bought the company. Windows 7 has native support- something like mklink or similar.

[Dick Keaton]

Since I started this thread, I thought the least I could do was try to
summarize
results and observations so far. As a result of the several
suggestions herein,
I've tried Window Live Mesh, Dropbox and SyncPlicity over the past few
days.

All work, but some have distinct advantages (at least in my
estimation) over the
others. Live Mesh is a beta version and is a little flaky on my
computer. After
installation, it doesn't always start - sometimes hangs in a
'starting' state. The
installation is also a bit involved if you don't have a computer
background. As
a result, I couldn't recommend it. Dropbox seems to work well, but
will only synch
files in the Dropbox folder. This can be an issue if you have a number
of files
spread all over your computer in many folders, especially if they are
placed
in those respective folders as a result of installation or
configuration options
that you don't care to revisit or modify. This problem can be
addresses by
creating symbolic links to your directories and files from within the
Dropbox
folder. This function is built into Vista and Windows 7, but not XP.
If you're
running XP, it is still possible by installing and using the
'Junction' utility by
Mark Russinovich. Since one of my PC's is an XP machine, I did this
and it
worked flawlessly. However, if you are not familiar with command line
interfaces
and directory structures, using this utility could be a little
complex. Finally,
SyncPlicity was the last solution I tried, and in my opinion the clear
winner.
It is easy and intuitive to install and use. It allows you (via an
addition to the
Windows Explorer right click menu) to add any folder or file you
desire to the
SyncPlicity configuration for backup or synchronization. So far, it's
worked
seamlessly and reliably. Assuming it continues to do so, I'd
recommmend
checking it out if you have a need to synch files and directories
across
multiple computers. It's much simpler than toting a USB drive back and
forth.

Thanks again to all for their comments and suggestions. I hope this
info
is useful.

Dick

On Nov 3, 7:39 pm, Nicholas Van Weerdenburg <vanwe...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Have you tried the junction tool for Windows? It works more like *nix
> symlinks rather then windows shortcuts. Search for junction + winternals. MS
> bought the company. Windows 7 has native support- something like mklink or
> similar.
>

> On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 8:11 PM, <mattias.ahl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > There's one exception at least to syncing only what's in the dropbox folder
> > and that's with the Linux/Ubuntu client. Using Dropbox on Ubuntu, adding
> > shortcuts to the folders you want to sync has worked real good for me. It
> > doesn't work that way on Windows, unfortunately but that's not a big deal
> > for me.
>
> > I will have to check out Syncplicity though...
>
> > Mattias
> > Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone powered by ACS!
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Silver <shadowwol...@gmail.com>
> > Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 23:06:39
> > To: <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
> > Subject: [yWriter] Re: DropBox or other file synch software
>
> > Actually I found that DropBox was lacking a few things, mainly that
> > you can only sync what is inside the DropBox folder, so I found
> > another program that I've been using every since, which is also free..
>
> > It's called Syncplicity.. I have stopped using DropBox and I use
> > Syncplicity instead, because it's much easier and it has a few other
> > features that I love (mostly syncing with Google Docs)..
>
> > Here is a referral link for Syncplicity, by using it you get 1 GB of

> > extra free space..https://my.syncplicity.com/Signup/?token=G8LRBCPG
>
> > If you don't wanna use it, just go towww.syncplicity.comand signup,

> > though who would say no to an extra 1 GB of free space. *grins*
>

[Birgit Schultz]

I second what Dick writes:

I don't know LiveMesh but work with Dropbox and only recently (after
Silver's post) tried Syncplicity which works very fine. Up to now I
used Teamdrive, which also works well with yWriter. The great
advantage of Teamdrive is that it also uses free Webdav Services (not
all but mydisk.se and mydrive.ch work very well with Teamdrive). So if
you want to check it (it's free):
http://www.teamdrive.net/en/index.php

Birgit

2009/11/4 Dick Keaton <dick....@writeosophy.com>:

--
Imagination is intelligence having fun!