Dropbox - Backup or sync solution?

[Scottish Business Owner]

Ok so i'm guessing most people have heard of Dropbox on here?

www.dropbox.com

Now I use if currently purely as a sync tool so that I can access files from various different locations but I know lots of people who seem to rely on it as a back up solution. Dropbox has also suffered a bit of bad press recently and has made some telling changes to it's terms and conditions which have made alot of people question whether Dropbox is as good as people say it is.

So do you use Dropbox and how do you use it?
Given recent bad press has your view of Dropbox changed?
Is it a legitimate back up solution or purely a sync tool?
Any IT hacks care to offer their views and perhaps suggest what you should use Dropbox for etc?

 

[Mike Lewis]

,

I wasn't aware of the bad press you mentioned. Was it a privacy issue, or something to do with security, or what? (I'm only asking out of curiosity.)

If I remember right, the reason I decided not to use Dropbox was that it seemed to be too interactive. I couldn't see any obvious way of automating an incremental back up a whole directory tree. It was a couple of years ago that I considered it, and it might well have improved since then.

Instead of Dropbox, I use DriveHQ (www.drivehq.com). For me, the advantage is that I can access it via FTP, which means I can point my backup program to it (which is SyncBack SE, from http://www.2brightsparks.com/). I've set it up so that I can do an incremental backup of all the key directories in my local system, literally with one button click. I can also get at the backup via Filezilla, or any other FTP client.

I'd be interested to hear what other products people use.

Mike

 

[Gutsy]

Hi guys,

We've also been looking at Dropbox as a solution - would be interested in hearing others opinions who have given it a good run - does it work well as a file sharer between branches of a company for instance?

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Hi Mike,

I've linked to the Techcrunch article below regarding the Dropbox issue. Frightening really!

http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/20/dropbox-security-bug-made-passwords-optional-for-four-hours/

I'm also going to take a look at the set up you have as I think I really need to review my own personal stuff

 

[Mike Lewis]

Thanks for the link, . As you say, it is frightening.

I would recommend DriveHQ, but who knows if it immune from the sort of security isse that Dropbox faced. I suppose it's always going to be a potential problem with this kind of system.

Mike

 

[Gouldie0]

Hi,

I have to say I find Dropbox very useful but I wouldn't necessarily use it for data storage, I tend to use it for remote access. For example if I'm going to out and about, I pop a few files in it that I might need and I'm able to access them.

What others, other than Drive HQ which Mike has kindly passed are there available?

Kind Regards

Neil

 

[Mike Lewis]

Amazon have a system called Cloud Drive which is good for low-volume storage. I wouldn't use it for all my business documents, but it's good for the "out and about" scenario that Neil mentioned. It's free for up to 5 GB of storage.

Mike