I just discovered Dropbox a couple months ago. I was looking for free backup for my computer and read someone’s blog that mentioned they were using Dropbox. Since they give you 2GB of free online backup I decided to give it a try. The service has been working great for me. After installing Dropbox I just drug the files and folders I wanted to backup to the Dropbox folder. This made them available both on my computer and online at the Dropbox website. The feature I like even more is the ability to sync files between my two laptops. Now it doesn’t matter if I am using my computer or my wife’s computer, since I have Dropbox installed on both I can access all my documents from either computer. This is helpful when I am scanning documents for my wife. I scan them on computer and then put them in the Dropbox and my wife has the files she needs on her computer. Before I would have had to save them to a USB drive and then take that drive to the other computer and download the needed files off the drive. Dropbox is much easier. Also, as long as I’m connected to the internet my files are automatically backed up when I save them to Dropbox or when I edit them in the Dropbox folder.
This is not a paid post and does not contain any affiliate links. They do provide me some incentive for referring new people to Dropbox though. Currently for everyone you refer who joins and installs Dropbox, they will give you both 250 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 8 GB). If you are interested in Dropbox please use my Dropbox referral link.
Dropbox is almost indispensable! I can drop a pdf wherever I find them and I can read it on my iPhone!
Dropbox is a very clever app!
It is very handy. Now that I have it I find uses for it all the time.
As a (former) Dropbox user I’d like to recommend SugarSync as an alternative way to backup and sync your data in the cloud. Free accounts provide 5GB of disk space and you can choose which folders to sync in your hard drive, not only one single dropbox.
If anyone wants to register for an account, feel free to use my referral link that will add 500 MB further bonus to both mine and your account 🙂
https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=do5qm2rpjareh
Thanks!
dropbox is good but if your data is confidential you should try something like http://www.safeberg.com for higher level of security
Thanks for the links to the other backup services. I’m happy with Dropbox but if my needs change I’ll check them out.
DropBox is fanastic – but don’t make the mistake of trusting it with your only backup, or anything you wouldn’t want prying eyes to see.
While they’ll claim they encrypt, and they claim redundancy, the potential for them to make your files disappear is too great, as is the potential for prying eyes to figure a way to look at your private info.
Be sure to use a memory-stick / flash drive / external hard drive for backup, stored somewhere offsite, in addition to any “cloud” service.
I do have some of my files backed up on a flash drive but it looks like I need to make sure I have all the important files backed up offline as well.
There is another option to backup data to cloud storage powered by Amazon S3. Check out CloudBerry Backup http://backup.cloudberrylab.com/ . It is onetime fee and the rest what you pay for Amazon S3. Besides, there is no proprietary data format and you can access your data using other Amazon s3 tools. Supports all Amazon S3 regions and Reduced Redundancy Storage.
I purchased an external drive years ago and we put all files on it to make sure they are saved. We have gotten so we don’t put stuff on the computer as when they go out we don’t have the information. Works for us.
It is a good idea to have a couple forms of backup. Just in case your computer and your primary backup both fail at the same time.