Wanna carry files around with you, without carrying anything?

dropbox_logo

I’m taking a short break from hardware mods to talk a bit about one of the most useful programs you can have if you’re like me and always moving around to different computers, especially between a laptop and a PC. I constantly need to edit a file on the road on my laptop that I’ve forgotten to put on a USB stick before I leave the house / office / whatever.

Or I get to a client’s place and find that since I changed into my super classy work clothes (read: a ‘nicer’ tshirt and I actually put on some pants that don’t have holes in them) before I left home, the USB stick with all my prepared documents and files is in my tracky dacks in a ball on the floor of my room. Terrible, I know, but it’s happened once or twice.

Then along came Dropbox, by some company in the US.     Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Dropbox is a nifty little program you can sign up for and get space online for your stuff.Unlike just any “SkyDrive” style system though, it actually keeps a folder organised and syncronised on each computer you install the program (and log into your account) on, meaning you can actually WORK FROM THE SYNC FOLDER! Want to edit that doc from your laptop that you saved on your PC a few minutes ago? Easy, it’s locally accessible just by opening the “My Dropbox” folder that is by default inside your mydocs. Edit, save, and it’s automagically sync’d on your PC ready to go when you get home.

It’s secure and the free account gets you 2gig of space which is pretty generous, and more than enough for documents and scripts. I even sometimes dump music files or other things that I want on my laptop later. You can pay for it and get more space too, but 2gig is enough for me and it probably is for you too.

It’s also great if you’re working in a distributed team, because you can share a folder with other dropbox users, which then syncs it accross all their computers as well. This makes it easy to call a work mate if you don’t have access to a file you need, and they just drag it into the shared folder, and it appears in yours too.

It’s gotta be seen to be believed, get a free Dropbox account here and stop pulling your hair out over this kind of stuff from now on.


Software

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