Dropbox

Dropbox

The link

Dropbox Main Website

I have a Dropbox referral link. If you sign up via this link, I receive a bit of extra storage at no cost to you. 
 

What it is

Dropbox is a cloud storage company. You can upload your files and access them anywhere you have an internet connection. Free accounts get 2 GB of space, with the possibility to unlock extra (such as by referrals). Paid users get up to a terabyte, and there’s a company plan as well. I know at least one consulting company that manages everything over Dropbox.

Dropbox provides a web interface, synchronization programs for all major PC platforms, and apps for mobile devices. I was even able to install a package for it on my Network Attached Storage!

As an aside, we now live in an age where even a NAS box has an app store.

What it means to me

Why would anyone bother to recommend a cloud storage company in 2015, let alone one that offers only 2GB of space? Because Dropbox is the only cloud service so far that I trust to actually sync properly. I put files on dropbox; I access them from anywhere. It works absolutely flawlessly, without me noticing.

My main use of Dropbox is file management for my phone. With a file manager, I can quickly move files to or from my phone, and ‘favorite’ them so they’re available offline. It’s a great way to move your photos to your main PC in one go. Note taking in .txt files in a Dropbox folder has lead me to abandon Evernote (which I dislikedfor the inability to get at the underlying files). 

The standard disclaimer applies: putting your files on a cloud service means that the service provider (and probably their government) can access them. I personaly don't put any financial or confidential information on cloud storage.



I’ve tried a bunch of cloud solutions, and found all the others lacking. I received massive amounts of Google storage from activating my Android phone, and was all set to make the switch – until the google drive executable grabbed all my computer resources and immediately crashed. Multiple times. My best guess is that it tried to DoS itself.

At the time I tried them, Amazon and Microsoft weren’t available on all platforms. They also had rudimentary web interfaces. This made file management from Linux a pain.

Finally, my NAS supports remote access, but it contains all my private data. Thus, I've put strict access requirements in place.
 
For pure convenience, there’s little that beats Dropbox. And honestly, convenience is 80% of the reason for these types of services anyway.


Leonard