DropBoxin'

If you’ve been looking for an easy method of sharing and syncing files between your computers, look no further than DropBox. It works with Mac, Windows and Linux. I’ve used DropBox between Mac and Windows environments and it works very well. DropBox even works with the iPhone, letting you access your files from anywhere. You can even use it as a quick means of exchanging files with other folks (no more sending attachments back and forth, for example).

DropBox is free, for 2GB of storage. I’m more than happy with that option. If you need more storage, DropBox offers 50GB for about $10 per month, or $100 for the entire year.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account on the DropBox website. Up until recently, the only way to get an account was through invitation only. I’m not sure if that’s still the case, but I have 14 invites left if you want one.

2. You’ll want to install the DropBox app on all the machines you want to share/sync files with. Upon installation, you’ll see two new folders appear in your Users folder: Public and Photo. On Mac machines, you’ll see the Dropbox folder in the Sidebar. (Very convenient!).

3. Place the files you want to share in the appropriate DropBox folder. The files will get uploaded to a centralized server, and automatically (automagically?) sync with other machines you’ve authorized to share your DropBox with. That’s it!

4. If you’re on another machine that doesn’t have DropBox already installed, you can login with your account and retrieve your files from the server. This is great for those times when you’ve forgotten a file at home but want access to it from any machine you’re at.

I really like DropBox. I feel like its well thought out and does exactly what it says it will do. Highly recommended.

-Krishna

Krishna September 13, 2008