I often receive questions about where you can save your documents in the cloud (online).  In the past I have written about Mesh.com and Google Docs.  However, I have found another one which, I believe is even better.  Over the past several months I have started to depend on Dropbox.com.

With Dropbox you get 2GB of free storage or more if you meet certain criteria.  If you decide to sign up for Dropbox use this link, http://bit.ly/aszzao. If you use this link, they give me 250 MB of additional free storage, so thanks in advance.  If you want more storage you can get 50 GB for $9.99/month or 100 GB for $19.99 per month.

First, let me supply some info about file sizes.  I have stored all of my columns from the past nine years on Dropbox.  That is about 750 columns and research documents.  They take up about 50 MB.  With the total of 2 GB of storage in Dropbox I could store another 40 years worth of columns. You could also store about 750 digital photos, depending on the resolution.

It is easy to use.  Install the software and sign up with an email address and password.  Then you will have a “My Dropbox” folder in your “My Documents” files.  Any files or folders you put in that folder are automatically transferred to the Dropbox cloud.  If you make a change to any file in that new folder it will automatically be updated to the cloud.  Smooth… and it takes no extra input or thought from you.

In my case I moved my “Columns” folder into the newly created “My Dropbox” folder.  After about three or four minutes all of those files were online.  As I type this column today and save it, the new version is online almost instantly.  By-the-way, as you try it keep in mind that the file will not be uploaded until you close it on your local computer.

That is not all it does for you.  Let’s say you have a desktop, a notebook and a netbook computer.  You can install Dropbox on all three systems. The entire contents of the “My Dropbox” folder will be duplicated on all three.  That way your important files are always available a few seconds after you start your computer.  If you only have one computer it is still a good thing since the files are safely backed up online in case your hard drive fails.

There is one last feature I will mention.  If you have a file you want to share with an individual or a group of people go into Dropbox.com and share it with them using their email address.

If this sounds like something you could use why not give it a shot?  I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Tags: cloud, dropbox, files, free, storage, sync

Over the past nine years I have talked about different items related to backing up your personal files or data files on your computer.  At that time I wrote about where to back up your files.  Three years ago I talked about what files you should regularly backup.  From both of those columns I only slightly brushed what to use to backup your files.  So today that is where we will look.

The major issue with backing up your data has not changed.  One day, sooner or later, you can count on it; your hard drive will fail.  If you are a computer user it will happen.  A newer computer is less likely to have this issue, but the age of the computer is no guarantee that you won’t have that big headache.

I am going to mention three different products I have found most useful for backing up my most essential files.  You know me.  One of my preferences is that the applications are free and all of these are.

The files I choose are my columns, tax returns, training manuals, a couple of books I have been working on for years (which may never be finished) and on…ad infinitum.  Basically I backup my “Documents” and “Music” folders.  The music is everything on my iPod which would be a long hard process to recreate.  I back them all up on my external hard drive in a TrueCrypt partition so that no one can read, edit or delete them if they find the drive.  (I told you about TrueCrypt last year.)

The first backup application has been built into Windows starting with XP and has now been updated in Windows 7.  I hate to say this, since I am a huge Microsoft supporter, but I don’t care for either one.  They will not allow me to backup my files on an encrypted drive, i.e., a TrueCrypt drive.  There may be a workaround or trick to do so that I am unaware of.   If you know one let me know.  I have never been able to make them work to my satisfaction.

Next, was a real favorite of mine also from Microsoft called SyncToy 2.1.  I have used several versions of this one before and it is slick.  This is a very good program and I highly recommend it.  I like SyncToy but I prefer the next application.  SyncToy writes additional files to your backed up files which are harmless, but why have them?

The final program, Karen’s Replicator is found at www.karenware.com.  I don’t know Karen personally although I have communicated with her via email in the past.  She writes some excellent free programs.  I use several of them on a fairly regular basis.  She also has a good (sometimes geeky) newsletter which I suggest you subscribe to.

All three of these apps work about the same; however, I’m sticking with Karen’s.  With the others, if you have a problem you cannot really talk to the creator.  With Karen’s you can.  Regardless, I have never had even one problem in the five plus years I have used her apps.

Tags: always, backup, careful, files, important, karen, karenware, microsoft, replicator, storage, synctoy, truecrypt