SugarSync Offers 2GB Of Free Windows/Mac/Mobile Syncing

@Mosher: Dropbox can be buggy, and symlinking folders in ubuntu has caused me a few headaches with dropbox where my up-to-date file reverts to an older version because dropbox thinks that the one on its server is the correct one. A real pain!

Sugarsync is amazing, I was on one of their paid plans for the longest time. Not only is syncing between my Mac and PC incredibly useful, but streaming all my photos and music to any web browser and even my iPhone was awesome.

One key feature is that for backing up, Sugarsync keeps the last five revisions of any file on your account. There are tons of other features that totally blow DropBox and the others out of the water, I date you DropBox addicts to try it. The only reason I left was I couldn't afford it anymore for the amount of data I have and now I do straight backup only with Mozy.

Sorry, but I have no reason to switch from Dropbox. It's one of the few programs I've ever used that just WORKS.

garethkeenan

I've never used DropBox, but used SugarSync so much that I moved to a paid account. I have 3 computers on it, and you can also use it on your BB, which is nice. I can access any file on there, share with people, etc. I had some issues when I first installed it, despite making firewall exceptions (it turns out it doesn't play well with Kaspersky) but I love it.

With this and a backup 1 TB HD I never worry again (my Dell laptop crashed last month..causing my paranoia)

Ditch1852

Even ZumoDrive is great! I prefer it to DropBox as it downloads only needed files instead of getting all of them...

ZumoDrive: [www.jashsayani.com]

Dropbox works on Linux - that's the winner for me. As for the "one folder" limit, if you drop linked directories (Linux' version of shortcuts) into the Dropbox folder then Dropbox monitors the *original directories*.

Sadly, this doesn't work with Windows shortcuts. Ah, well. Not Dropbox's fault - it's an operating system feature.

@jkrell:
Having used Dropbox quite a lot in the past I admit it is a nice feature. However its incremental comparison and upload feature isnt very well designed. Often I have lost changes to my documents!

@Greg Baker: You can simply add your dropbox folder to a library. That's what I'm doing, works great.

I agree; the two computer limit is a deal breaker.

Does anyone know if you can use a Windows 7 library as your dropbox "home"? That would solve the problem of having to keep all your synced folders in one directory.

Greg Baker

Dropbox is still the winner. 2 computer limit on sugarsynch is a shame.

Ouch. The two computer limit is a no-go for me.

DropBox is sweet, and I heard somewhere they were going to open it to other folders on your systems.

jkrell

Live Mesh does the job for me. Windows mobile support, and the data is both synced in multiple computers but also web browser mode to access files on an infinite amount of computers.

yihdego

@Mosher:
Actually it's perfectly possible for XP and Vista, and most definitely Windows 7 too. NTFS also supports symbolic links, which I'm sure is what you're referring to. This has saved me some headaches in the

Try this, for instance. [schinagl.priv.at]

Jean Azzopardi

Not sure, if it's just me, but the one thing that keeps me from using Dropbox is the fact that it doesn't seem to be able to save any revisions while the program using the file is still running (i.e. pressing save manually in Word). Currently using Syncplicity.

rootwind

@Ted Avery

Dropbox also keeps revisions. Open the Dropbox folder, right click on the file, click on Dropbox in the context menu, and choose Revisions.

dre12n

I had issues with both services:

SugarSync suddenly converted file names to UPPERCASE - and all SugarSync customer support could offer me is to reset my account.

Dropbox does not seem to be as reliable as SugarSync (forgets to sync a file or doesn't manage to delete one from time to time).

I'm syncing 2 Vistas, 1 XP and 1 Mac.

Martin Sauter

I love Dropbox but the Symbolic work around is a PITA. BUT, they are working on a simpler way to sync folders more like just using alias folders rather than having to put the actual folder in Dropbox.

@frogitts: Can't your restore old revisions of files from the dropbox web interface?

There is an iPod/iPhone page for DropBox... Haven't used it though so I don't know if it has the functionality people are looking for.

jkrell

I love DropBox, but I'm going to use this too, but purely as a sync/backup for my Blackberry SD Card (Dropbox doesn't do that yet).

Anyone know if there's any issues running more than one sync service on a computer?

TechDad

swweet, now I can use sugarsync to sync my dropbox files to my iphone

jimmy87lee

I have been SugarSync on the Mac for about 5 months now and love it. For a few reasons, which I'll go into below, I combine it with JungleDisk. I would love it if SugarSync would address these limitations so I can just use one. I will say the file sharing and web/mobile access are superb.

1. I think the blog post neglects to mention the music streaming, especially to my iPhone. I rarely use the feature because...
2. My music is on an external drive. SugarSync (at least on Mac) does not work with network or USB drives yet.
3. The photo sync is very cool, but you have to navigate the photo file structure. This is probably only an issue because Apple iPhoto has an odd file system.
4. JungleDisk supports WebDAV so your files can appear as a network drive. Latency can be an issue with large files, but it's a very useful feature.
5. Cost. Compared to JungleDisk & Mozy, the raw storage cost for SugarSync is a bit disappointing. But the application features more than make up for it.

As it is, I'm using a combination of JungleDisk, SugarSync, and Time Machine to back up my Mac. Still looking for a unified solution...

rkcrawf

The last five revisions is definitely useful - I almost ruined a paper I was writing because I saved it and dropbox almost instantly overwrote all my other copies - since then I've created "non-Dropbox" backups, but SugarSync might be cool for files like that, which get revised often.

SugarSync needs more features for me to completely rely on it though: a Linux client, multiple computer support for the free plan, and a portable version for my USB drive so I can keep my files with me on lab computers here at college.

P.S., there's a tutorial at lifehacker for syncing files and folders outside of dropbox - while it took me some experimenting to get it working (not the brightest crayon in the box here), it's been working perfectly ever since.

[www.lifehacker.com.au]

frogitts

@garethkeenan: Ditto. Dropbox "just works" for me, and I've never had any problems. I have no reasons to bother switching.

aj_robins

I don't want to sync everything to my laptop, just critical files like Outlook, Money, and a few other docs and pix -- total (for me) is around 3GB. So, I think Live Mesh, with 5GB, is the solution -- because it's free for all I want to do.

costero

What about Syncplicity??? I started out with Dropbox but didn't care for the 1 folder limit. Syncplicity has been working fine for me for the last 4 or 5 months and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it.

pthubbard

Sugarsync 2GB Free is great, but we know that there's no free lunch! I'll get the paid plan as soon as I need.

Live Mesh is great too and does the same things, but it hands only up to 5GB.

Dropbox I've never tried.

enochfilho

I love Dropbox but hate no Blackberry support. So I'm using Sugarsync with it for the Blackberry access.

JustinD.

@aj_robins: same here

gpzbc

@The How-To Geek: Good idea. Have you ever mapped your dropbox folder to a drive letter? I find that it's really handy.

subst m: "c:\my dropbox\my dropbox"

Greg Baker

I'm also receiving the 'locked on'.
If anyone finds a fix, let me know.

Chris4

I think that I'll stick with Dropbox, thank you very much.

Kaidane

Have you tried GoodSync for file synchronization http://goodsync.com ? It's client based and therefore you can use your own storage :-)

LotharioBaazigar

Just want to make one thing clear - the Free plan has a 2 computer limitation, but the paid plans have no limit. My personal account has sync working across eight computers. One other subtle distinction that might be interesting: Using SugarSync you can choose to backup folders to the cloud only if you don't want to sync the data to multiple computers. I do this with my Music - since I can stream my music to any of my other computers anyway, there isn't a need to sync 80GB of music to every single computer. This is also useful with Netbooks, when you want access to your data, but have limited storage on the hard drive. Happy syncing! Drew Garcia SugarSync Product Management

RosalbaDeion

I think Windows Live Sync would work much better... and it's free. Mac and Windows Compatible. ;)

ThoraAndrogeus

I am using the paid version of Sugarsync and IMHO it works flawless. I am syncing two Macs and a PC (ca. 70 GB in total), I can decide which folders to sync on each computer, I have online access to all synced files and it with file versioning an integrated back up solution. Also I can send really large files with Sugarsync (like Yousendit), which is quite convenient since the files are usually already uploaded with Sugarsync. Also it has two additional features I am using often: Magic Folder, a folder which is installed on every PC and which syncs automatically regardless the sync settings of the other folders. Webfolder: a folder which doesn't syncs, but in which I can store data online. I use it especially as software storage and for other stuff I don't want/need on the PC's. kamui

ZinanEurypylus

I still use Windows LiveSync. It seems like it does everything that both DropBox and SugarSync do. It doesn't have a limit on the number of folders or size of the synced data. Am I missing something?

EdaCoeus

Nice, but Sugarsync is limited to Mac/Windows. Dropbox does offer a linux client.

ZakiCalidus

What is with this sense of net-entitlement? If this is such a must-have type of service, and it has better features than Dropbox, and all you have to do is pay the price of a grande-mocha-skim-no-whip or a blue-light-speacial iTunes album every month, to get sync with unlimited computers, (and geez, 28 more GB to boot, holy cow), why wouldn't you???

Stop waiting for "they give more away for free" bus and put up some reasonable dinero for what you find useful. Methinks that those who have the broadband, the multiple computers, and the 3G wireless gadgets, the digital media, and that want file sync and online storage, can afford it.

federline