It’s all about trusting your friends. When my dearest graphic artist friend Cory told me about Dropbox a few months ago–I nodded politely. Yes, she had proven her prowess in all things wine and olives in Paris just a few months earlier. (Ok, I confess, it was really a work trip but everyone needs a pal in Paris.) And yes, she thinks and breathes in art and color that mere human beings like me never will.
But, I was the tech guru in our friendship. Had I not convinced her about the virtues of Twitter? (@bcreative2day, @history_geek). Does she not have a blog as a testament of my pervasive powers?
When I finally wised up and listened to my friend, I realized just how right she was about Dropbox.
Dropbox allows you to keep multiple computers synced at all times; it also allows you to access any and all of your files remotely from secure online servers. So…I now have a folder on my home office that says “My Dropbox”, an identical one on the Netbook I take to the library with me, and yet another identical folder on my office computer at campus.
When I add or update a file in “My Dropbox” on any of the systems, it automatically updates on all. The files remain on each of the system as well as on in my online Dropbox account. So I have no fewer than, count them, 3 backed-up copies of every file.
As you know, I’m finishing up a book–so this really puts my mind to ease. I also now have shared folders in Dropbox with my Beta readers. If I need them to have a look at something, I save it to our shared folder in “My Dropbox.” And voila, it shows up automatically on their desktop too!
There are two service packages with Desktop. The first is free and gives you 2 GB of memory. Recommend it to a friend and you can both can get free extra memory. (Add your referral link to the comments below, if you’d like!)
As for me, I’ve gone with the 50MB subscriber program. It’s fee-based…but now I have so much memory it’s obscene AND I can access all of my files from any computer, anywhere, like a breeze.
If that’s the route you end up going, please use the link above or click here to Try Dropbox
Full disclosure: Wonders & Marvels will get a modest referral award–which will be used to offset our website expenses. The free program doesn’t offer referral rewards, but that’s not the point.
The point is to tell you, in all giddiness, how much I love this program. Goodbye USB drives, Goodbye driving into work on a weekend to email myself the copy of the file I forg0t to bring home…
