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Ask HN: Dropbox?

20 points by jason_slack ↗ HN
Hi All,

I would live thoughts on the Dropbox service. Reliable? Good Customer Service? Horror stories?

My goal here is just what they advertise for functionality. Unified across my devices, sharing, etc. I currently backup to a number of devices, etc.

Could I make my home directory for My mac my DropBox drive? Smart idea?

What do you all think would happen if DropBox went out of business. Would they make sure we all had copies of our data?

I have MobileMe now. It is decent for sure. I can buy 60gb more space for $99 for the year (or $49 for 40gb) It seems to have similar functionality. I doubt Apple would give us our data if they decided to discontinue MobileMe. It seems unlikely they would though.

28 comments

[ 1126 ms ] story [ 2626 ms ] thread
michael_dorfman
As far as I am concerned, Dropbox "just works".

Why not try it out with the free, 2GB version, and see how it works for you?

jason_slack
How do you feel their security is? I get nervous about services like these because of info I would keep out there. Source code, personal documents, etc, etc
michael_dorfman
I've got no complaints, and I've never heard of any security problems. But if the security of the materials is really important to you, you can always encrypt before copying to your Dropbox folder.
amock
That makes Dropbox a lot harder to use because you now have to be able to decrypt your files on every device you want to use Dropbox on. I use Dropbox to have access to my files from anywhere with an internet connection if even I'm not on my computer and unless there's encryption built in that isn't going to work.
njharman
Encrypt it, individually or with a loopback filesystem.

I keep my password safe file on DropBox. The rest of my stuff, personal, confidential. I don't bother encrypting as the loss of connivence is greater than the risk/cost of exposure.

boundlessdreamz
if you are concerned about security, you can use tarsnap. http://www.tarsnap.com/ .I don't think it is as user friendly as dropbox
babeKnuth
seconded. security is a priority here. plus they have pretty good rates.

unfortunately not available to canucks.

kwellman
You should also have a look at SpiderOak as a possibility if security is a big concern. Their emphasis on comprehensive data encryption is one of their main selling points.

They have a free 2GB plan as well.

appl3star
Dropbox is not secure! They have access to all your data. Read the Dropbox forum and you will find that information.

So - Dropbox should not be used for any important files. But for everything else it should be ok.

safetytrick
After using dropbox for quite a while I finally had a problem, 120 of my files were truncated to 0 bytes. I was able to restore the important files immediately using their previous versions features and their support team fixed the rest for me. I'm still quite a fan of dropbox.
bendmorris
I absolutely love DropBox and use it to sync my laptops, home and work computers. One great use for it, I think, is Tomboy Notes, which I use to take notes in meetings on my netbook, track progress on projects at work, keep a list of stuff I need to do, etc. I don't really use it for source code, which is usually version controlled anyway.

> What do you all think would happen if DropBox went out of business. Would they make sure we all had copies of our data?

That's the beauty of DropBox; you already have copies of your data, on all computers that you sync to. It's really convenient, especially on laptops that aren't always connected to the internet, etc.

CoachRufus87
I essentially use my dropbox folder as my "everything" folder for my mac. it's obviously mirrored across my iphone and pc as well. theres nothing like committing code, pushing it to git, and seeing the little dropbox icon updating at the same time. i rarely use time machine any more. start with 2 gigs, refer lots of friends (i think up to 5 gigs?). that's plenty of space to back up the essentials (school stuff, code, misc important docs)
scharan
It is absolutely fabulous. I keep my Linux box, Mac and Win PC in sync. I also use it to keep a single copy of my dot files and share them between my mac and linux box (I use symlinks in home dir to point to Dropbox files). So far, pretty reliable.
bmelton
As for your data (with Dropbox), it's all on your system at the same time it is on the Cloud. I have the 50Gb plan, and one of my slight complaints is that on the same disk, I have the dropbox contents twice (one for my Windows partition, one for Linux) -- so I have to keep 100Gb free total to support them. This is a stupid complaint really (and it MIGHT work if I moved the dropbox to a shared drive, but frankly, I don't want to test out what would happen if two operating systems were using the same dropbox space), so I wouldn't worry about that, but the point is that your files are always your files. If, on the odd chance they do go out of business, all of your files still exist across all of your computers (though they may not be synced anymore), and wouldn't be lost to you.

As for the other aspects of their service, I have to agree that it 'just works'. I don't have to worry about it, ever. I haven't dealt with customer service, so I have no idea how they are, but I've never had to either, and I've been using them since their inception. No lost files, no corrupt files, no strange files, and no problems with version conflicts. It's just... solid.

jnorion
As long as the two operating systems aren't accessing the folder AT THE SAME TIME (which they won't be -- either you boot into Windows or into Linux), you shouldn't have any issues. Really, it would probably make life a lot easier to set up a third "data" partition that both access, and put all your stuff on that.

But anyway, back on topic: I'm using the free version (2GB) of Dropbox and, as others have said, it "just works." It's fast and easy and has been incredibly helpful for moving things between work and home, and for viewing files on my phone.

projectileboy
I can't say enough good things about Dropbox. Cross-platform, fast, easy... the little guy just works.
Ixiaus
TarSnap if you like security, are comfortable with the commandline, and want to write your own automation scripts...
skittles
I believe they reserve the right to delete your content (on their side) for their free service level. Another current problem is the lack of group drop-boxes. A dropbox can be shared, but each consumer's dropbox limit is affected by the shared-data size. So a group that wanted to share a dropbox would need one dropbox master account and a same-sized account for each user.
tomschmnidt
Dropbox is a great service… first heard about it half a year ago. Use it almost daily to move files to and from my Moto Milestone.

Totally self serving link: If you want to try Dropbox, but don’t already have an account try signing up using my referal link. You’ll get an additional 250 MB (in addition to the 2 GB standard amount)

http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTkzNTAwMDk5

Full disclosure: I’ll get 250 MB too. So everyone wins :-)

Andrenid
Dropbox is one of my favourite and first-recommended products lately. I use it for lots of things.

I use it as a general dump-folder that I sync across my Macbook Pro, my work PC (Win XP), and my Android phone. This cross-platform ability so share files is priceless to me.

I also keep my KeePass file on it, then have copies of KeePass on my phone, work PC, and laptop all pointed to that devices Dropbox folder, giving me shared access to my encrypted passwords anywhere, anytime. Again, priceless.

I use a shared Dropbox folder with some friends, and we sync files to each other when we want to share them. No more email attachments, image uploaders, or IM file transfers.

carlrice
Hands down the best file syncing and backup experience. I use it on my Ubuntu netbook and laptop, iMac, Macbook Pro, a Windows 7 VM on occasion and my Android. Sometimes there are weird conflicts between all these different devices (maybe client software/OS bugs?) but I trust it with my life.

99% of all my files are in Dropbox (minus large archived projects and videos for space/bandwidths sake) and I do a monthly dump to an external.

bunchesofdonald
I've used it ever since it was in beta, (for around 2 years), and I've never had a problem with it, as michael_dorfman said, "it just works."
davidedicillo
It changed completely the way I manage files in my business. In positive of course.
smoody
My one issue with Dropbox is that they own the encryption key and, to the best of my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong), they do not provide a feature to let me define my own locally stored key. If someone gets hold of their encryption keys (or worse yet, if there's a single encryption key), then, potentially, my data can be compromised.