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This is called Dropbox.
It’s like an online flash drive!
and its so useful!
So for those to whom I have not yet extolled the virtues of Dropbox, it’s this really cool program you install on your computer (or not) that allows you to sync folders across computers.
I use two computers – a Dell E1505 I got at the beginning of summer before my freshman year, and an HP 2133 Mininote I got during the summer. Before this spring, I was doing a lot of extra work to figure out how to use my computers efficiently. During fall quarter, I would bring the HP to my systems physiology class. As my professor would always upload the presentations to 
BlackBoard (NU’s course site), I downloaded them onto my computer. During class, I would put the slides into OneNote and take notes on them with the laptop. I synced the OneNote notebook to a Flash Drive (a physical one) so I could keep the OneNote notebook on both laptops updated. However, this was extremely unwieldy, and I ended up not using the functionality too much.
During winter quarter, I just gave up completely on syncing, and relied on the thumb drive to do the classic “drag and drop files that you want to work onto the drive and then download onto the workstation”. This was really a hassle.
During spring quarter, I brought my laptop to take notes in my Social Networks class. Now, this class went FAST and was all PowerPoint, so I used a combination of computer typed notes and paper sketches. I no longer used OneNote at this point, as the program was more resource intensive. During spring quarter, I finally realized that my HP was not anywhere near powerful enough to treat like a full time machine (Think 1.0 Ghz processor. Really.) So I used Google Docs to take notes. This was a very good solution, as not only could I edit the notes online (which would be instantly saved online), I could still use Google Docs online. However, over time, I noticed that Google Docs just had a lag due to my computer being fairly weak.
At this point, I came across Dropbox for the first time. I used it to sync my school files between computers – I had a bunch of files that I needed to be able to access using either computer as I was doing work on the run, and at my desk. Dropbox allowed me to not spend so much time copying and pasting files (it turns out I’m really bad at picking the right files to copy). Unfortunately, I never ended up using Dropbox for my Social Networks class, but I imagine that I can use a simple Text Editor to write my notes now, since I can sync those automatically.
I late on discovered that another strength of Dropbox was the ability to share folders. This way, anyone you select is able to access the folders you share with them, open, and edit the files that are there. They can also add and remove files. Needless to say, this was a great method to share some music with friends, as the size restrictions that email has are now removed.
The best thing about Dropbox is that you can use it for free. Free users get 2Gb free, while $100/yr will get you 50Gb and $200/yr will get you 100Gb. It’s actually a pretty good deal, and the concept is great. Not only will files be replicated across systems, there is also a web client that allows you to access files from any computer, even if Dropbox is not installed.
If you’re interested in using Dropbox, please use the referral link. By using the link, both of us will get an extra 250Mb – and we can get up to 5Gb total for free accounts by inviting people. If you’ve got any questions about Dropbox, send me an email and I’d be happy to chat!
Sign up for Dropbox here.
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[...] pretty fun stuff. For those who are extremely dedicated to my music tastes, I have a Dropbox (see here) shared folder that I am willing to invite you to in order for you to keep up with some of the [...]
[...] Docs. Was really useful before I discovered Dropbox (link) but now used for more info [...]