Dropbox

Hey all,

I ended up using Dropbox to keep our CPM files on. It's so cool that I felt it deserved its own page :)

Dropbox is a really cool file server. It has 3 main purposes:
 * 1) Share files with yourself, such as between your home and work computers.
 * 2) Share files with other people -- my school has a Math Department folder we all share.
 * 3) Backup. Any files in your Dropbox are automatically backed up online.

How it works: Dropbox puts a folder on your computer. Then it watches the folder, waiting for you to make any changes. If you add any files or make any changes it uploads those changes to the server. Dropbox also watches the server, and downloads any changes from the server. That way all your computers with Dropbox installed will download any changes you make on any other computer and so your Dropbox will always be identical on all your computers. The files in your Dropbox live on your computer, so you can work on them even when you don't have an internet connection. The next time your computer connects to the internet, Dropbox will sync any changes. It's beyond fantastic -- I don't bother to carry a flash drive anymore :)

Also, you can make a folder inside your Dropbox and share it with other people. Then that same folder appears in their Dropbox too. If one of you makes a change, everybody else gets that change right away. My math department does quite a bit of collaboration, so it was important to us to be able to share lots of files without constant emailing. Dropbox to the rescue!

Since the files also get sent to the online Dropbox server, they're all backed up. So if lightning strikes and fries all your computers, the files will still be safe online, and you can download them at your leisure. Also, if you're at someone else's computer (in the library, for example) you can upload and download your files from the Dropbox website.

If you're interested, you can click here to get a free Dropbox account. You get 2G for free, and if you have lots of stuff and really like it you can pay them for more space :)

Here's a video about Dropbox (it's YouTube so it probably won't work at school): media type="custom" key="6619893"