Dropbox thoughts?

harsaphes

harsaphes

Supreme [H]ardness
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Aug 29, 2005
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I see that many have signed up for Dropbox and was wondering what the conscience is about it?
 
It's an awesome application. Been using it every day for the last 3-4 months for backup, syncing files between my computers, photo galleries and hosting of files for friends and family.

I have only praises for that application, and the 2 GB free limit is more than enough for testing purposes and light usage. The only negative thing I have to say about it all is the lack of flexibility regarding storage space. At the moment you can either be happy with the free 2 GB or purchase another 50 GB for a monthly fee of $10 or an anual fee of $100, no more, nothing in between.

They do plan on releasing more pricing schemes, but have yet to deliver.
 
The consensus is that it's a great service for getting a free 2GB. It's very useful if you need to transfer files to people who aren't in your network.
 
I'm sure this isn't a concern for most on [H] but...

The Linux versions are not fully open source. The open source component downloads a closed source component that runs as a daemon. The daemon automatically syncs stuff in HOME/dropbox with their servers. That would sort of be acceptable if the daemon ran under it's own uid but it doesn't. It runs under your uid. There's no effective way to secure it. The daemon has free reign over your files. It could be uploading anything it wants wherever it wants.
 
i haven't tried the linux client yet but running deamons under the user's uid is not cool, it should run as it's own uid
 
I'm using it on my machine at work, my desktop at home, and my netbook to transfer files back and forth between them. I kind of wish there was a subscription offering below the current 50GB for $99/year as I will never buy that, though I would get an account for $49/year if it had at least 10GB of space.
 
It's great for me because it allows me to automatically back up my school files in two places: on the DropBox servers and on my desktop. It also means that I don't have to worry about changing files on my desktop or laptop and then updating the files on the other machine with changes. So I can edit my homework on one machine and when I open it on the other it's just the way it was when I closed it on the first machine. Finally, I can access my homework and such from anywhere with an internet connection, which is great for "Oh crap I forgot my homew...oh wait let me print it" moments. Also means I don't need a flash drive to bring those 50 page PDFs my professors give me to the library to print either.
 
I do hope they make a manual update app. I'd really like a single exe I can stick on a thumb drive that will manually sync my files to the stick. That would be great because then I could have my stuff where ever I was at, regardless of what computer I had.
 
litkaj said:
I do hope they make a manual update app. I'd really like a single exe I can stick on a thumb drive that will manually sync my files to the stick. That would be great because then I could have my stuff where ever I was at, regardless of what computer I had.
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I'd like to see a standalone sync program for Linux too. It would address my concerns about the daemon running under the users uid.
 
I put a few useful tools like the $9.99 Acronis True Image 11 Home I got a couple of weeks ago in my Dropbox. :)
 
I wish I could rename 'My Dropbox' to just 'Dropbox'

Putting the 'My' infront doesn't really help. I navigate explorer with my keyboard and this prefix just gets in the way. Same as My Documents and My Music which has thankfully been reduced in Vista.
 
Vague said:
I wish I could rename 'My Dropbox' to just 'Dropbox'

Putting the 'My' infront doesn't really help. I navigate explorer with my keyboard and this prefix just gets in the way. Same as My Documents and My Music which has thankfully been reduced in Vista.
Click to expand...

You can. In the Preferences' "Main" tab, theres a "Dropbox Location" section with a "Move..." button. Click it, and change the name and/or location to whatever your desire may be.
 
Personally I took it off my computer it annoyed the hell out of me....this was a long time ago when it was brand new so maybe ill give it another run but I didnt like having a separate folder that I had to put things in if I wanted them synced...I wish I could select folders I already have like "My Documents" or "Downloads" and make those folders the ones that are syncd....ya know.
 
nitrobass24, that is also a feature they are working on. So far they've enabled you to pick a folder to sync, but choosing multiple folders is still not implemented.
 
spazoid said:
nitrobass24, that is also a feature they are working on. So far they've enabled you to pick a folder to sync, but choosing multiple folders is still not implemented.
Click to expand...

ok thanks for the update...well then ill have to check it out again.
 
been using it since pretty much the beginning, love it. Have it installed on 5 machines (mix of windows and linux) and it works flawlessly.
 
litkaj said:
I do hope they make a manual update app. I'd really like a single exe I can stick on a thumb drive that will manually sync my files to the stick. That would be great because then I could have my stuff where ever I was at, regardless of what computer I had.
Click to expand...

Well, your wish has been fulfilled. They now have a standalone EXE to sync your dropbox with your flash drive.

As for my uses of this service, I use it for pretty much everything that's important. I have a free (2GB) account and I've arranged my life in a way that if my laptop crashes, I can just reinstall windows and dropbox and have everything up and running again in under two hours. This has already happened once and it went flawlessly.

I'm also anticipating the ability to sync multiple folders, sync computers over LAN, and purchase smaller sizes (maybe 25GB) for my music library.
 
Absolutely love it. The second I save a file on my laptop while I'm at school it instantly gets updated on my desktop back at home. So all my files are saved in 3 places at once. My laptop, the web, and my desktop, and they all get updated in realtime. Couldn't live without it at this point.

If you have more then one machine, definitely check it out.
 
File revisions, accessible anywhere even when you forget your thumb drive, accessible on things like iPhones where thumb drives don't work.
 
Plus it's basically the easiest FTP ev4r for hosting images or files.

I'm hosting this image there, and posted it with just a right click. I can also put files there for clients to download via a link in an e-mail instead of wondering if their crappy e-mail has a 2, 5, 10, 20mb limit and getting it bounced.

dropbox.JPG
 
[LYL]Homer;1034116699 said:
Plus it's basically the easiest FTP ev4r for hosting images or files.

I'm hosting this image there, and posted it with just a right click. I can also put files there for clients to download via a link in an e-mail instead of wondering if their crappy e-mail has a 2, 5, 10, 20mb limit and getting it bounced.
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Ohh, I didn't know of that feature, I like that...

Have any of you tried Microsoft's new SkyDrive? Any thoughts on how it compares? Their free storage limit is a gargantuan 25GB. Edit: Hmm, looks like SkyDrive is aimed mostly at being an online repository for your stuff... Not so much at syncing seamlessly, MS has two other different apps for that, go figure. Dunno why they don't combine all three things... SD does let you drag and drop and share content though (and link directly to it). LiveMesh is much more akin to Dropbox it seems, 5GB limit FYI. Also has some sorta Remote Desktop functionality apparently.
 
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I love Dropbox, it's great for synching files over different machines. Works perfectly between operating systems.

In case you haven't signed up yet, you can use this referer link and you get 250MB bonus, so 2.2GB instead of 2GB for the free plan.

Yes, I get 250MB bonus too, so it's a win for everyone :)
 
Is this secure? Or straight up FTP? Everything's transmitted in plaintext over FTP, including username/password login for said FTP account.
 
iJeff said:
Is this secure? Or straight up FTP? Everything's transmitted in plaintext over FTP, including username/password login for said FTP account.
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Its more secure then ftp if that's what you are getting at.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
criccio said:
Its more secure then ftp if that's what you are getting at.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
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Well, "more secure than FTP" could range from primitive, easily crackable password obfuscation to ubersecure uncrackable man-from-the-future encryption.

What I'm getting at is I'd be satisfied if it's secured at a similar level to SFTP, below that I'd be a little wary.
 
iJeff said:
Well, "more secure than FTP" could range from primitive, easily crackable password obfuscation to ubersecure uncrackable man-from-the-future encryption.

What I'm getting at is I'd be satisfied if it's secured at a similar level to SFTP, below that I'd be a little wary.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_%28storage_provider%29 said:
Dropbox synchronization uses SSL transfers with AES-256 encryption.........
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Safe enough? Do you work for the government or something? If so, you shouldn't be using Dropbox. Nor should you if you suspect someone would even try to break into it. Past that, you're just being paranoid.
 
criccio said:
Safe enough? Do you work for the government or something? If so, you shouldn't be using Dropbox. Nor should you if you suspect someone would even try to break into it. Past that, you're just being paranoid.
Click to expand...

Relax. To answer your question, I don't work for the government. Since you know enough about security to say that the government shouldn't be using Dropbox-level encryption, then you must know that I'm being skeptical -- as all people concerned about IT security should be. If you trust users/people in the first place, then there wouldn't be a need for security.

There's a difference between concerned and paranoid. Concerned is worrying about the difference between easy to break encryption (or no encryption) and hard to break encryption (on the level which will deter people interested in your data). Paranoid is worrying about the difference between the top AES finalists.


To get back on the topic -- I'm glad it's got SSL-level encryption -- their website is sparse of any technical information and I didn't think to check wikipedia. It answers my question and indeed is on the level of SFTP in terms of security.
 
FYI, it says so right on their website:

"Your files are always safe. All data is transferred over SSL and encrypted with AES-256 before storage. "

I spent like a minute looking at it and that was one of the first things I saw...
 
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