Sharing Files Across Computers

I have a laptop. I also sometimes work on the computers in the lab (around 40 PCs there?), sometimes in the library, sometimes in an internet café, sometimes on my girlfriend's computer.

So how can I make sure I have all the stuff I need whenever I need it, no matter which computer I'm on? Instead of one file here, another there and the third someplace else? There are several solutions and I'll talk about two here.

1. Have a flash drive and use "sync" software.
Flash drives have many names: USB drives, thumb memory, pen drives etc. Basically it's some computer storage you can carry around with. You can plug it into any modern computer and access the files on it. They are cheap and widely available.

At first, I would manually copy a complete folder (e.g. "Teaching") from my laptop onto the USB drive, then plug the USB drive into whichever computer I was using. Then when I got home I would try to remember which files I'd modified or created and then copy them back to my laptop.

But once I lost my keydrive. After that I started copying the entire folder onto every university computer I used, so that if anything ever happened to my new USB drive or to my laptop, I would have a copy as backup. Again, a manual process.

But it can be much easier. Just use some sync software.

I used Toucan (review, another review) from PortableApps.com. It's a fairly small, free Windows program that you can use on any Windows computer (even if you don't permission to install software) because you can install it on your flash drive, or just copy it onto any computer. Toucan is portable software.

Sync software can take care of all the tasks for you: checking which files have changed, which have been newly deleted or created, which need to be copied etc. It makes life a lot easier.

Advantages to flash drive/sync software combo:

• Have your files with you everywhere, even without internet connection
• Flash drives are getting bigger (in terms of the amount of data they can store) and cheaper all the time.
  

Disadvantages:

• You might forget your flash drive
  
• Flash drives can be lost/stolen
• Sync software usually only works on a specific computer operating system, e.g. Toucan works on Windows computers but doesn't work on Mac or Linux.
• Often before leaving the house, I'd have to remember to plug in my flash drive, run the sync software and unplug before running out. :)
  

2. Online Storage/ Sync / Backup
I recently changed the operating system on my computer, from Microsoft Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux 8.04. So I couldn't use Toucan anymore, and I wanted to find an option that would work on any computer, no matter what operating system. That's when I started really getting into online storage/sync/backup services.

There are many of these services around, and I've tried several but not all of them. The one I like most right now is Dropbox (wikipedia, review, artículo en español). You can just use it via the Dropbox webpage or (much better) install it on your computer: Windows, Mac and Linux :)

It creates a Dropbox folder on your computer. Just put the files you want there and you'll be able to access them from any internet-connected computer, via your Dropbox page or installing the Dropbox software on other computers you use.

Other similar services I'm looking into are SpiderOak and Wua.la.

Advantages to the online storage/sync/backup I've mentioned:

• You don't have to remember to plug in, sync and unplug and take your flash drive with you.
• No flash drive to forget, lose or get stolen
• Work on all major personal computer operating systems: Windows, Mac and Linux
  

Disadvantages:

• No internet=no files
• Free options have size limit (1 or 2 gigabytes) (although interestingly wua.la has an option to increase this by trading space on your hard drive for extra storage online)
• Pay services are a regular cost (you only pay once for a flash drive but every month/year for online storage/sync/backup)

What I'm doing now
Principally I'm using Dropbox; it's just so easy. I work on my computer and I know that without lifting a finger, I'll be able to access those files from any internet-connected computer anywhere. I also occasionally copy that folder to my USB drive. And I've also opened a SpiderOak account, to have extra capacity online (Dropbox 2gb free + SpiderOak 2gb free = 4gb free!)

• Also found this: Top 10 ways to use Dropbox  (Edit fixed link.... I hope)