Pick of the Week...DropBox

It's time to leave the house..  Cell phone goes in my jacket pocket; Laptop in my shoulder bag accompanied by a portable USB Western Digital Passport HD; USB memory stick in pants pocket; printed list of all my web user names and login info under lock and key...in my wallet.  I'm equipped for a day in this digital world.  Well, welcome to a few years ago.

Fast forward to today...

iPhone... Done.

But this entry isn't about the iPhone, though admittedly that one device has changed the way technology impacts my world.  My Pick of the Week is all about replacing the USB hard drives, memory sticks and paper notes that I needed to tote around with me in order to make important items available no matter where I find myself.  Now, it's all in the clouds and without doing a thing, all my important information, as well as any transient data, gets sync'd to all of my web-enabled devices, netbook, iPhone and work-stations at home and work. 

Dropbox (www.dropbox.com/) is a recent entry in the cloud storage arena...a service that allows you to store digital data on secure, password protected remote servers to be accessed from any web-enabled device.  Apple has MobileMe for a fee, Dropbox offers 2gig of storage...for free.

When you register for a Dropbox account, you download and app to your Windows, Mac or Linux machine called My Dropbox and point the DropBox service at this folder.  The service tracks changes to the folder with a mirror image up in the clouds.  Note I said a mirror image.. if you disconnect from the internet, the My Dropbox folder and it's contents stay on device so you don't lose access to it's contents.  If you modify, delete or add an item locally it is updated to the DropBox storage, and to all your other devices as soon as you reconnect to the web.  Additional devices can be linked together to create a mini network of accessibility.

So, how do I make use of this?  I doubt you need me to tell you..if you've read this far, you have probably already figured how it could help you.  But I'll tell you anyway..  All of my gojillion web log-in's are stored in a dedicated folder; A full inventory of my photographic equipment with serial numbers and insurance info is stored there; If I need to have an image at the office or laptop that  I've processed on my home work-station using Lightroom...it goes to My Dropbox (an Export Preset in LR sends the image right to the My Dropbox folder); On location of an important shoot and my HyperDrive kicks the bucket...upload to MyDrop Box for safe keeping; Images on my iphone that are sync'd to my office pc need to go home for upload to Lightroom or to be printed..put them in the Dropbox folder; Slide and handouts for a workshop I am presenting..created on my main pc, sync'd to my laptop via My Dropbox... And, you can also access your Dropbox folder securely via the Dropbox website so if my laptop crashes I can pull the files off to any pc that can access the web.

You can set up securely shared folders if you want to offer others access to items you have in your Dropbox, though they will need to subscribe to the service to access them..but it's free and they should have anyway!  The service keeps track of recent changes you make and tracks deleted items for 30 days in the event you goof and need to recall something delete.  Specific folders can be designated for images with a clean slide show..so sharing is easy.

The only downside I can think of is that if you maintain multiple computers and have 2 gig of data in your Dropbox, each computer has to dedicate the same 2 gig of memory if they are to stay in sync.  But backups are important..  All of my critical data resides in five places..three pc's, the iPhone and the clouds.

You qualify for 2 gig of storage free when you register, can purchase additional storage on the cheap, and you can get additional free storage space by referring others to the service..so, if you decide to use Dropbox, use my link... I'll get a few extra bites and a holiday card or two from Dropbox.. 

And, um, yes...there is an app for this.  Dropbox is a free download in the AppStore in iTunes..