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Looking for folder synching systems...dropbox? google drive? etc...

Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
I'm looking for something to synch selected folders on my design station at my office with a folder on my laptop and my home computer. Right now I download files from my carbonite backup and work on them after hours or on the go. Often times I forget to re-upload them to update them and find myself having to remote into whatever computer it was worked on to grab it later. I like how dropbox synchs the dropbox folder across whatever computer has it, but I cant find a way to ad other folders to that without moving the folder out of where it is now into the the dropbox which could cause some haywire if files are moved. Any suggestions?

Not necessarily looking for something free, this could be worth every penny if it's right.
 
L

Locals Find!

New Member
I use the online file folder service from DomainsPricedRight.com (subsidiary of GoDaddy's Parent company Wild West Domains) it allows me to map the cloud drive to any computer I want. Also, automatically backups any folder I tell it too on a customizable schedule.

I have found it to be a great tool. Also, I can access my files right from the web of any device with an internet connection. I have even emailed files directly from it using my droid when I was in the truck stuck in traffic and stuff needed to get done right then and not an hour later.

Price is right too $7.99 for 100gigs and they sell bigger packages. Sky is the limit.

Also, another good alternative for yourself or your entire shop is too look at a paperless complete file/job flow system like appfiles.com. We use this in the Real Estate industry. Was originally designed for a custom aluminum manufacturer that the creators left and took the idea with them and started a stand alone company. Very nice because, you can customize it to fit your needs, it's user access controlled, so designers could get to artwork files, and accounting could get to accounting files. Without each other ever realizing the other is on the system or being able to mess with files they shouldn't have access too. Also, an administrator business owner could keep an eye on what everyone is doing. Comes complete with email too. Making it a complete intranet. Cloud based with mobile version also.

Not cheap but, with the money you save in time and paper well worth it. If you wanna know more about it let me know I can talk to you more about it. (I don't represent the company in anyway just love the product.)
 
Signsforwhile

Signsforwhile

New Member
I'm trying to avoid logging into something to pull files. Basically I'd like to somehow select the "Art" folder at the office and it magically appears on 2 or 3 other computers. Then when I'm home i just open the "Art" folder that's on my home computer, open a file, work on it, save it and the next day it's the new file at work as well.....
 
GAC05

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Dropbox seems to work that way.
Once you install it sets up a local folder and that folder sinc's to everything else you have that can go online automatically.
I've just started using it for a client video project and it is idiot proof so far.

wayne k
guam usa
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
We have a Qnap TS-412 NAS server in the shop.
It runs FTP, a webserver and all sorts of other stuff.
They have an app called Qsync which sounds like it can do what you want.
http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?lang=en&sn=8861#Qsync
I can access my files from anywhere using it's FTP/file manager so just use that.
The beauty of it is you have control of your stuff and there are no ongoing fees to pay.
 
L

Locals Find!

New Member
Signsforwhile said:
I'm trying to avoid logging into something to pull files. Basically I'd like to somehow select the "Art" folder at the office and it magically appears on 2 or 3 other computers. Then when I'm home i just open the "Art" folder that's on my home computer, open a file, work on it, save it and the next day it's the new file at work as well.....
Click to expand...

Well, with the online file folder you get a client software you download to your computer. Much like dropbox and the others. You just have to log in once and stay logged in. You don't have to log in each time.

What I really liked about it was the size and cost ratio compared to the others. 100gigs with dropbox is going to cost you about $50 a month versus less than $10 with the Online File Folder. The drive mapping feature is what I like the best. I can access files from the cloud just like they are on my computer without actually having to have the files on the hard drive itself.

Much more secure if a drive fails. Since my files aren't on my work computer if it fails I just grab another machine and keep cranking like nothing happen. No downtime to load from a back up. My files are all stored on a more secure system. That gets synched every 2 hours and does nothing else but back up my art files. (Think computer with better hardware sitting in a shelf in my closet strapped to the wall 4 different ways.) I don't care if this place floods that computer is going to be safe)
 
WildWestDesigns

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Bly said:
We have a Qnap TS-412 NAS server in the shop.
It runs FTP, a webserver and all sorts of other stuff.
Click to expand...


We just installed a Qnap server here and the options that this thing can do will make your head hurt real quick. Very, very, very nice product and that's how we have everything synced up as well among all the computers.
 
chester215

chester215

Just call me Chester.
We also have a qnap but it is not a substitute for backing up your files somewhere else.
About 6 months ago our previous nas failed, not any of the hard drives but the nas unit itself.
I found out that you cannot simply take the 4 drives out of one nas and put them in another one.
When you put the drives into a new nas, even if it is an identical one, it will reformat the discs.
We sent the drives to a data recovery company. it cost $2000 to get the data back.
 
A

amw

Longtime Members
We use dropbox, very happy with it. They have a few plans but for ($8.25/mo) $99/year you can get 100 gigs. We also have a file server at the shop we can login to from any pc, but rarely use it since we added dropbox. We have been using it for a year and a half or so and not 1 issue.
 
A

amw

Longtime Members
chester215 said:
We also have a qnap but it is not a substitute for backing up your files somewhere else.
About 6 months ago our previous nas failed, not any of the hard drives but the nas unit itself.
I found out that you cannot simply take the 4 drives out of one nas and put them in another one.
When you put the drives into a new nas, even if it is an identical one, it will reformat the discs.
We sent the drives to a data recovery company. it cost $2000 to get the data back.
Click to expand...
Using a file server will solve this. We just pulled all our drives out and put them into a new server and works fine.
 
WildWestDesigns

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
chester215 said:
We also have a qnap but it is not a substitute for backing up your files somewhere else.
Click to expand...

You do realize that Qnap will upload to other storages devices as well even remote cloud based ones (I'm pretty sure they sync with Amazon's server for sure, about the others, that I don't know), even the 4 bay ones?

Even remote cloud based storage have their foibles too. Typically it depends on the end user more then anything else, but there isn't any one solution that really works totally by itself. There is a risk in all of them.
 
chester215

chester215

Just call me Chester.
amw said:
Using a file server will solve this. We just pulled all our drives out and put them into a new server and works fine.
Click to expand...

Not the one we had. We sent everything to someone to who thought it was possible with our setup but it wasn't. (not a Qnap)
 
WildWestDesigns

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
chester215 said:
I do now.
Click to expand...


Ok.

chester215 said:
When you put the drives into a new nas, even if it is an identical one, it will reformat the discs.
We sent the drives to a data recovery company. it cost $2000 to get the data back.
Click to expand...

The only thing that I can think of with your issue here, is it had to deal with the particular type of server that you had before. We had an el cheapo NDAS device and we had a failure of the NDAS itself, like you it was just the box, not the hard drives. Got the same exact box and it didn't reformat the drives.

So I'm thinking that it really had something to do with that particular unit and it's corresponding software that lead to that type of situation.

All I can say is that we have an 8 bay Qnap and that thing better not behave like that (and I don't think it will).
 
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