Synchronizing Computers

September 30, 2008

I have been using multiple computers for a long time now, and I have always had a difficult time keeping files synchronized across them. I used Zip disks back in college to move files back and forth, which were then superceded by flash drives. Web-based applications have really taken off in the last few years; I have been using tools like Delicious and a paid Backpack account to store bookmarks and files in a centralized location on the internet. In the last few months, I’ve started using two new tools tightly integrated with my local computer that work really nicely.

Foxmarks is an extension for Firefox that makes it easy to synchronize bookmarks across multiple computers. It is more tightly integrated with the browser than the Delicious plugin and has made it much easier for me to keep track of all my bookmarks. I only used Delicious for really important links (often links I had to find two or three times without a bookmark) because it was too much of a hassle, but Foxmarks has has definitely improved my bookmarking experience.

I should mention that I originally tried using a product called Weave to accomplish this task first, but it did not work nearly as well. It has more functionality — including the ability to synchronize plugins! — but the synchronization was too slow for it to be useful. It’s currently on version 0.2, and I’m sure it will improve.
Dropbox is a desktop application that makes it easy to synchronize files across multiple computers. You simply copy a file into the Dropbox folder, and Dropbox immediately starts uploading it to your Dropbox account online. As soon as you power up another computer, Dropbox pulls down that same file. Any changes to files are synchronized as soon as they are made.

This has made such a huge difference in my workflow! No more copying files to flash drives, or emailing them to myself, or consciously uploading them to the internet to make sure they are available later. (I stopped paying for my Backpack account after spending just a few days with Dropbox. While they aren’t exactly competing products, I was only paying for Backpack for the file storage features.)

Dropbox also has sharing functionality that I have only started using. I am collaborating with a graphics designer on a freelance web project. She has shared a Dropbox folder with me. She placed her Photoshop files for the design there, and Dropbox downloaded them to my computer immediately. Any time she makes changes, Dropbox updates the files and unobtrusively notifies me. For small distributed teams, I could imagine Dropbox working like a shared network folder but with many more benefits.