Online File Storage and Synchronization - A SugarSync Review
In a world where so many of us have such busy schedules
, it has become increasingly necessary to be able to access files and work from multiple computers - home, office, laptop, hotel... you get the idea. This leads to endless piles of cd's, pockets full of flash-drives and an ever growing list of email attachments we send ourselves to get a document from one location to another.
If only there was an easy way to synchronize files between numerous computers automatically
Enter SugarSync.
SugarSync is a user friendly platform that allows you to synchronize files between all of the computers you use with an internet connection.
**SugarSync Review**
Setup is really simple. Create an online account, download the SugarSync application to each computer you want to backup and/or synchronize and then select the folders you want.
Thats's really all it takes. With each folder you connect to SugarSync, you can choose to either back it up, or sync it to other computers.
Your files are then stored in a secure encrypted account on the SugarSync server - which means you can get to them from anywhere you have internet access! SugarSync's web based interface makes it easy to download and share any of your files, wherever you are.
As a user, you can invite friends/family/colleagues to sign up for a free account, and then share one of your folders with them. If you decide you want to keep your work from being modified by other users, you can designate your files or folders as "read only," whilem aking them editable allows others to add to them - great for group prodjects.
Files are uploaded to SugarSync as soon as a new version is saved. From there they are redistributed to the computers connected to your account. If one of those computers isn't online at the moment, SugarSync will update them as soon as they connect to the internet.
SugarSync has a handy web interface, desktop application and also apps for several mobile clients like BlackBerry, iPhone and others. During the course of this SugarSync review, we'll take a look at each of them.
**SugarSync.com and The Desktop Client**
*SugarSync Review - The Online Interface*
Logging into SugarSync.com displays all of the computers on your account, as well as available storage and other items.
Just select one of the computers from the list to access those files. From the web interface, you can move, copy, share or download any of the files on your account.
You also have an option to send files. Simply specify the email address you want to send the folder to, and SugarSync will email out a link (valid for 21 days) so your file can be downloaded by whoever you send it to.
This way, if you want to email a couple dozen photos to your great aunt across the country, you don't need to waste time attaching them all.
In addition to your synced computers, you also have the option to select your "Magic Briefcase," your Mobile Photos and your Web Archive.
Any files that you place in the Magic Briefcase are automatically synchronized with all the computers on your account. It's a nice, simple tool for users who don't want to take the time to manually select folders to sync all they need to do is drop them into the Briefcase and they are good to go.
Note: Placing files in the Briefcase does NOT copy them, it MOVES them completely.
The Mobile Photos section is pretty self explanatory these are the pictures that you have taken from your mobile phone, which we'll discuss a little more later on in our SugarSync review.
SugarSync's Web Archive is a place you can store files without synchronizing them to other computers. It's basically just a storage vault, so you can copy something into your archive and safely delete it from your computer, knowing you still have a copy online.
*SugarSync Review - The Desktop Client*
The desktop application offers pretty much all the functionality of the web client. When you first open the program you'll see a list of the files on the computer you are currently viewing, as well as a list to the left containing icons for your Magic Briefcase, Web Archive, etc.
There are also convenient buttons for accessing the photo gallery, your online site and your shared folders. Sharing/sending files is also just as easy as it would be online - so the only time you really NEED the web interface is when you're at a computer that doesn't have SugarSync installed.
Hitting the "Manage Synced Folders" button gives you the opportunity to set up which folders you want to sync from this computer, and what specific folders they should each be synced to on each of the other computers. If you want to back somehting up, you an simply add it to SugarSync without connecting it to another folder on a different machine - this way it's uploaded and updated in real time. The entire interface is extremely user friendly, but if organizing different folders is more work than you are interested in, you can always just use the Magic Briefcase as described earlier.
*SugarSync For BlackBerry*
This is where it gets really fun. SugarSync offers several mobile clients including support for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile devices, and Symbian in addition to the ability to access your online account from pretty much any phone with a web browser.
SugarSync's mobile apps let you do pretty much everything you could want. Accessing computers and online files is a breeze, simply navigate to and select the file you need and SugarSync will download it to your phone and cache it for use.
If you have the right software, you can edit files from your phone (usinge "Docs-To-Go" to edit an MS Word document on a BlackBerry for example). Once you finish editing a file, SugarSync notes the change and asks if it should be uploaded.
You can easily upload any files from your BlackBerry, the only problem here is that there isn't an option to upload multiple files into a que each file must be selected individually. If you only have a couple of photos or files you want to save, this feature is great - more than that, and you might want to consider waiting until you can transfer them manually.
One of the real benefits of the mobile application is that if you know in advance that you want the pictures you are taking uploaded, you can fire up the application and select "Take photo," which will launch your BlackBerry's native camera application and upload any pictures you take from there (please note, only photos taken from within the SugarSync app are automatically uploaded) to you Mobile Photos folder, which is synchronized across all of your computers.
Viewing images from your device is equally simple. Each image is downloaded and and cached to your phone, and you can scroll through the pictures in a particular folder one at a time. Each picture also has a "High Res" option in case you need to view in greater detail.
SugarSync is also capable of streaming music to your phone as well, so if you synchronize your iTunes library, you'll be able to access it anywhere, without necessarily having to keep it all on your phone at once.
SugarSync offers several different price options depending on how much storage you need. Each plan includes a 30 day free trial, which is plenty of time to get comfortable with it before making any final decisions.
Online File Storage and Synchronization - A SugarSync Review
By: Lynne and Chad
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