I have been using .Mac on and off for a few years as a remote file storage location for my documents. The service was the only one that I found that had a workable system that kept a local cashed copy on my computer and synced the changes to a central server. The problem is that .Mac doesn't work that well. I stopped using it back in January when my annual renewal was coming up. I didn't want to keep paying it since I didn't think I was getting my money's worth. In June I changed my tune since the MobileMe functionality was coming out with the iPhone 3G. I thought those added functions were worth it the fee, and if I was already paying for the MobileMe syncing I might as well use the iDisk feature as well.
That decision hasn't worked out well for me. I constantly get sync errors when I have documents open that iDisk is trying to "automatically" sync. I have had iDisk totally corrupt two of my personal wiki's I have using VoodooPad.
I was happy to stumble upon an article that talked about among other things different file syncing and storage services. I had heard about Xdrive, and Box.net, but I looked up a new one called SugarSync. On paper it does everything I need:
- Price is reasonable
- Mac & WIndows clients
- Local (or multiple local) copies as well as the server copy
- Sync on when changes happen
- Plus it offered other features that I didn't think of but probibly could use.
Best of all the reviews were all really good, and from reputable people like Mossberg and Pouge (I hope I spelled their names right). With all this good "sounding" information I signed up for a 45 day trial with 10gigs of file space. I am slowly syncing my documents folder to their system now. According to their status meeter it will be about 7 more hours before the data is fully synced. I will then give it a true test drive at work tomorrow. I will also be able to install the Windows agent on my Vaio laptop at work and see if I can access everything. That was something I couldn't do with iDisk.