From what I recall, quite a few people have heard of, or even use Dropbox.
Dropbox is similar to Apple’s iDisk, in the respect that it is an online backup/data storage facility. The only difference is, dropbox will give you 2GB of free storage, just for signing up. There’s also an option to pay either $9.99 per month, or $99 per year, which will upgrade your storage capacity to 50GB. For me personally, I don’t (yet) need any more than the 2GB, though I may consider looking into the 50GB option in future.
What I like most about Dropbox is that it’s cross platform. For me this is fantastic, because I run Ubuntu (9.04 64 bit if you’re interested) on my desktop, and my laptop is an aluminum Macbook. Now I had the problem of somehow remembering to put things in the Dropbox directory so that they would get synced to the server and thus between my 2 machines.
Solving that problem was a lot easier than I could’ve expected. No thanks to my friend Gabby, who told me what he had done on IRC. Using
you can create soft links to the directories to/from the Dropbox directory, and any changes you make to that directory outside of the Dropbox directory, get automatically synced. Put simply, if I make any changes to something in ~/Documents, it automatically gets backed up/synced to Dropbox. Awesome!!
If you’re unsure of the syntax of
, as it is a little confusing, it’s the following:
And finally, if you want to join Dropbox because you haven’t already, following this link will (according to Dropbox) get you a little bit more space 
Edit: I’ve just been informed (thanks Matteo!) that the referral links don’t seem to be giving extra space any more. This is likely because Dropbox limits the amount they give out. Please feel free to use the link at the end of the post if you want, but don’t feel obliged to if you do want to sign up. Join Dropbox
aodhagan
April 18, 2009 at 00:50
While dropbox is well know, I prefer SpiderOak. They have several features missing from dropbox (sync and share rooms), and they are also natively available on Ubuntu. Most importantly, they have a good security model to keep your data safe, even from them.
-aodhagan
Joe
April 18, 2009 at 00:52
I’ve briefly looked into Spideroak. What do you mean they have features missing from dropbox?
Do you mean that Spideroak has features that aren’t in dropbox, or vice versa?
I know dropbox has a sharing folders option which allows you to share a folder with other users, though I haven’t looked into it that much yet
Misc
April 18, 2009 at 02:20
Wait, if I use the link, I will get more space?
I think your last line should read
“…you haven’t already, following this link will (according to Dropbox) get *ME* a little bit more space”?
jldugger
April 18, 2009 at 02:28
Fail.
The “target” is generally known as the thing you’re pointing the symlink at. So I think you’ve reversed it.
via the manpage
ln [OPTION]… [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form)
Joe
April 18, 2009 at 09:18
Actually, from the Dropbox referrals page:
“Once your friend starts using Dropbox, you’ll both get extra space. Hooray!”
@ jldugger:
I was using OS X at the time of writing, so I used the OS X manpage. I’ve fixed that now though, thanks for point it out
antonio carlos jobim
April 18, 2009 at 11:44
joe -T is in brackets because it’s optional. the -s switch has nothing to do with the target, it specifies that ln should make a (s)ymbolic link and not a hard link, which is the default.
have you ever even used ln b4??? lol looks like u fail script kiddie luser
Joe
April 18, 2009 at 11:51
Antonio, I have used ln before a number of times actually.
The terms I described above to use ln were what I used in this specific instance.
matteo.zandi
April 18, 2009 at 12:09
I just used your referral link! thanks!
Hugo Heden
April 18, 2009 at 12:23
Still, you should been more straight forward and mention that you would get some extra storage yourself. Since you failed to do that, I don’t feel I can trust you, so I’ll specifically *not* use your link, though I’m otherwise pretty sure I would have.
Joe
April 18, 2009 at 12:25
That’s a good point, duly noted.
And I appreciate your decision to not use that link. For what it’s worth, I no longer get extra storage for referrals, as there is a limit on the amount they give.
matteo.zandi
April 18, 2009 at 13:34
you can use mine if you want to
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTk2NDM0Nzk
Matteo
Phil
May 3, 2009 at 16:44
If you sign up for dropbox by clicking the link Here 250mb will be added to both of our accounts plus the standard 2gigs. We both win!
Dougle
June 11, 2009 at 23:17
I have had some difficulty with links in that i cant link out of the dropbox folder, most apps when they write there image,xml,db file unlink the files first, this is also the case with dropboxd:
~/.face -> ~/Dropbox/.face on two machines
If i change the image no probs dropbox syncs it but i move to the other machine and ~/Dropbox/.face is no longer a link, it’s a new file created in new disk space.
Any Ideas?
Joe
June 12, 2009 at 02:21
Dougle, unfortunately I don’t really know why.
What I would recommend if you want to sync things outside the Dropbox folder, is to look in to symbolic links (these work on Linux/OS X…Windows’ method is slightly different).
Sorry I can’t be of any further help
BobK
November 21, 2009 at 01:59
Here is another referral link for the extra 250MP with your new 2 gig Dropbox account if you need it.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU2NTQ5MTk
Aaron
December 18, 2009 at 16:45
Thought I would toss another referral link out there
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY1Njc5NTk
Diamond3
March 13, 2010 at 14:05
Just another referral for extra 250 MB on Dropbox for you and me! : )
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ5MzE5Mzc5
Thanks a lot!
poof65
March 30, 2010 at 21:56
Here’s another link
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTM2ODQ3Mzk
Thanks for my future (or maybe not) referrals
tknice
March 31, 2010 at 01:42
I have some referrals left here:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI0MTY5ODc5
Have fun!
Johan
March 31, 2010 at 21:47
Hello you!
Help yourself by clicking on the link below to get an extra 250 mb space when you join dropbox. I would be very grateful because it would give med 250mb + as well. Thanks
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTMzNzEwMzY5
c@t
April 13, 2010 at 17:31
Here’s another link
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTExNDM3ODY5
to get an extra 250MB space