Product Review: Page (1) of 1 - 07/28/09

Use Dropbox to store and share your files online

Access video, image, audio, and any other files remotely By Heath McKnight

I came across Dropbox because I am always looking for an online solution to upload and share video files, music, documents--any type of file that I would want to access remotely. Dropbox is a free program you can download to your Mac, Windows PC, or Linux system, and use it to upload and share all sorts of files with multiple computers you use, or people whom you'd like to share those files with. There's a limit to the size on the free account, but paid accounts can get you up to 100GB of space.

Working with Dropbox
Sign up for a free account at http://www.getdropbox.com and you automatically start off with 2GB of space. You can also refer friends and colleagues and get up to another 1GB of space in 250MB increments.

Download the free app to your Mac, Windows, or Linux system and install it. On a Mac, it appears at the top toolbar. To upload files, go to the homepage and either create a folder or use the Public Folder and select a file to upload and when that's done, it will appear in the Public Folder on your desktop.

Uploading from the browser, there is a 300MB limit to online uploads, so use the Dropbox Client, which means you copy and paste your file into the Dropbox folder or subfolder.
To share files, go into your Dropbox Public Folder and right-click (or Control-Click) a file to get the URL that can be downloaded. Email or Instant Message that URL to whomever you wish to see the file and they'll be able to access it through their web browser.

If you have a folder with a bunch of files in it, say video and image files for your graphics artist to work with, right- or control-click the folder, select share, and your browser will open a window to put emails in, and that folder will appear on their desktops. It's very cool, very easy, and very convenient. And they can share with you, too, with their own Dropboxes. If they don't have Dropbox, they can still access files.
It's extremely secure and according to Dropbox, the security measures they use (SSL and AES-256 encryption is what banks use.

Share Photos
You have a ton of pictures from your Dear Aunt Petunia's birthday party, and you want to share them with friends and family. I access my photos folder in my browser at dropbox.com then upload the photos. They appear in my Photo folder in my Dropbox folder on my desktop. Then in your browser, a photo album with all those photos, is created and you can share the URL. And it's not just a folder of photographs, it's a nice photo gallery. You can also copy and paste the folder into the Dropbox/Photos folder and it will upload.

Back-Up Important Stuff
You can back-up all your important files easily, but what's really cool is that if you update a file in Dropbox, it will then update the file that's already there and whomever is in your shared folder will see it update (and only the part that was updated, not the entire folder). It's also great for taking work home-no need to email an attachment or throw the file on a USB drive-just use Dropbox. I like being able to NOT carry around a bunch of USB drives or clog up my email account with a ton of attachments.

Undelete

If you delete a file in the Dropbox folder but you realize you really need it, you can go to the web interface, select Show Deleted Files, and choose to "undelete it" and the file is restored. Very cool! And this goes for previous versions, too.

Paid Accounts
You're limited to a maximum of 3GB of space with an unpaid account (if you make four successful referrals), but a paid account will get you a heckuva lot more space! For $99 a year (or $9.99 a month-pay upfront and save $20), you can get 50GB of space; for $199 a year (or $19.99 a month), you have 100GB of space!

Conclusion
I am really enjoying Dropbox and it's a great way for me to share all kinds of files with clients, colleagues, friends, and family. Since I'm primarily working with video, it's a great way to share video files without having to burn a DVD and send it out. Visit http://www.getdropbox.com for more information.

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Heath McKnight is a filmmaker and author who has produced and directed several independent feature and short films, including Hellevator, 9:04 AM and December. He is currently web content manager for doddleNEWS. Heath was also a contributor to VASST's best-selling book, "The FullHD," and has written for TopTenREVIEWS and Videomaker.

Related Keywords:dropbox, online file access, online storage solution, storage