# Recommend you get Dropbox...



## Semper Fidelis (Sep 11, 2009)

Great way to have your files around when you need them as they sync with your desktop/notebook and are web available if you need an important file. You get 2 GB of space for free:

Dropbox - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.


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## JonathanHunt (Sep 11, 2009)

Yeah, and Semper Fi gets an extra little bit of space for each person who clicks his referry link!!

So sign up. I already use it and it is great. You can also share the space (or parts of it) with others. I share a folder with my fellow-elder and we maintain church admin documents there, like preaching schedules etc.


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 11, 2009)

JonathanHunt said:


> Yeah, and Semper Fi gets an extra little bit of space for each person who clicks his referry link!!


 One of the fringe benefits of owning the board my friend.


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## fredtgreco (Sep 11, 2009)

Dropbox is great. The latest version (which you can download from their forums) has a LAN peer to peer syncing feature as well. There is also an iPhone app that is awaiting approval if Apple ever gets off their shiny, "just works" behinds.

The new website layout is also very nice, and it has a build in search function.


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## py3ak (Sep 11, 2009)

Does anyone else have an account through which I could link so I don't accidentally support Rich?


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 11, 2009)

py3ak said:


> Does anyone else have an account through which I could link so I don't accidentally support Rich?



As soon as I max out my benefit I'll change the link for somebody else to get some free upgrades...


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## Curt (Sep 11, 2009)

I signed up. Thanks for the referral - and you are welcome for the extra 250mb.


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## fredtgreco (Sep 11, 2009)

You could support the administrative ministry of Christ Church 

https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTEwMzU1NTg5

(That referral is not mine, but my Associate Pastor's)


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 11, 2009)

fredtgreco said:


> You could support the administrative ministry of Christ Church
> 
> https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTEwMzU1NTg5
> 
> (That referral is not mine, but my Associate Pastor's)



I'll stick it in the top link as soon as I get one more referral.


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## ClayPot (Sep 11, 2009)

Spideroak is another contender you might consider. 100 GB per month for $10 ($5 if you have a .edu address). Sweet deal. Very secure. Syncs across both Macs and PCs flawlessly. It also gives 2 GB for free. It doesn't have a referral program (as far as I know), but $10 is pretty cheap. And even cheaper if you are a student!


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## historyb (Sep 11, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Great way to have your files around when you need them as they sync with your desktop/notebook and are web available if you need an important file. You get 2 GB of space for free:
> 
> Dropbox - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.


I got it in even a portable version on my USB stick. It's a great resource when I have to change between Linux and windows


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## Scottish Lass (Sep 12, 2009)

Okay, can I have a short, very non-tech explanation of how it works and/or why I might need it?


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 13, 2009)

Anna,

When installed, Dropbox creates a folder in your My Documents folder called *My Dropbox*. Any files you copy into or save into this folder are uploaded/synchronized with your Dropbox account. The files are then available on your Computer and online.

There are a couple of major benefits:
1. You have an online backup of important documents/files that you can recover in case of problems with your computer.
2. You can get to these files from any other computer by going to dropbox.com and logging into your account.
3. As Fred also noted, you can set up shared files within workgroups or with friends to easily share files.


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## OPC'n (Sep 13, 2009)

Can you use it for mac's too?


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## Curt (Sep 13, 2009)

OPC'n said:


> Can you use it for mac's too?



I am.


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 14, 2009)

Curt,

Just out of curiosity, how does Dropbox link to Macs? Is there a My Dropbox folder?


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## Scottish Lass (Sep 14, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Anna,
> 
> When installed, Dropbox creates a folder in your My Documents folder called *My Dropbox*. Any files you copy into or save into this folder are uploaded/synchronized with your Dropbox account. The files are then available on your Computer and online.
> 
> ...



Follow-up question: (This may be what 3 is talking about, but I'm slow at this stuff.) Our house is networked, plus Tim has another computer at church. Can we all upload to one account, or would we need multiple accounts?


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## fredtgreco (Sep 14, 2009)

Anna,

The beauty of Dropbox is that you can have multiple computers on one account (I have two), or you can share files/folders in the Dropbox (or even its entire contents)with another Dropbox account. This makes it very flexible. So in my entire system, I have set up several Dropbox accounts:


My account
My wife's account
Our church (secretary's) account
Our Associate Pastor's account.
Here's a PDF that shows visually how I have it working. It provides sharing, syncing (when my PC is offline, if I need a file, I can get it from my wife's computer) and backup. I've restored files from the "cloud" several times.

You can think of it as MobileMe that actually works, does more, and is not junk.


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## NaphtaliPress (Sep 14, 2009)

Can you create subfolders in the dropbox folder to keep things organized? I"m currently using Amazon's product (jungle disk) for daily backups but this looks better. Can it function as backup or is the main thing file sharing?


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## Nebrexan (Sep 14, 2009)

I'd love to use Dropbox, but the university where I work classifies it as a "file sharing" app like BitTorrents and blocks the IP port it uses.


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## fredtgreco (Sep 14, 2009)

NaphtaliPress said:


> Can you create subfolders in the dropbox folder to keep things organized? I"m currently using Amazon's product (jungle disk) for daily backups but this looks better. Can it function as backup or is the main thing file sharing?



It can function as both. I use it mostly for sharing/syncing, but that is because you don't (at least I don't) think about backups until I need it. But it is nice to know that all the files in MyDropbox can be easily restored if I have a complete meltdown.


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## Marrow Man (Sep 14, 2009)

If Anna and I both have multiple computers under the same account, does all of that count against the 2 GB limitation (under the free service)?

If we were to sign up under different accounts, how would this affect the service? Would be both be able to utilize 2 GB freely, but not be able to file share (which we can do on Vista as is, though not always "easily")?


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## Scottish Lass (Sep 14, 2009)

I need such a tiny fraction of space, it's not even a real concern, in my opinion.


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## py3ak (Sep 14, 2009)

Scottish Lass said:


> I need such a tiny fraction of space, it's not even a real concern, in my opinion.



But you might be needing more space for pictures soon.


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## he beholds (Sep 14, 2009)

So I downloaded this because my husband often works on things at school and at home (or so I can help him at home), but I am wondering if you need to save your document in My Documents AND dropbox, or just in your dropbox? What happens if dropbox changes someday and starts charging $$ and I didn't want to pay, or if dropbox fails or something...will you be able to access the My Dropbox folder in your My Documents folder forever, even if you someday quit the program? 

Hope that question makes sense. Basically, should I save in My Documents AND My Dropbox (thus saving as two files on my computer) or just in the Dropbox?

Thanks!!


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## Curt (Sep 14, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Curt,
> 
> Just out of curiosity, how does Dropbox link to Macs? Is there a My Dropbox folder?



It put a little icon on my toolbar. I just double click it to access it. On the PC (ugh) that I have at the church office, I have the same thing. I can just share between the two very easily.


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## VictorBravo (Sep 14, 2009)

he beholds said:


> So I downloaded this because my husband often works on things at school and at home (or so I can help him at home), but I am wondering if you need to save your document in My Documents AND dropbox, or just in your dropbox? What happens if dropbox changes someday and starts charging $$ and I didn't want to pay, or if dropbox fails or something...will you be able to access the My Dropbox folder in your My Documents folder forever, even if you someday quit the program?
> 
> Hope that question makes sense. Basically, should I save in My Documents AND My Dropbox (thus saving as two files on my computer) or just in the Dropbox?
> 
> Thanks!!



If you save it in MyDropbox, it stays on your computer. You don't need to save it twice.

If for some reason you cancel with Dropbox, the files will still be on your harddrive.


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## fredtgreco (Sep 14, 2009)

victorbravo said:


> he beholds said:
> 
> 
> > So I downloaded this because my husband often works on things at school and at home (or so I can help him at home), but I am wondering if you need to save your document in My Documents AND dropbox, or just in your dropbox? What happens if dropbox changes someday and starts charging $$ and I didn't want to pay, or if dropbox fails or something...will you be able to access the My Dropbox folder in your My Documents folder forever, even if you someday quit the program?
> ...



Yes. Think of the "My Dropbox" folder as like any subfolder in My Documents, that also syncs with the "cloud." If you cancel, it stays on your PC.

Also, Dropbox is working on allowing you to "watch" or sync any folder on your computer, which would remove the necessity of the My Dropbox folder.


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## fredtgreco (Sep 14, 2009)

Marrow Man said:


> If Anna and I both have multiple computers under the same account, does all of that count against the 2 GB limitation (under the free service)?
> 
> If we were to sign up under different accounts, how would this affect the service? Would be both be able to utilize 2 GB freely, but not be able to file share (which we can do on Vista as is, though not always "easily")?



If you have the same account, all files in the Dropbox will appear on both computers, and the content will count against the 2GB limit. But only once. So let's say you have one account with 500MB of files in it. The files appear on both PCs, and you have 1.5GB of space left.

If you have two accounts, whatever is in the Dropbox of each counts against its account. So if you have 500MB on PC#1, and you share it all with PC#2 (really easy to do), and 500MB on PC#2 that you do NOT share with PC#1, you end up with:

PC#1 used space: 500MB
PC#2 used space: 1GB (500MB shared, 500MB not shared).

You can see that visually in my screenshot. One advantage to multiple accounts: you can "refer" one person, and then when the second account signs up, you get another 250MB each.


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 14, 2009)

Great advice all Fred. You gave me some ideas on how I can use it.

It just dawned on me today that it also provides for me a way to do something that has nagged me for a while that I currently use a process that requires I be very careful.

Although I use Gmail I also set it up to POP3 download the messages I want to store in various PST's in case I ever lose Gmail for whatever reason. Anyway, I have a personal desktop and a personal notebook and I don't want two PST files so I typically use Goodsync to copy one PST over the other. I just realized, however, that I can move my PST files into a Dropbox folder and keep them synced without having to keep track as the two computers are using the same Dropbox account.


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## he beholds (Sep 14, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Great advice all Fred. You gave me some ideas on how I can use it.
> 
> It just dawned on me today that it also provides for me a way to do something that has nagged me for a while that I currently use a process that requires I be very careful.
> 
> *Although I use Gmail I also set it up to POP3 download the messages I want to store in various PST's in case I ever lose Gmail for whatever reason. Anyway, I have a personal desktop and a personal notebook and I don't want two PST files so I typically use Goodsync to copy one PST over the other. I just realized, however, that I can move my PST files into a Dropbox folder and keep them synced without having to keep track as the two computers are using the same Dropbox account.*



Honestly, it's like you aren't even speaking English here


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## Semper Fidelis (Sep 14, 2009)

he beholds said:


> Semper Fidelis said:
> 
> 
> > Great advice all Fred. You gave me some ideas on how I can use it.
> ...



Each activity in a Service Management process (or
each component used to provide a service) is
monitored as part of the Service Operation processes.
The operational team or department responsible for
each activity or component will apply the Monitor
Control Loop as defined in the process, and using the
norms that were defined during the Service Design
processes. The role of Operational Monitoring and
Control is to ensure that the process or service
functions exactly as specified, which is why they are
primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo.

■ The norms and Monitoring and Control mechanisms
are defined in Service Design, but they are based on
the standards and architectures defined during Service
Strategy. Any changes to the organization’s Service
Strategy, architecture, service portfolios or Service
Level Requirements will precipitate changes to what is
monitored and how it is controlled.

■ The Monitor Control Loops are placed within the
context of the organization. This implies that Service
Strategy will primarily be executed by Business and IT
Executives with support from vendor account
managers. Service Design acts as the bridge between
Service Strategy and Service Operation and will
typically involve representatives from all groups. The
activities and controls will generally be executed by IT
staff (sometimes involving users) and supported by IT
Managers and the vendors. Service Improvement
spans all areas, but primarily represents the interests of
the business and its users.


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## Curt (Sep 14, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> he beholds said:
> 
> 
> > Semper Fidelis said:
> ...



That's much better.


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## Scottish Lass (Sep 14, 2009)

Jessi,
I'm glad I'm not the only one!


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