A pox on (almost) all their houses--updated! (The houses that provide software for syncing computers.)

Once I was a happy Dropbox user...and then HE came into my life! (Oh, wait, that's the setup for "Niagra Falls".)

Once I was a happy Dropbox user. Then, the University decided it wanted to image my hard drive. No problem. Go for it! It's your computer, after all. Except...uhm...NOT MY DROPBOX. It's got a lot of personal information.

It turned out that the University wanted only specific parts of my hard drive, so Dropbox was saved this time. But, what about next time? I like using Dropbox to keep my personal files synchronized, so I went looking for another service to deal with work files. And I checked them alllllllll.

I started seeing problems, but many site were still in their beta stage and stuff happens. No site is perfect. Some of this is to be expected. However, every site has major shortcomings to the point where I'm disgusted with nearly all of them!

• Dropbox works. I've occasionally had trouble working on Powerpoint files while they sit in Dropbox. I now move them out of dropbox to work on them and move them back when I'm done.
• Cubby works but has the annoying habit of using a small portion of the CPU almost constantly. I haven't figured out what it's doing.
• SugarSync: When two computers were seeded with the same folder, SugarSync failed to recognize that the files were identical. In trying to reconcile them, SugarSync created a host of files on one computer with file names that included "copy conflicted with [the name of the other computer]. AVOID
• Google Drive chokes on some file types.
• Skydrive. Will not work under Windows XP.
• Jottacloud. Sync feature have not yet been introduced.
• Copy does not sync reliably for me. Some changes sit on the computer where they were made without propagating to other computers. DO NOT USE! Box Sync changes file modification dates to the time the file was transferred to a particular computer. DO NOT USE!
• AeroFS was to be my hope for syncing 120+ GB of music files between my desktop and laptop computers. After a lot of effort, I've finally abandoned it. It wasn't syncing!
• Syncbox works! It lets you designate one of your computers as a server, giving you your own personal Dropbox service. I'm now looking to see how much of a toll it takes on system performance.
• Box Sync. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID! (Did I say, "AVOID?") Box Sync changes file time stamps when it moves a file to a different computer. In the picture at the top of this post, you can see what happened when I transferred a directory of files from my home computer to my office computer. On the right, Cubby (or most any other sync program). On the left, Box Sync? Notice the difference? Check the time stamps.

  I suppose that to be fair I should mention that Cubby and Copy had the same problem until I pointed it out to them. They both corrected the problem. I have no doubt that eventually Box Sync will fix it, too, but, until then AVOID, AVOID, AVOID! (Did I say, "AVOID?")

For more details, see my earlier posts.