File Sharing of the Future

File Sharing of the Future
Technological advancements just continue to gain momentum and new, revolutionary and convenient inventions end up having shorter shelf lives than sardines. I remember just a few sweet years ago staying up all night so that I could go to Staples at 5am on Black Friday to pick up a couple of 2 Gb zip drives for under ten bucks. I did it the next year so that I could pick up some 8 Gb drives too. Zip drives were the junk! And they still are convenient when you want to transfer files and data between people in the same room as you, but if you are like me, the rest of the world probably doesn’t live with you. So when I want to send files to friends or coworkers in different towns or states I needed a new way to send my stuff. I didn’t want to pay postage, I didn’t want to give up my zip drive during route, I didn’t want to wait days for the data to arrive, plus the files I wanted to send were much too large to send through email. I also want to be able to receive feedback regularly, not every couple of days. So what did I do? I turned to Cloud Storage.

Cloud storage is a term referring to online hard drives that can be accessed anywhere you go. It is great for companies and consumers alike. Certain sites out there allow for up to 8 gigabytes or more storage space for FREE! Larger amount of space is available for monthly or annual fees if you need more space. To check out a list of free Cloud Storage sites click here. And best of all, since most people want all of their information available with them all the time, on-the-go, in their pockets, the majority of Cloud Storage servers are available for Android, iPhones, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry’s as well.
Now, there are tons of Cloud Storage companies, and I’ll admit I didn’t check them all out. If you have the time and space and patience (I know I don’t) to check out a bunch of them then have at it, but I checked a few out and my favorite is SugarSync. I am usually an advocate of anything Google, but at this point in the Cloud game Google is not quite up to par. Google Docs can actually be used as a cloud storage unit, but most people aren’t even aware that it is capable of doing so. It only provides 1 gig of storage space at this time anyway. This is sure to change soon as Google is planning to come up with an awesome new Cloud Storage feature that is sure to blow the competition out of the water as Google usually does. More about that here and here. Apple is also in the process of developing iCloud, which will feature 5GB of free storage and should be released in the near future.
So here is why SugarSync is so awesome.

First off, its FREE (up to a maximum of 5GBs of storage at any given time). It is also a relatively small program – 31MB – so it downloads quick and installs quickly as well. SugarSync also lets you upload folders which is a huge plus – and actually a rare attribute of Cloud Storage. DropBox, which is the name of the game in cloud storage does not allow folders to be added to public folders, which is really annoying and it only has a maximum of 2GB of free storage. Amazon has a cloud storage feature as well, but it does not allow folders to be uploaded, only individual files. Microsoft also offers a cloud storage program called SkyDrive which offers 25GB of free storage. There are a couple downsides, however. You must have or create a Windows Live account to get access to SkyDrive and it doesn’t allow ANY folders to be uploaded! Fail!
SugarSync, while more modest in size than SkyDrive, does allow folders to be uploaded, which for me is a necessity. Plus there is no rule against deleting the files once you have transferred them to the desired destination (coworker, friend, alternate computer etc) and then uploading new files and so on and so on. Another cool thing about SugarSync is that any files uploaded can be either kept private or made public individually. Shared folders can be used to work on large group projects or simply to exchange data/programs/files etc with those in your shared folder.

Files in the Public Folder can be access by any who are given the secret URL that is created. Make sure you have permission to upload any file that is not yours. Here is an example of just a single image in my public folder that you can view here. And, yes, I let my bearded dragons ride on the dashboard while I drive around on the freeway…
There are several other things you can do with SugarSync and other cloud storage programs. I just personally use them for transferring files with specific people more than storage. If you would like more details about how to use the program or watch videos etc about its uses then check out CloudU Blog. The folks at SugarSync created CloudU, a blog dedicated to all of the different applications that be done with this program and how a variety of different professions can benefit from it specifically: these.
Once again, here is the link to SugarSync . Any questions, just ask below. Enjoy!