Infinite data retention guaranteed free of failure?

As one very simplistic example of what Dropbox can do, here's a gallery of pics from a recent skiing outing:

(link removed)

I didn't "upload" those anywhere. They're in a folder on my computer. They're also in a folder on my wife's laptop and our server at home, as well as Dropbox's servers. My whole house could burn down, and those would still be there. I can share the entire folder with a friend, and they can "save" files into that same folder from THEIR computer.

EDIT: I'm thinking twice about having a link out there with my full name and pictures of me on there, so sorry for removing the link. If anyone's actually curious, feel free to PM me for the link.

I don't even use 50% of the 2 gbs I have on my free Dropbox account right now.

That was not my intention and sorry if it came across that way. I just don't have a need for it. It is new to me so I don't know much about it. As DaFace just said, I was seeing it as a means to free up available space on my device.

I guess if I had a tablet, computer and other things where I would like to have immediate access to all of my files it would be well worth the cost to me. But since all I have is a Droid X-2 it is overkill to me.

Just depends on how you use it. Literally every document I have is on there, which includes every digital camera pic I've taken in the past decade. I'm using about 25GB at the moment.

I've literally never needed any type of Dropbox service.

:toast: dude. I was just being overdramatic and giving you a hard time....

As someone in IT, I can tell you that this kind of ease of access and free data retention is really an impressive feat of technology. My organization pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to provide this kind of access and storage on a much much much much smaller scale. It's vastly more complex than just a replacement for an SD card. You'd really be amazed at what this kind of cloud storage can do these days.

LMAO I was thinking to myself, "Did this guy invent the cloud?"

As I read I am starting to see it more of a 3rd party source to network all mobile and home devices while backing up all info to a secure location, which is pretty cool. Especially, the part about if you stop paying it isn't lost; you just need to pay to access it. If you lost everything stored on there I would be furious.

Actually if you stop paying you can still access it anytime without resuming payment. Read only means you can download the file at any time you just can't upload anymore after that.

I'm currently with Carbonite. $99 every 2 years for unlimited storage. So it's unlimited and automatic for about $4/month. Is Google Drive really that much better, I can still access my files on any PC, phone, tablet, etc. Could Google Drive be set up to be automatic like Carbonite?

Unless I've missed a change they've made in the last couple years, Carbonite is a great BACKUP system, but not a SYNCING solution. In other words, Carbonite will upload anything you want from your computer, and you can go and find any of those files (manually) by logging into their website and downloading them as you need them.

Dropbox (and drive) does all that, but where Carbonite is really meant to keep files backed up from one computer, Dropbox will keep a folder synced on MULTIPLE computers. In other words, if you save a file into your Dropbox folder on one computer, it will instantly (ignoring download times) show up in the Dropbox of all of the other computers you have linked up. You can also share folders between accounts if you wish. Finally, there are a variety of sharing options on Dropbox that allow you to give out links that can be clicked in a web browser to access files that are in your Dropbox folder on your computer, which is a nice side benefit.

So basically, if you're just looking for an online backup solution, Carbonite works fine. If you're looking for a way to share files between multiple computers (and people) easily while having a backup solution as a nice side benefit, Dropbox (or Drive) are awesome.

Well damn, I'm starting to feel more and more like Dewey Cox in this scene

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I like the sound of it and I'll definitely use it.

But selective syncing is a must and my dropbox referrals are paying off here.

Meh. I'm getting 50gb storage free on dropbox.

Shit tons of referrals?