Goggle Drive Works Really Great For Sharing Chief Files

[fcwilt]

Okay Fred, I have file ZZZ on computer A, on computert B, on computer C and on drop box. They are all identical at all four locations.

On monday I go to computer A, open the file ZZZ on computer A and I change the front window to an arched window.

On tuesday I go to computer B, open the file ZZZ on computer B and I change the front window to a round window

On Wednesday I go to computer C, open the file ZZZ that is in drop box, what do I see, a round window or an arched window?

Assuming that all of the files are in a DropBox folder on the respective computers:

On Tuesday you would have opened the file on Computer B and seen the changes you made on Monday.

On Wednesday you would have opened the file on Computer C and seen the changes you made on Tuesday.

[fcwilt]

Yes, I am saving directly to the drop box folder, i mean the drop box web site.

Which is it? There is a DropBox folder on each computer on which you install the DropBox application.

That's where you keep you files that you want DropBox to manage.

You rarely need to go to the DropBox web site but you might do that to fetch a file while using a computer that did not have DropBox installed.

[Dave Pitman]

Scott, for just a minute, take the position that you are wrong, even though you can't find the files on your hard drive. You admit that you have a problem with Windows file structure, and by watching your video it is clear.

The cloud based services like DropBox, Drive, SkyDrive, etc. keep a local copy on all of your devices that you have connected to your account. They have software on your device that monitors those folders and files for any changes, and attempts to sync them across all of your devices. That is how they work.

I showed you how you were able to access the file, even when you were not connected to the internet. Is that not enough proof?

If the system worked like you want it to, if you were not able to connect to the internet, you would be sh*t out of luck and very unhappy if you needed access to those files. That is one reason it does not work the way you think.

Just take our word for it, and move on.

[HumbleChief]

The Favorites Folder is on your hard drive. You can argue that if you want and I have much respect if you want to see it differently, but the Favorites folder is on your hard drive - you can't change that, it' simply a fact - whether you see it that way or not that's cool by me.

The Drop Box folder is a subfolder of your Favorites folder, still on your hard drive. If you want to think of the Drop Box folder as being somewhere other than on your hard drive then it's all good by me.

The important thing about this discussion is that whoever is reading this thread understands how these cloud services work. If you don't understand that DB keeps a file on your hard disk AND in the cloud (you can watch any video or read any tutorial that will say the same thing) then you could be setting yourself up for a rude awakening.

So even though you insist that your Drop Box folder isn't on your hard drive just keep your mind open a little bit to think that it MIGHT be on your hard drive so in the future you're better prepared to manage all your flies no matter where they are.

[dshall]

WAIT, said the blind man, I understand what you have been drilling in my little head. You say it is on my hard drive, it is taking up space on my hard drive, I think you are saying if somebody steals all 6 devices that I have dropbox on, I am SOL.

So if somebody steals 5 of my devices, at least I have one device in my possession which is acting like a back up for my files. As long as I have my device password protected, if somebody steals my devices, they will not be able to remove my files.

I think I get it now, sorry for being so pigheaded.

Boy, do I feel like a nimrod.

Thanks guys.

One final thought, since I have dropbox on my IPHONE, and you guys say that the files reside on the devices, does that mean I just put 60 gig of files on my IPHONE?

[fcwilt]

[QUOTE=HumbleChief;485735
I'm not sure how DB works but is it possible to 'unsync' your files in such a way that they ONLY live in the 'clowd' on the DB or Drive servers?
[/QUOTE]

Why would you want to do that? If it worked that way, then every time you wanted to work on a file, using one of your computers, you would have to go the DropBox web site and download the file first.

The DropBox application takes care of that for you keeping the local files on your various computers up-to-date so the files are already where they need to be (on your computers) so you can work on them.

If the files were ONLY on the DropBox server and you lost you Internet connection you could not access your files.

As long as you have an Internet connection some of the time the DropBox application will upload/download files as needed whenever it can.

In addition you have multiple copies of the files which is a good thing.

[saecurtis]

Scott - Your files are on your hard drive under the "My Documents/Dropbox" folder. They take up physical space on your hard drive and actually reside on your local drive. If you disconnect from the internet and open a file under your My Documents/Dropbox, it will open and you can edit and save it.
As soon as you connect to the internet, the file will update on the Dropbox cloud server and update the file on all the hard drives of the devices you are syncing under your Dropbox account.

Just like you have done, I have my entire working directory located in the Dropbox folder. I don't work from another folder and drag copies to the Dropbox folder for backup.

On the occasions where I meet a client at their house, generally, I don't connect to their network...so I have no internet access.
I open their plan from within my Dropbox directory, I make their desired changes, save and close the plan and put my laptop in the bag.
I drive to the office, take the laptop out and turn it on. At this point, my laptop automatically connects to my network and automatically syncs my Dropbox files.
Now, when I go to my desktop computer and access the plan file, it is updated.

If I hadn't connected my laptop to my office network first, I wouldn't have access to the most recent version from my desktop computer.

[Doug Park]

Drop box is a synchronization service. Files are stored locally and then synchronized in the background.

From the dropbox web site:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/4/en

[dshall]

Scott - Your files are on your hard drive under the "My Documents/Dropbox" folder. They take up physical space on your hard drive and actually reside on your local drive. If you disconnect from the internet and open a file under your My Documents/Dropbox, it will open and you can edit and save it.
As soon as you connect to the internet, the file will update on the Dropbox cloud server and update the file on all the hard drives of the devices you are syncing under your Dropbox account.

Just like you have done, I have my entire working directory located in the Dropbox folder. I don't work from another folder and drag copies to the Dropbox folder for backup.

On the occasions where I meet a client at their house, generally, I don't connect to their network...so I have no internet access.
I open their plan from within my Dropbox directory, I make their desired changes, save and close the plan and put my laptop in the bag.
I drive to the office, take the laptop out and turn it on. At this point, my laptop automatically connects to my network and automatically syncs my Dropbox files.
Now, when I go to my desktop computer and access the plan file, it is updated.

If I hadn't connected my laptop to my office network first, I wouldn't have access to the most recent version from my desktop computer.

Thanks Steve, I think I finally get it. But it did occur to me since I have dropbox on my iPhone, are all those files now on my iPhone, 50+ gigs. I did not think my iphone was big enough to have that much stuff on it.

The point here is, I am relying on dropbox to provide back up for my files. Are these files on my two iMacs, my pc, my iPad, my iPhone and my MacBook Pro? Do I actually have 6 copies of these files spread over my 6 devices. It is starting to make sense to me now.

And if that is the case, aren't I completely backed up many times over?

[fcwilt]

So if somebody steals 5 of my devices, at least I have one device in my possession which is acting like a back up for my files. As long as I have my device password protected, if somebody steals my devices, they will not be able to remove my files.

One final thought, since I have dropbox on my IPHONE, and you guys say that the files reside on the devices, does that mean I just put 60 gig of files on my IPHONE?

Don't forget the copy of the file out on the DropBox server. Assuming the person who stole all of your computers doesn't delete your DropBox account or the files on the DropBox server you can retrieve those copies (do it as soon as you notice your computers have been stolen).

As far a mobile devices I cannot give you an answer since I haven't used DropBox on one. I will research that.

BUT if I were coding such an application like DropBox, for mobile devices, I would deal with the potentially very limited space on a mobile device by keeping on the mobile device "pseudo-files" which would automatically download the actual file when you tried to open the "pseudo-file". You wouldn't notice the difference except for the slowness of opening the file. I might chose to try and optimize the performance by keeping small files (have to define "small" first) on the mobile device and using the "pseudo-file" approach for "not-small" files.


JOOC are there any mobile apps for viewing/editing CA files???

[saecurtis]

Mobile devices work a bit differently than actual computers. I believe only an index file is synced to the device, and when you select a file to open, it downloads only that file to the device.

[dshall]

Don't forget the copy of the file out on the DropBox server..........?

Ahhhhhhh, so dropbox also has a copy of the files. So if all 6 devices are stolen, there is still a copy on the dropbox server that I could access via a brand new device. This would explain why they charge for the amount of storage, because they too are using their space to store my files.

Thanks Fred, Dave, Steve et al, I truly appreciate your patience with me, I think I get it now.

[Charles Volz]

I use Dropbox and love it.

Dropbox installed an icon on my taskbar. When I click on it you have the choice of going to Dropbox using the local files ("Dropbox Folder") or the internet files ("Dropbox.com"). Try it.

[Dave Pitman]

Phones and Tablets DO NOT automatically sync the files locally. I said that long ago (last night).

[saecurtis]

Thanks Steve, I think I finally get it. But it did occur to me since I have dropbox on my iPhone, are all those files now on my iPhone, 50+ gigs. I did not think my iphone was big enough to have that much stuff on it.

The point here is, I am relying on dropbox to provide back up for my files. Are these files on my two iMacs, my pc, my iPad, my iPhone and my MacBook Pro? Do I actually have 6 copies of these files spread over my 6 devices. It is starting to make sense to me now.

And if that is the case, aren't I completely backed up many times over?

Yes, you are backed up many times over. However, if you delete a file from one computer, it will delete them on all computers. That's where the "PackRat" service (it comes with a Dropbox subscription) comes in handy. It works as a true back-up software, allowing you to restore deleted files, or restore previous version of a file.