http://www.getdropbox.com http://syncplicity.com http://nomadesk.com Ever since I got a laptop I've been testing out the many sync programs available. Here are my reviews. Dropbox backup/sync This was the first program I tested out. Tested it using a PC connected to XP and my laptop with Vista. This was by far the best one of the free. It was very stable and took only about 30MB of ram. It allowed me to sync files without delay and had a pretty quick upload rate. Over 3 months I have never lost and files that I saved using Dropbox. Dropbox creates a folder in My Documents and any files or folders added to that folder will be synced with any other computer hooked up to your account and running Dropbox and it will also back up the files on the Dropbox servers. Files uploaded to dropbox also can be shared for anyone to download and they also have a Flash gallery for pictures. Any added files or changes will update automatically. You can save your files straight to the folder using windows and dropbox will do the rest. Dropbox is also avaliable for the Mac OS. Currently they offer 2GBs of free sync/backup hosting. Syncplicity backup/sync Couple of weeks after downloading dropbox and using up my 2GBs I started searching for a program that offered more free space. I found Syncplicity. It offers 5 FREE GIGS of backup/sync. Syncplicity was also as stable as Dropbox. It does use up a bit more ram. I have ran both Dropbox and Syncplicity simultaneously and they work fine together. Syncplitiy also creates a folder in My Documents which is automatically synced/backed up when files are added or edited. Sharing your files is also permitted. No mac version. NomaDesk backup/sync Having used up my total of 7GBs I continued looking for another free sync/backup program. I ran into NomaDesk. Still in beta testing supposedly the offer UNLIMITED BACKUP/SYNC for free until final release. The full version is due out in a couple of months and will start at 3$ a month for UNLIMITED and prices go up with options such as a team server (where multiple users can edit files). Sharing your files is also permitted. With the same technology as dropbox and syncplicity NomaDesk automatically updates files added and backs them up on their server, and syncs them to any other connected PCs. INSTEAD of creating a folder in My Documents tho, it creates a whole new drive on your PC which you save the files you want synced/backed up to. One problem with NomaDesk is it used up the most ram, 50MB when updating. NomaDesk also has another major flaw. When I added more than 5 files at a time to the NomaDesk drive my computer froze. CNTRL+ALT+DEL did not even work. If you do not plan on dragging multiple files at one time to the NomaDesk drive this program works fine. I would suggest if you are going to backup or sync files larger than 50MBs do not use NomaDesk since it may freeze your PC. Mac version coming this or next month. ------------------------------------- Overall Dropbox and Syncplitiy delivered 100% great results. Dropbox offers 2 free gigs and syncplicity offers 5 free gigs. Both programs work great even when ran together. NomaDesk only scored lower because of the problem syncing files greater than 50MBs. NomaDesk works fine for syncing single files at a time smaller than 50MBs and I would definatly use it for smaller files. Nomadesk is offering UNLIMITED free backup/sync until the final release which is due in a couple of months. After that unlimited will be 3$ a month with prices going up with more services. Another sync program which I did not fully test is SugarSync. I ran it for a couple of days and it is as stable/good as Dropbox. Only negative is the free plan only goes for 45 days and you have to pay after that.
