Much of this article is a repost of a blog that we featured on September 10th, titled Save and access your files in a flash, without a flash drive.  Recently, I have had the privilege of introducing Dropbox to several clients of JumpstartMyPC.com who were very happy with the features and how easy it was to use the product.

A few years ago, Flash drives (also known as Jump or USB drives) become very popular.  At first, they were a bit pricey and you were lucky to get a 2GB drive for under a hundred dollars.  As the popularity grew and the manufacturing price dropped, so did the price of these drives.  They are now so inexpensive and plentiful you can find them in a bowl by the register, right next to the gum and “extra change” dish.  These drives are great, but they have their limitations.  Lack of security, damage, loss, limited space….  Well, there is a new sheriff in town, and its name is Dropbox.

DropBox is a storage application and service operated by Evenflow, Inc.  The service enables users to store and sync files online and between computers.  There are many great features to this product, but best of all IT IS FREE.  I would go on and tell you about all these features, but why recreate the wheel.  The folks at Dropbox have done a fantastic job and telling you all about their product in a simple, easy to understand way.  Follow the link for more information: http://www.getdropbox.com/tour.

I’ll just tell you how Dropbox has made my life easier.  At one point, I had a work computer and 2 home computers.  Someone would ask me for a file and I would have to begin the hunt.  Maybe the file was at my fingertips, maybe it was at home on computer number 1.  On average, I probably spent 10 minutes looking for any given file.  With the introduction of DropBox, this was no longer an issue.  Now, as soon as I decide to save a file that I think might need to be accessed again, it goes straight into my Dropbox.  My Dropbox is accessible on any of my computers (via an icon in the system tray) or from any computer that is connected to the internet (via a web page).

Setting Dropbox up is simple and literally only takes a few minutes.  Set it up on as many PCs as you would like.  Every time you add or update a file, a pop-up tells you about the change on every one of these computers.  You start out with 2GB of storage space, but can increase that to 3GB by telling your friends about the product.  At this point, the product is still completely free.  If you feel you need more space, Dropbox offers a paid subscription for up to 100GB of space.  Personally, I have used Dropbox for almost a year and I still only use a very small portion of the 3GB that I received for free.

Dropbox is great for anyone who has ever:

• Emailed a file to themselves
• Used USB drives to shuttle files around and share them
• Tried to share large files but couldn’t because of email attachment limits
• Needed automatic backup of documents with zero setup and maintenance
• Wanted to share files with minimal effort
• Needed to access their files remotely on other computers

This is by far one of the best tools out there and you have absolutely nothing to lose.  It’s FREE!

UPDATE: Since we originally posted our article back in September, Dropbox has also been released for the iPhone.  Never be without your important documents again.

Tags: Dropbox, Flash Drives, iPhone, Jump Drives, Storage, USB Drives

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 8:44 am and is filed under Free Programs, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.