Whether you are using it to back up your files or to share your documents with colleagues and friends, reliable online storage can be a very handy thing to have. For example, it’s much easier to have your family photos stashed on an online server to share with family rather than having to email all of those images to everyone.
You could certainly make use of a standard blog hosting account somewhere for this purpose, but you may need that space to run your blog or website.
What is Dropbox?
One of the best free services on the Internet is Dropbox. You get your own secure space on their servers where you can stash just about anything that you’d like. I have a folder on there, for example, with a backup of Beyond the Rhetoric. This way, if anything goes wrong here and on my local backup, I have everything backed up remotely with Dropbox. But wait. There’s more.
Multi-Computer File Synchronization
In addition to basic online storage, Dropbox also has a couple of extra features that can be very useful.
First, you can install some software on your computer and it will automatically sync your designated folder with your Dropbox account. Each time that you change a file or upload a new file in that folder, those changes will automatically be pushed to your online Dropbox account. The reverse is also true. If you install this software on multiple computers, you can effectively have synchronized files across all of those computers. This can serve as a great freelance writing tool if you keep switching between your desktop and laptop.
Second, any file stored in your Dropbox public folder can be easily shared with anyone. From your local folder, right-clicking on the file will reveal an option to copy the sharing URL. This link can then be given to your friends via email, Twitter, or however else you choose to communicate with people online. Attachment sizes can be quite limited when it comes to web-based email accounts, so Dropbox can be a great alternative for sending large files.
How to Get the Bonus Storage
If you sign up for a basic (free!) Dropbox account, you get 2GB of online space. However, if you sign up with this link, you get a bonus 250MB, bumping your total storage to 2.25GB. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not being paid to write about Dropbox, but I do get that same 250MB bonus for any referrals I send their way. You win and I win. I think that’s fair and I really do think that the Dropbox service is quite useful.
If you manage to get 10 referrals, do you get an extra 2.5GB in addition to the 2GB of online space?
Yup. I think it’s up to a maximum of 3GB additional space.
Well, I can see some value in a system like this, but I don’t forsee myself signing up at this time. Thanks for the heads-up though and I’ll keep this in mind if I decide I need something like this.
By the way, I will be interested to know how much space you end up with at the end of this promotion 🙂 …or is that their “affilate program” rather than a limited time promo?
I’m not sure if this is a limited time offer or if it is their ongoing promotion. Thus far, I think I’ve sent one referral their way after this post. I got a couple through Facebook and Twitter a little while ago too, so I’m at 2.75GB total. I don’t plan on using all of the space, but it’s nice to know that it’s there (and it’s free).
That’s not too bad, and the price is definitely right. How comfortable with them are you though? What are they getting for giving you access to all that storage space? A little data mining perhaps?
That’s a possibility, which is why I wouldn’t put anything too private on there.