IDisk vs Dropbox

[TotallyOz]

Why is IDisk SOOOO much slower than Dropbox? I have been using Dropbox for a while and love it. I rarely leave an Apple product but Dropbox seems far superior IMHO. Anyone else tried both? What do you think?

[Guest JamesIvory]

I don't have experience with either but Dropbox looks interesting. I might give it a try. I use Carbonite for my backup and can access it from any device but its more for storage than sharing across different platforms.

If I understand Dropbox accurately it appears its what Evernote is to notes?

I be interested in hearing more if you or someone has the time.

[Guest EXPAT]

Why is IDisk SOOOO much slower than Dropbox? I have been using Dropbox for a while and love it. I rarely leave an Apple product but Dropbox seems far superior IMHO. Anyone else tried both? What do you think?

Why do you need either one? I have never found a reason for any of those services.

[TotallyOz]

I don't have experience with either but Dropbox looks interesting. I might give it a try. I use Carbonite for my backup and can access it from any device but its more for storage than sharing across different platforms. If I understand Dropbox accurately it appears its what Evernote is to notes?I be interested in hearing more if you or someone has the time.

Dropbox is great if you want to free up space on your hard drive. For example, I work on a document called Male Escort Review Escort of the Year Contest. I also want TY to help with that. I place it in a folder that gives him access and he can then work on it too. The last change will appear the next time I use drop box. I have not tested it this way yet.

I use it as I don't want tons of files on my computer and I can free up 100G of free space. That is not a great deal on my Imac but it is on my laptop. It also gives me access to the files on all computers I use without having to transfer via e-mail, etc.

Ex: I am working on document Male Escort Review Escort of the Year Contest on my IMac and I keep that document in my Dropbox. I take an airplane to USA and I use my laptop, I can work on the document and save changes to it on my travels. I then sit in MacDonald's with my IPad and I get a great idea. I open my Dropbox and make the changes. When I unpack my IMac, the changes are all there. I don't have anything to transfer.

It is not for everyone, but for me, I love it as I use many computers and at different places and always hated transferring things via e-mail or via disk from one computer to the next.

If my computer dies, (usually doesn't happen with Apple but it does from time to time), I don't have to worry about a back up as all I need to do is log into drop box. All my documents are there.

On a recent trip to Brazil, I needed access to my passport at one office but did not have it with me. I used my IPad and opened up dropbox and got my information there and showed them the passport on my IPad. It was good enough for them.

I guess for those that never change computers and never have a computer to fail and always keep backups of all documents in multiple places, this may not be worth the money. But, you get 2G free a year. Try it and see if worth it to you.

Why do you need either one? I have never found a reason for any of those services.

I have used IDisk a great deal over the years. I love it. It is simple and easy to use but slow. I store all kinds of info there and come back to it when needed. The big difference between it and dropbox is that IDisk is storage while dropbox seems to be a replacement for your harddrive. I am not sure if that makes any sense at all but I tried.

I love having the ability to loose a computer and have instant access to all my programs, etc. I keep copies of all software applications on it and a few years back, I did break a laptop. I asked Apple to restore to my IDisk Account. The next day, all my programs, documents, etc. were back on my computer. For me, it was worth 100 bucks a year for this.

[Guest EXPAT]

I guess the only real reason is when you need to share large documents when you are not close to the person sharing it. Otherwise storing on local hard drives is really easy and very cheap. I think these services are not safe. I have great difficulty believing that they are safe under any circumstances. I also find it hard to believe that anyone will use any cloud service either. I don't see myself ever using one of those services at least not for any kind of storage. I might only for temporary transfer to another user only.

[TotallyOz]

I also find it hard to believe that anyone will use any cloud service either.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I see this as the future. I may be wrong.

But, look at the Mac Air. It has little hard drive space and it is really meant to live in the cloud.

Apple is moving its .me over to the cloud.

Apple is moving its ITunes over the the cloud.

I just see this as the start of hard drives being less relevant and clouds being more relevant.

I don't know what the future holds, but I love the fact I could hook a tiny Mac Air up to the Internet and access all I need from anywhere.

My bet is that in a new model, the Air will have a 3G or 4G chip to allow access to the net via mobile technology.

I do think cloud storage is the way things are moving.

[Guest JamesIvory]

But, you get 2G free a year. Try it and see if worth it to you.

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense especially since I have just added the iPad to join my laptop and desktop. I find myself taking my iPadd to the coffee shop more often than the laptop these days but never seem to have the program or doc I feel like working with at that time. Dropbox seems to be a good idea when working between the three of them.

I am going to give the free version a try.

[Guest EXPAT]

iTunes may be going to the cloud but that's because they want you to buy their service to store your music. I won't be doing it. You will still be able to download your music as you have before. I have a Time Machine and another local backup drive that keeps all of my data files and applications in the event there is a computer failure. Backup disks are so cheap that it is far cheaper to do that than pay an annual fee to a cloud service. I just know how easy it is to access information stored centrally despite what they tell you. Security is the issue for me. I won't be joining any of those cloud services except when I absolutely have to share something with someone not close to me.

[Guest JamesIvory]

Expat you bring up a good point about security also privacy should be added to the list of concerns. However, sometimes you just have to trust in a product.

All your backup hard drives will be useless if your home should suffer a major event like weather or fire. FOr $60 a year I get unlimited backup that happens automatically using carbonite. I can access my info from any device and to me giving them trust over the alternatives was the way to go. Plus $50 is less than I spend on a good steak dinner.

The Dropbox plan is a bit excessive and I do not get the feeling they are really meant to be used as a backup service but rather a file sharing service with your other devices or with others.