I use two computers (and one iPod touch) for work, for blogging and for other activities that involve connecting to the Internet. One is a rather heavy notebook which I keep at home, and the other is a lightweight netbook for when I’m out. I also have a 320-gigabyte Western Digital™ backup drive, and two 4-gig USB flash drives. The latter is used for shuttling files to and from my two computers.
It’s really cumbersome, the way I try to keep my files synchronized. There is a nifty little tool called SyncToy, which makes the task of copying files and folders between computers much easier. But it’s still not the best solution out there. And now I think I’ve found it!
One of my friends invited me to join Dropbox, and it came at just the right moment for me. I was working on a Japanese translation project, and it was such a hassle syncing the documents between my two computers. There was even a time when I forgot to copy the latest files from my home computer, and I had gone out of town!
The beauty of Dropbox is in its treatment of your synced files. You actually have local files on all your Dropbox-connected computers, and they’re all the same files. When you work on your files in one computer (files that you have dropped into your Dropbox folder), the system automatically synchronizes them to your online account. As soon as your other Dropbox-connected computers are online, they will automatically retrieve your changed files to update their local counterparts.
Neat huh? So here’s the setup. You install a desktop application that runs in the background, and Dropbox creates a folder that it will watch (normally it’s under My Documents). Whatever files and sub-folders you create in that folder will be synced to your online account.
It’s so easy for me now, switching from my laptop to my netbook, and back again. I can even view my Dropbox-synced files on my iPod touch! Here’s a screenshot of the app’s welcome screen. (There is also a version for the iPad, of course.) You can copy photos to your albums, and view files such as Microsoft® Word & Excel, as well as PDF files.
For those who use no more than one computer, Dropbox can still come in handy as an online backup facility. The only setback is, you only get 2 gigabytes worth of space. Nowadays, what’s 2GB, right? However, if you get your friends to sign up, you’ll get more space, up to a maximum of 8GB. Still not nearly enough for today’s netizen, but it’s a start.
This is not a paid post. But, if you click on the Dropbox link and sign up, you’ll help me get more storage space! 
Very timely tip, Blogie! I just signed up thru your link. Hope you get the extra 250megs. Keep up the great blog man!
Yup, I got it! Thank you for signing up with Dropbox via my referral link, Robin. And thanks for reading my blog.
I always use Dropbox for my laptop and iPod Touch as well as another Dropbox account on all my work related training unit because I no longer need to copy the trainee's files on my USB, I simply check them on my Dropbox
Sorry blogs wala nako na kita ning link hehee .. naka register ko na wala reference … but thanks for the tip …. Very helpful … I recommend you guys click the link above to help blogie get more space