[AccessD] DropBox alternatives

[Jim Dettman]

 I take a different approach; I have a PC in the office that I remote into.

 On the plus side; I never have to move files and always have a consistent
environment to work in.   Downside, I need an internet connection on both
ends.   Not usually a problem though. If I'm somewhere without public
internet, I fire up the hotspot on my phone.   Only time I have a problem is
when I'm camping someplace really remote and I expect that problem will be
solved in the next few years with the upgraded Starlink network.   Office
side is never a problem as I have a 1000 mbs up/down on fiber.    If I do
need to work off-line and I know that in advance, I remote in and just
transfer the file(s).

 The setup has worked well over the years, even when I was traveling
heavily.

YMMV,
Jim.

-----Original Message-----
From: AccessD On Behalf Of John Colby
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2024 8:24 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Subject: [AccessD] DropBox alternatives

I apologize for using the group as a sounding board but we have a huge pool
of experience.

My use case is two different laptops, both mine.  Both have DropBox on
them.  I want to be able to use one machine while on the road and the other
machine while at home.  It just rarely works as expected.  Half the time
the files aren't synced.  Some files sync, others never sync (large
TrueCrypt container files).

I started using DropBox years ago in an attempt to use its 'partial sync'
to speed up opening and updating large files.  DropBox claims to be able to
figure out which specific blocks of a file have changed and update exactly
and only those blocks, speeding up saving a large file.  The whole file no
longer needs to be uploaded (in theory).  The issue of course is that
updating a 100 mb file over a home internet with a mbit or two or ten
upload speed takes minutes, or more.  Thus DropBox 'partial update' (which
doesn't appear to work)

AFAICT that has never worked correctly and in most other metrics, drop box
has been a constant PITA.  The UI is horrendous.  The locations on two
computers don't match so, for example (and I do want this) opening a
database with a linked BE doesn't work correctly since the 'path' to the BE
is different on the two machines even though the BE is right there in the
same directory as the FE.  And I have been unable to figure out how to
uninstall DropBox on one machine and completely reinstall it, specifying a
location on my D: drive (for example) .  DropBox seems to feel that it
knows best where to place the local storage.

Anyway, I am about to move on and try to use something else.  Any
recommendations?



-- 
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
-- 
AccessD mailing list
AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com