Backing up files in the cloud has become an activity that has been made sufficiently intuitive to actually improve productivity. Easy-to-use automatic backup clients like Dropbox, Live SkyDrive and Mozy give people easy backup or synchronization facilities. SugarSync is another player in the folder synchronization segment, allowing you to have your files available on all your computers, as well as online. A direct comparison between SugarSync and the better-known Dropbox is the crux of this article.
Plans
It appears as if SugarSync is really focused on keeping as close to its competitors as possible. For starters, the free plan is – as with Dropbox – 2GB by default. One can invite someone or be invited, which will give you both an extra – as with Dropbox – 250MB, up to – as with Dropbox – a 5GB max (you might get 5GB extra instead of max. 5GB in total, but that wasn’t at all clear). However, when we have a look at the (individual) payed plans, SugarSync does a lot better than Dropbox: for $119.88 a year one can get 50GB for Dropbox, while you get 60GB for $99.99 at SugarSync. A year of Dropbox’s Pro 100GB plan will cost you $239.88, but no more than $149.99 for SugarSync’s services. In short, when you need lots of space, it’s quite expensive for both services, especially compared to Google’s current rates (which does NOT include such a backup client, though), but between the two SugarSync is significantly cheaper.
Installation
After registration – in which you get a nice username.sugarsync.com subdomain – we see the first difference between Dropbox and SugarSync: Dropbox supports Windows, MacOS as well as Linux where SugarSync lacks the latter. However, SugarSync is well-represented in the mobile segment: Dropbox has an iPhone application, but SugarSync tops that with support for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile. This gives SugarSync a significant advantage.
During the installation, I found it quite elegant that SugarSync gives a warning before it momentarily closes Explorer in order to load SugarSync’s Explorer extension. This extension will point out per file and folder whether it is synchronized (similar to Dropbox’s Explorer extension). Last time I checked, Dropbox doesn’t give this message on installation, something that’ll lead to a loss of all opened Explorer windows without any warning. With SugarSync, you can even choose to skip loading its extension for the moment.
The sign-in screen with a nice hummingbird or robin gives a Twitter-like appearance, and the icons/avatars you can choose for registering and identifying your computer are quite childish, but sufficient.
Configuration
SugarSync allows you to sync more than one folder between a number of computers. You can set up per system which folders need to be synchronized. In addition, the Magic Briefcase sort of works like the Dropbox folder: whatever you put in there will be synchronized between all your computers. This gives SugarSync a whole lot of extra versatility compared to Dropbox, something I consider to be a significant reason to choose for this service.
Most of the Manager software is worked out into more detail in the web interface: the selection of the folders to be synchronized is the spearhead of the whole, apart from a slider to select the bandwidth usage (low, medium, high). Overall the upload speed was quite low. On specification of the folders, it would have been even better if one could group the selected folders under virtual folders/groups, instead of the current presentation of all folders in one flattened structure.
Resources
While uploading for the first time I was quite shocked by SugarSync’s resource usage: on average over 280MB of memory was used and my C2D 2.4GHz was used for 30-50% by the Manager process. Luckily this was only due to the initial indexing of all files in the selected folders. CPU usage on upload dropped to less than 2%, memory usage however stayed the same. Upon a restart, this dropped to 25MB, though, but it it did rise again over time (up to about 60MB during testing). Dropbox uses – primarily due to its Python framework – about 56MB of RAM on start-up/while indexing (on an x64 version of Windows 7), increasing slightly on syncing, but over time it can drop to about 27MB. Dropbox’s CPU usage is somewhat more than SugarSync, that might be because of its differential file synchronization and compression method.
Versioning
Versioning is implemented nicely in both services, although significantly different. Quoting the Support page: “SugarSync automatically backs up the last 5 versions of a synced file. Only the current version of a file counts against your storage quota.” This, however, is only the case for a paid plan. Free plans allow for 2 versions per file. Dropbox takes another approach, saving an infinite amount of versions for all your files, but only for 30 days. If you want to extend this indefinitely, you have to add the Pack-Rat extension to your paid plan. What’s best of course entirely depends on your own behavior: if you save your files after every little change, SugarSync’s version management might not be enough, whereas if you’re saving sparingly and like to have an older version around for longer than 30 days to fall back on, it might turn out to be better. In addition, you can put a particular version of a file inside SugarSync’s Web Archive.
As with Dropbox, you’ll get a nice overview of the latest changes (additions, removals and updates of files and folders), although Dropbox’s grouping of events and full history logs is a significantly better implementation.
Extras
In addition to folder synchronization, SugarSync has quite a few interesting other features. For one it has a Web Archive: “A place to put copies of files that you do not want to automatically sync when you edit or delete the original version. You can use it to free up disk space on your computer by securely backing up your files remotely.”
Furthermore, there’s support for real-time streaming of music and videos to Android phones, you can create multiple photo galleries, you can directly view and share photos from your mobile, publish photos directly to Facebook and share several folders with customized privileges and then there’s that magic briefcase thingy. From the web interface you can – as in Dropbox’s – download multiple files in zip-files, send multiple files by email and access previous versions. In addition, SugarSync will send you an email message as soon as someone accessed the files you sent them, simply brilliant. With WebSync, a Java applet allows you to edit any file directly from the web interface on any computer and sync the updated file to the web and your other computers.
Dropbox allows you to run a simple website from within the /public folder, I couldn’t find such a feature in SugarSync, although that doesn’t mean the feature’s not there.
The SymLink/Junctions story
As with Dropbox, changes of files and folders inside directory junctions or symbolic links are not recognized instantly by SugarSync’s client. I suppose this is an issue linked to Microsoft’s implementation of symlinks, but either way it makes it impossible to create your own virtual folder structure inside a sync-folder: files and folders will only be updated upon a restart of the client. For Dropbox, this meant that you should put anything in the Dropbox folder and then make symlinks on the locations you originally wanted the files to be. Not a good thing. At least with SugarSync you’re allowed to choose multiple folders, but it won’t allow you to subsequently create a virtual folder structure. For some extra customizability, though, SugarSync does allow you to exclude subfolders of a synced folder.
Conclusion
Use SugarSync. It’s that simple. Dropbox lacks flexibility when it comes to folder specification (this might change in the future) and on top of that SugarSync comes with extensive mobile platform support, better sharing functionality and for more “professional” use a nicer pricing. The only BIG “but” here is that SugarSync still does not offer a Linux client.
Pros
- Does everything that Dropbox does
- Extensive support for all popular mobile platforms
- Multiple folders sync (set up individually per computer)
- Offers more attractive payed plans
Cons
- No Linux client
- Maximum of 2 computers to be linked to a free account
- Only 2 previous versions of a file saved for free accounts (5 for paid plans)
- Unpredictable memory use (can be important for those 1GB RAM netbooks)
Update: thanks to some comments below, I got some more information about the restrictions of the free plan. First, as already mentioned by caschy below, you can only backup & sync from max. 2 computers per account – with a paid plan the number of computers is unlimited.
Furthermore, I checked both versioning systems to some more detail. For that, see the ‘Versioning’ header.
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41 Comments
Big CON: SugarSync free syncs only 2 computers
I wouldn’t be so quick to leave good ol’ dropbox.
What we need is a not a one-time-use review of the features, but someone with several months of experience comparing that.
I use dropbox for free, and being able to sync more than 2 computers, as well as share my files with dozens of colleagues is very important to me.
The downloading/uploading speed is also a very important issue. I often use dropbox between two adjustant PCs because it is just as fast than copying a file on a USB device.
If I have a sync / sharing client that is slow (as we’ve seen in the comments) I wouldn’t be able to use it as easily, for tasks such as notes sharing, and even writing code with other people. I would often save my file and put my windows in sleep mode knowing it takes dropbox merely a second to sync.
Resource wise I also like that dropbox is very light on the good ol’ PC from 2004.
We need more objective reviews, especially following periods of long use.
Finally, one of the few positive feedback about how SugarSync wins over DropBox. Don't get me wrong – Both are good but SugarSync stands out more for me. Just don't understand why people want to sync just a single dropbox location (without the workarounds that is), when SugarSync can sync different folders. Resource-wise, DropBox sucks too based on my tests. Correction: SugarSync with multiple computers, just that you need to go with the paid Pro version. That is not considered as a CON, which is misleading.
Nevertheless, go with what you like. You'll won't go wrong with either of these two. I don't work for SugarSync and only have a free account. Once my disk space goes beyond 2GB, I will upgrade for sure. I just don't understand why there are SO many people vouching for DropBox (I have an account too) when SugarSync is a clear winner unless you use Linux. Until DropBox has the capability to sync multiple folders, it will remain as my fallback plan.
I really like this review – simply because finally, it's an accurate review of these two products. All I see from other sites is just DropBox rocks over SugarSync with no justification or reason why. Pardon me but I really feel most of the DropBox users don't know what they are talking about. This review is what a review should be all about – an extremely clear comparison. Can DropBox users comment here what feature/s it has that makes it better (e.g. LANsync but it's not important to me) than SugarSync? Just don't post “DropBox rocks”.
Yae FairplusSquare!
I agree about this Dropbox nonsense. It’s way too expensive for what it offers and a 2gb freebie is no good to me anyway. I’ve already got an 8gb thumb-drive on my key ring! I need real backup – also music streaming is something I use far more than I expected. It’s a great feature. Has Dropbox got that? Er, not really no.
I’ve been using SugarSync for some time now and it’s very lean on system resource while giving you total choice over which folders you sync on each machine and which you don’t.
Check here for a comparison http://www.sugarsync.com/sync_comparison.html
Fair enough if you run Linux or Ubuntu, Dropbox has to be for you but if you use cloud storage systems on a daily basis for serious work you need rich and flexible features, aggressive pricing and ease of use. No contest.
SugarSync wins – hands down.
My thoughts exactly, FairplusSquare.
It's still not perfect, and after reading about the differences between version history functionality of the two services, that might be a significant reason for some to choose one of these services.
And thanks for the big compliment, by the way!
I used both of these services for the past half year syncing between my laptop (which I leave at school) and my desktop computer at home, and I eventually switched to Dropbox only for one reason, the upload/download speeds to Dropbox servers are signifcantly faster than those to Sugarsync.
As a medical student I want to have all my latest changes to Onenote uploaded quickly before I shut down and head to my next class or home, etc. Which means at the end of the day my laptop has 5-10 100MB+ files to sync, due to the nature of the Onenote notebook structure. Sugarsync was just too slow for this.
This speed issue comes into play in another way too. It wouldn't be an issue for everyone, but because of the faster download rates, the Dropbox mobile app is significantly better than Sugarsync. I also work in a laboratory, so sometimes I need to access excel files of experiment data on the fly to answer emails. So the faster the better here as well.
That being said if this speed issue didn't exist I would much rather use Sugarsync for all the reasons listed above in the post, just thought I'd let anyone who pushes a large amount of data a heads up.
The only reason I believe most users(including me) are with Dropbox is because of 3rd party apps. You will find many apps which make full use of Dropbox functionality using the API. Another reason for Dropbox's popularity is frequent reviews by top blogs and publications. Users who have GBs of data in Dropbox will feel reluctant to move to SugarSync only to get an extra feature or two.
Overall, the opinions presented in this post are justified. I would personally agree with many of them.
Strangely SugarSync now refrains from uploading just one single 71 bytes GIF file. I even removed all local application data (which is quite a lot, by the way, takes up quite some MB's, more than Dropbox's database). Nothing seems to get the thing uploaded. If I create a file in that folder with the same name, no problem. If I try to copy another file with that name to the same folder, no problem, everything's uploaded. But that one file just won't be uploaded…
The up-/download speeds are not that impressive indeed…
Both Sugarsync and Dropbox are great for syncing dynamic data. However, the advantage of Sugarsync over Dropbox is mobile phone support.
MozyHome works pretty well for me – on both Mac and Windows. If you ever need it, their 2nd level support is good.
Use the following link to get 20% more space (512 Mb) on a free MozyHome 2 Gb account:
https://mozy.com/?code=D685JF
Great review. I fully agree with it. Being limited to one folder like in Dropbox is pretty silly. I have been using SugarSync and I love it, especially on my Droid
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that Sugarsync needs to be run as an admin, unless that has changed.
I don't understand such a need and find it sloppy programming.
It is the one thing which dissuaded me from it as I much preferred it to anything else I had tried.
That's what caused me to stop evaluating SugarSync. My home computer accounts don't have admin rights, and having to type in the admin password every time I wanted to run it forced me to eventually ditch it. I'd look at it again if they fixed that requirement.
Thanks for a very thorough review. I also realized that the glitch about the symbolic link the hard way, in my case, on Mac OS. This is hugely inconvenient for me… and it's disappointing to learnt hat Dropbox has the same problem, particularly because Dropbox won't be useful without symbolic links!
Great review
My biggest problem with SugarSync is memory usage! it goes through the roof! Also I found dropbox was alow quicker for uploading and downloading files but sugarsync options are alot better.
The SugarSync website is also very unreliable for managing files very often you will find that when going inside the folder the folder is empty and you are left needing to refresh your browser window 9 times out of 10.
The big problem for me with all of these services is whilst they are great for syncing between multiple computers and the cloud its still not possible with either dropbox or sugarsync to do more secure syncing. I.e if i wanted to backup files on my daughters computer using sugarsync or dropbox then in theory she could gain access to all of my synced files
Very nice review. I use Egnyte which I think is a better solution then Dropboz as well as Sugarsync. Great features and the local cloud with off line access is what sets egnyte's solution apart. Does anyone else use Egnyte?
Thanks. I had a quick peek at Egnyte, but there's no free plan, otherwise I would've reviewed it.
Have a look at http://www.compareonlinestorage.com. You will find more information on Sugarsync and Dropbox, but also other online storage services.
We've looked at Dropbox, SugarSync and SpiderOak; all of which have similar conceptual designs, to recommend to our customers. I keep going back to DropBox. It's very simple to install and appears to be much more reliable when files are corrupted or lost. SugarSync's version capability (SugarSync free is limited to 2 and only 5 for the paid version) is totally inadequate. I save frequently to prevent data loss. With SugarSync, the last 5 versions might only represent the last 20 minutes of work. Often, a hidden file corruption — say in program code — is older than that. With SugarSync, you're out of luck. Dropbox has consistently worked for me over all of the incremental backup programs and was head and shoulders superior to programs like Mozy which typically backup daily. So, Dropbox offers simplicity, reliability and is a really elegant solution that has been invaluable to us.
We have a subscirption to SugarSync but our free 2Gb DropBox account always seems to be the one we use.
Oh… and also, the ability to support an unlimited number of computers makes it possible to share files — almost in real time — on DropBox, not only within our company — at no cost — but also with our customers. This is great. Neither SpiderOak nor SugarSync can touch this.
Hi guys,
We need a folder sharing facility so that we can access from anywhere. The total size of many such folders in about 30GB. I understand first upload will be a pain. Which system should we look at? We are just lost.
I've tried both. While Sugar Sync's specs look impressive, in the real world, speed and reliability are the key. I wasted so much time trouble shooting multiple people's computers that were all having issues with sugar sync. In the end it was faster to just have people install dropbox and have it sync up. Dropbox was finished uploading way before sugar sync even knew it had files it needed to sync. To review, if you want cool features that you can't count on- sugarsync. If you want it to work and not think twice about it.. dropbox.!
I have used Dropbox and I do like it. My only problem with it is that my internet connection isn't that fast and it is frustrating to have to wait hours to sync data between my PC and laptop when they are sitting next to each other. I am also concerned that they hold my data. I don't have anything illegal but I do wonder just how safe it is. Anyway, with that in mind I recently found a new product that does sync called broolz. The web site (http://www.broolz.co.uk) says it is still in beta but it seems it will solve my current concerns and there will be a free version too, (free is my favourite price). Has anyone tried this?
WARNING DO NOT USE SUGARSYNC! SUGARSYNC lost all of my data and could not retrieve it from their own server. This company is a joke, they held my company hostage for 2 weeks trying to find my files that Sugarsync some how deleted from my desktop! Their horribly inept techs could not figure out where my data went so they just decided not to call me back. I finally got in touch with Debbie, Sr. Director, SugarSync Customer Care and she tried to make me feel stupid and that the whole thing was my fault. Sugarsync does not care about small businesses and their customer service is horrible.
Wow, that's quite serious, sorry to hear that. well, personally I came across some problems with SugarSync as well, since this review, and I have to say that although the setup is pretty damn decent, it's too early to call this service completely mature.
This review, and a heap of posts below it appear to be written by Sugarsync or someone who is doing some cleaver marketing for them. The review barely mentions Dropbox, in every paragraph it basically talks about Sugarsync and then if it mentions Dropbox it's usually to explain why Sugarsync is better or at least the same. Some comments below just going “great review” and I totally agree Sugarsync is better seem pretty lame to me
This review is written totally independent, I assure you that. Furthermore, if you looked a bit further you can see that I posted some comments as well stating I have had quite some issues with SugarSync since the writing of this review. The reason I took SugarSync as basis for this review is because it is the lesser-known service, while Dropbox is the established one. I don't really see any reason for you to conclude that this review isn't impartial, other than that you might have somehow formed a bias towards this opinion from the start and looked only for confirmation of this while reading. I hope the comments stating this is a review merely refer to the level of detail.
How's things in Australia? Wish I could go back, I loved it there (exchange program in Canberra traveled a bit, beautiful place to be).
Cheers!
READ BEFORE YOU TRY SUGARSYNC!!!!!! I can confirm what Jay is saying as I am the co-user with him on this service. There is no safe guard for inadvertently deleting folders that are uploading from your desktop to SugarSync. When I realized what I had done–(I did not want all that uploading, only selected files), being a brand new user, Jay simply deleted incoming files that he could see as he was connected to my computer thru SugarSync. This is a logical assumption as there did not appear to be any obvious way to do it from that menu box. WHen he deleted those uploading files from his computer on the other side of the country, every folder on MY desktop dissappeared! Imagine my shock and dismay. “Customer service” couldnt retrieve them after giving us 2 weeks of runaround. Further, they could not STOP the upload of the remainder of all the thousands of files that continued to upload after the first ones were inadvertently deleted by Jay. They said there was nothing they could do, just let them continue to upload. This locked up my bandwidth for NEARLY 4 DAYS!!!!! As a small business person who relies on their computer, you can only imagine what the downtime did to my business and the stress of losing those files caused me. On top of it all, Jay was charged a technical call fee of $100–which they waived. Some items for your consideration when making improvements:
1. I have hi-speed DSL–not as high as in some places, but there are many unsuspecting people out there that may use this service, not realizing that if they wanted to use this as “Storage in a cloud” they would be mighty unhappy after a few days went by and their files were still uploading….It took 4 full days to upload the contents of my Desktop and Documents Folders. I shudder to think if all 4 choices were checked during set-up and my photos and music were included in all the accidental uploads.
New users need to be made aware that:
A. once they start uploading it may take many hours–possibly even a week to upload everything–potentially locking up their bandwidth–businesses would suffer losses as I did during that down time.
B. That you cant stop the process from your end until everything is downloaded
2. Obviously, the “Stop Syncing” feature was not prominent enough– either on his end, nor my end –to make it obvious that if you accidently started uploading a folder you didnt want, (or if you change your mind), you could quickly stop it.
3. I am astounded that there is no safe-guard to prevent files on MY desktop from being deleted remotely by SOMEONE ELSE on the other side of the country using this service who is connected to me. A new user could easily assume (as we did) that if you cleared out incoming files, it would stop them from syncing— but how on earth would they know it would actually delete those files from MY desktop??
Jamie, I just now started using both dropbox and sugarsync so I am not yet a proponent of either service. I must say though that it does make logical sense that if someone linked to the cloud deleted files from a sync folder that they would deleted from the sync location (your computer) as well. Just bad luck from an unfortunate mistake on your part.
It is quite ridiculous though that they could not provide you with copies of the files that were deleted . Does the versioning not cover deleted files? I also agree that a stop synch feature seems almost necessary.
First impressions definitely are in line with the author of this reveiw, but it seems long term users eventually switch to dropbox for speed. I suppose only time will tell which way I go as well.
Yes, I guess the biggest concern is that now they refuse to acknowledge the issue and have their heads buried in the sand hoping the problem and I will just go away. The biggest rub on all of this is my employees all warned me about storage in the cloud and now they can say I told you so.
One thing I noticed in the small print of Sugarsync is that referral bonus space expires after a year or so, thus, if you thought you would go around paying them for 5-6 Gb of storage space think again. In early 2011 they will warn you that either you buy a plan or shrink back to 2 Gb, that’s not so generous after all. I just installed DB and I have not found the small print on this issue.
By the way, I see Google making a slow, stealth but potentially strong advance along these lines. You may be aware of Google Documents if you have a Google account (in case you don’t, you can have working documents compatible with MSOffice and OpenOffice in their cloud). Well, two recent features make GD a syncing device: 1) You can now upload any kind of file to their cloud and 2) They have an offline mode so that all you have uploaded to their cloud may also be in your HD with the same client when you are not on line (they started an offline mode with gmail and it works great). Furthermore, your Google account starts with 7+ Gb (storing mail, pictures, Documents, etc) and you can get 20 Gb more for 5 bucks a year!
Disclaimer: I am not marketing for Google, but I think there is very little they can NOT do if you give them the time.
On symlinks. It is really quite easy to use them with Dropbox: there is mis-information in the posts above. This might also work with Sugarsync: someone with an account might try it.
One’s first impulse is to put a symlink in your Dropbox to a folder that you do not wish to move to your Dropbox. Understandable, but it doesn’t work.
The solution is quite simple. Move the folder to your Dropbox. Grit your teeth get over it. When we’re done you’ll be OK. Now create the symlink to that folder in its original location.
Dropbox is happy and works perfectly.
It looks like your files are in their original location. Any program that relies on files in the original location will work (this is the difference between a symlink and a shortcut).
You get what you want: the files can be used/accessed just as if they are in the original location. And they sync.
It seems highly likely that this should work with Sugarsync: it doesn’t know anything about the symlink–it doesn’t matter.
Sugarsync is now giving 3GB of space for free user through their
“sync-outside-the-box promotion”
http://www.sugarsync.com/offers/sync-outside-the-box.html
the title is kinda referring to dropbox inability to sync other folders outside their dropbox folder!
SUGARSYNC is a clear WINNER not only to its price’s versatility but also to its
Kleb, as Rogelio pointed out above, SugarSync is taking back all your “free” space after January 1st, 2011. See their term 11 in this page: https://www.sugarsync.com/referral_terms.html
Hence, their aggressive campaign to enlist new users benefits no one but them. That strikes me as pretty distasteful, and since this information is buried in fine print, it’s dishonest as well.
I’ve been using sugarsync for almost two years now and I’m 100% satisfied with the service I received. I don’t know about Dropbox (Have an account, but haven’t used it much), but to me, sugarsync is the best. I can sync my files to any computer, generate public links to files and post them on my site for download, share pictures with my family, share folders with my colleagues and what not!! You name it and I have it. Its true that the speed of upload is slow and system resources are used more, but, I’m willing to sacrifice a bit of my resources to enjoy what they provide.
Corrections to some of the replies from you guyz:
1> I contacted sugarsync’c Customer service asking why the referral bonus will be removed after January, 2011 and the reply I got was great. They say that they are revising the program and the restriction is going to be lifted. You will not loose the referral bonus you earn!!!! That’s great news for me as I have 95GB worth referral bonus
. They are going to announce this sometime soon.
2> You can generate public links to files and post them on your website. clicking on the link will download the file automatically. No advertisements!! The best part is, once you generate a link to a file and then you update the file, the latest update will be available for download through the same link. You don’t have to generate another link for the same file!!!!
3> There is a stop sync feature. Once you set a folder to upload from the computer, you can always remove it. Doesn’t matter if the upload has finished or not. This will not delete files from the computers.
4> sugarsync doesn’t need to be run as an administrator. You just need administrator priviliges to install the application. Once installed, you can use it anytime on any profile.
5> The upload speed restriction for the free 2 GB plan has been removed. You will receive normal speed on the free plan as well.
6> It looks like the individual plans were actually designed to be used across many computers but only single user. They rolled out a business plan which has admin functionality over the other users in the same account. From what they say, you can define permissions and restrictions for different users in the system. Check here for details:
http://www.sugarsync.com/business
Having said this, I would like to conclude saying, if you are trying to back up your files and sync them to other computers, sugarsync is the best way to do it.
cheers,
Shane
Hi everyone,
I have used DropBox for about 2 years now. Haven’t tried SugarSync… yet… Dropbox rocks for me. I only have 1 MB ADSL (256 Kb upload) and the speed which my files upload has always amazed me. I think I read that what makes DB so quick is that the level that the syncing occurs. DB uses Delta Encoding or Delta compression. e.g. if you are working on a 100 MB Photoshop file – say you open it and change a couple of colours then save it again. The file has now been flagged and a conventional back up system will just copy the changed file, the whole file. While this is fine is you’re backing up on a LAN but when you’re backing up to a Cloud-based system, this would take ages. You’ll find that because DB will only sync the change, it will sync in a few seconds. Does Sugarsync also sync this way? Can’t find anything about it on Google.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_encoding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_%28service%29 – here it says: The version history is paired with the use of delta encoding technology. To conserve bandwidth and time, if a file in a user’s Dropbox folder is changed, Dropbox only uploads the pieces of the file that are changed when syncing.
Hi Guys
Just a word of warning to current and potential sugarsync users, we have lost GB’s of data when they forced the upgrade of 1.7.7 sugarsync manager to 1.8.0. Basically any data that was on a separate partition other than C: had their data totally corrupted.
Many users were affected, and they did not even take 1.8.0 off the download section of the website! Weeks of emails and support went unanswered by the indian techs. The only way we got an answer amongst users was thru the Sugarsync tech support forum (which was a nightmare to find, and you had to be a registered user to login).
I had to find old backups that were outdated by several months for our business and restore them only to find we have lost a *lot* of work, not to mention downtime. They have continually ignored our pleas to help restore the lost / corrupted data with their file versioning system.
Please stay away from them if you value ur data…and yes they can say that 1.8.2 fixed the problem but something so serious should never have happened in the first place!! We relied on them as our “backup”, but little did we know our data was getting corrupted as they were getting “backed up”!!
I’ve used both SS and DB. While SS is easier to configure, setup and use more or less, their support is unacceptable. Basically, SS’s Tech support is non-existent or at best incompetent. With 3rd party tweaks, DB gives me EVERYTHING ss gave and more. go with DB.
I like Sugarsync because support mobile application and looks quite elegant. This stuff looks so simple and easy to use for anyone. Other importan point is Sugarsync support for real-time streaming videos and music. Thanks
drop box is better than sugarsync
You can share files of any size using drop box(free)
sugarsync offers >5mb for free users
In drop box: Properly unplug computers to avoid unwanted sync
Yes, it’s official, bonus space will not expire in SS.
There is really no reason not to have both systems installed and use each for what each does best as obviously there is no obvious winner.
Jay’s warning is very serious so better not to have just one backup (either SS or DB), especially if the back up system can actually erase your files.
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