Microsoft Live Sync was discontinued last March 2011. It was a big loss to my productivity because it had all the features I needed without the typical 2GB storage limit.
As I tested the alternatives, I realized there is a need to lower my standards. There is just no other service which offers the same benefits of Live Sync – free, cross platform, works over proxy network using NTLM authentication, syncs PST files, and can painlessly sync almost any folder in a computer.
Live Mesh. It was fast, cross platform, worked over our office network flawlessly, and it was free. Since it was the successor of Live Sync, I naturally had high hopes.
However, the status “Waiting to receive files” just doesn’t want to go away. Reinstalled, restarted, cleaned the cache, registry, etc.
And unlike Live Sync, there is no way in Live Mesh to determine which files are pending. Were these critical files? Or just .tmp ones? There is no way to know. It was too big of a risk.
SugarSync. SugarSync is cross platform and works over our proxy network. It wasn’t free, but it had a 30GB plan for just $4.99 per month. Syncing was painfully slow. I thought I could try to live with it, until I found out that it also does not sync PST files. Whoever thought of excluding that very important file from syncing should be fired.
Dropbox. I am now a Dropbox Pro subscriber. A very grudging subscriber, though.
True, it’s fast, and gives visual cues on which folders are still being synced. However, it did took quite a bit of effort to make it work over our office network. It also costs $9.99 per month for 50GB – which is a lot more than I need.
What is very painful is syncing folders outside of the Dropbox folder. Symbolic links are pretty tricky if you’re doing it on multiple OS’s, and I’ve already accidentally deleted folders because of this.
I call Dropbox the “lesser evil.” It is the only choice I have now. I’m not totally sold on it like I was with Live Sync, so I will continue to monitor other file syncing services.
I do plan to revisit Live Mesh after a couple of months to check out how it has evolved. And I am also keeping an eye out for Mozy Sync.
Til then, Dropbox it is.