SugarSync Initial Impressions

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So this morning I got a real simple email from reader Seth which basically said, “Check out SugarSync”. This is really an interesting service. At first glance it looks like another offsite backup plan but it really isn’t. It is much more aimed at syncing files between computers. Any types of computers: Macs, windows, iPhones, and Blackberries. SugarSync doesn’t care. I played with it for about an hour today and installed it on the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The cross platform sync is faster that doing it through iDisk for certain. I can access my documents from either computer, my iPhone and presumably my office PC. I haven’t used it enough yet to figure out where the kinks are (one is definitely security) and I’m not sure I want to pay another monthly fee but this is interesting.

Take a look and let me know your thoughts.

5 Comments SugarSync Initial Impressions

  1. md2@freenet.de

    SugarSync is a great product, and their customer support has been phenomenal, but in my experience it has some important caveats:

    1) The upload queue isn’t very smart. Let’s say I tell sugarsync to synchronize a folder full of big mp3s. Well, it starts to upload these as it should. However, if I edit a small MS Word doc shortly after that, the doc has to wait until all of the mp3s have been uploaded. This is NOT a good thing if you’re working on your desktop system and suddenly have to run out the door with your laptop and need that file in the next hour or so.

    2) The upload speed has been abysmal for me, topping out at around 30 KB/s, even though I have a great DSL connection.

    3) Their website says everything is encrypted, but what does that mean? — are the files just encrypted in transit, or on their servers, too? How easy would it be for someone at SugarSync to just open one of my folders and view my private documents?

    Although it has a great deal of promise, this product needs some fine-tuning.

    Reply
  2. md2@freenet.de

    SugarSync is a great product, and their customer support has been phenomenal, but in my experience it has some important caveats:

    1) The upload queue isn’t very smart. Let’s say I tell sugarsync to synchronize a folder full of big mp3s. Well, it starts to upload these as it should. However, if I edit a small MS Word doc shortly after that, the doc has to wait until all of the mp3s have been uploaded. This is NOT a good thing if you’re working on your desktop system and suddenly have to run out the door with your laptop and need that file in the next hour or so.

    2) The upload speed has been abysmal for me, topping out at around 30 KB/s, even though I have a great DSL connection.

    3) Their website says everything is encrypted, but what does that mean? — are the files just encrypted in transit, or on their servers, too? How easy would it be for someone at SugarSync to just open one of my folders and view my private documents?

    Although it has a great deal of promise, this product needs some fine-tuning.

    Reply
  3. md2@freenet.de

    SugarSync is a great product, and their customer support has been phenomenal, but in my experience it has some important caveats:

    1) The upload queue isn’t very smart. Let’s say I tell sugarsync to synchronize a folder full of big mp3s. Well, it starts to upload these as it should. However, if I edit a small MS Word doc shortly after that, the doc has to wait until all of the mp3s have been uploaded. This is NOT a good thing if you’re working on your desktop system and suddenly have to run out the door with your laptop and need that file in the next hour or so.

    2) The upload speed has been abysmal for me, topping out at around 30 KB/s, even though I have a great DSL connection.

    3) Their website says everything is encrypted, but what does that mean? — are the files just encrypted in transit, or on their servers, too? How easy would it be for someone at SugarSync to just open one of my folders and view my private documents?

    Although it has a great deal of promise, this product needs some fine-tuning.

    Reply
  4. md2@freenet.de

    SugarSync is a great product, and their customer support has been phenomenal, but in my experience it has some important caveats:

    1) The upload queue isn’t very smart. Let’s say I tell sugarsync to synchronize a folder full of big mp3s. Well, it starts to upload these as it should. However, if I edit a small MS Word doc shortly after that, the doc has to wait until all of the mp3s have been uploaded. This is NOT a good thing if you’re working on your desktop system and suddenly have to run out the door with your laptop and need that file in the next hour or so.

    2) The upload speed has been abysmal for me, topping out at around 30 KB/s, even though I have a great DSL connection.

    3) Their website says everything is encrypted, but what does that mean? — are the files just encrypted in transit, or on their servers, too? How easy would it be for someone at SugarSync to just open one of my folders and view my private documents?

    Although it has a great deal of promise, this product needs some fine-tuning.

    Reply
  5. md2@freenet.de

    SugarSync is a great product, and their customer support has been phenomenal, but in my experience it has some important caveats:

    1) The upload queue isn’t very smart. Let’s say I tell sugarsync to synchronize a folder full of big mp3s. Well, it starts to upload these as it should. However, if I edit a small MS Word doc shortly after that, the doc has to wait until all of the mp3s have been uploaded. This is NOT a good thing if you’re working on your desktop system and suddenly have to run out the door with your laptop and need that file in the next hour or so.

    2) The upload speed has been abysmal for me, topping out at around 30 KB/s, even though I have a great DSL connection.

    3) Their website says everything is encrypted, but what does that mean? — are the files just encrypted in transit, or on their servers, too? How easy would it be for someone at SugarSync to just open one of my folders and view my private documents?

    Although it has a great deal of promise, this product needs some fine-tuning.

    Reply

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