Dropbox, why it rox and how I (and others) use it. | Hacker News Reader

Dropbox, why it rox and how I (and others) use it.

kudtler.com

32 pointsjrnkntl20 comments

I love Dropbox and use it every day. But this article says the data is encrypted before being sent to the cloud, and that is not true. Because of that, it's not a good idea to put sensitive stuff on Dropbox, like "accounting" stuff or stock agreements.

For everything else, it is totally amazing.

Update: http://www.getdropbox.com/faq#security-and-privacy Here it says it does encrypt (256bit AES over SSL) the files before sending them to the cloud.

I agree with you on the matter that you don't place sensitive stuff on it. But my 'accounting' stuff isn't that interesting for 3rd parties; as I also said in the comments on my blog: "I get your concerns and need for a private key. Also a key based on a combination of username and password would be the simplest solution to this problem. For me the encryption isn’t that of a big issue since 3rd parties viewing my files aren’t going to get anything out of it that should do damage to me. Of course, when you store sensitive data on it, you should also invest in some security on your part (like the mentioned TrueCrypt)."

Regarding your update: that's saying they encrypt the pipe between your computer and their servers using SSL. The files are still stored without encryption on their servers (as far as I can tell).

Their FAQ item says the data is stored encrypted.

Accounting stuff could be VERY interesting for 3rd parties if they're your competitors

Competitors hacking into my dropbox account?

Dropbox is awesome, miles ahead of the competition. My one complaint is that it doesn't seem to sync files unless they are closed. So when if I'm working on a manuscript for several hours, just pressing "save" doesn't back it up. I'd have to close and re-open for it to back up.

This wouldn't be an issue, but my laptop is wheezing the wheeze of imminent death.

If I understand it correctly the Dropbox is an application-level file-monitoring thingy. It is not a filesystem-level real-time backup software, which is something that is substantially more complex to implement.

Could you elaborate more on this? What triggers the sync in the application-level example?

An OS notification does. The app subscribes to the directory content changes and the OS dispatches a notification (in whatever form) when the change happens.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365261.aspx for example.

Another option, of course, is a periodic explicit directory scan, but that's quite lame.

Wow - I never noticed this, but you're absolutely right. It never even occurred to me that this would be possible, but now I wants it.

I'm running Tivoli CDP for files to do something like that. (actually i probably sould integrate it with dropbox come to think of it). Automtic save to another spot on the HD (every time that you save a file) Automatic sync to web/USB drive when they're plugged in/connected.

Saved me a couple of times actually - definately swear by having automated and easy backups.

This looks like a simple solution for me. I have a TrueCrypt volume that I keep account/password info in. I've been lazy and use email or ftp to get/send copies of it, so any given copy could have stale info in it. Yeah, I could rsync the file, but like I said, I'm lazy and didn't feel like configuring rsync between Windows XP and Linux. This looks like a good solution for me. Thanks!

PasswordSafe (Password Gorilla for Linux/Mac users) is a nice option for password management (which I'm sure you've seen and decided against). But the Truecrypt volume sync works very well. I've been keeping a PasswordSafe archive along with the Truecrypt volume across Linux, Windows, and Mac.

Every time I come across a neat paper online, I download a PDF of it and then put it up onto Dropbox so I don't lose it.

Why I think it rox:

1) You can use it on Mac or PC (I have both, and transfer files between both) 2) You can instantly share folders with anyone else, all you need is their e-mail address 3) You see files that change or get added in real-time (Growl on a Mac makes this really slick)

I think what rox is that it does that without imposing itself at all. I have it installed & barely ever use it. (no real need). I still haven't uninstalled it. I feel no cost to having it installed. It could come bundled with an OS.

For any advanced techie, the three main reasons (Backup, sync, sharing) for using DropBox are irrelevant. For ordinary users: sure! It sounds like a great solution. Let me explain.

I don't think anyone with valuable data would trust their only backup with an external "in-the-cloud" source. On top of that, most people's upload capacity is severely limited.

Syncing is accomplished with rsync or a network share on your home network. Most geeks will SSH into their home computers, etc.

Sharing via drop box cannot be any better than a personally managed web server. GIT/SVN on your server offers much more than drop box can.

On the other hand, maybe I just like to hack and get my hands dirty creating my own solutions.

Have you tried DropBox? The app is so damn easy to use it's ridiculous. Sure there are other ways to do it, but the absolute lack of headaches makes DropBox way better than those other techniques you suggested.

You're right about the on the other hand. :)

All of Dawdle.com's documents are up in the clouds thanks to Dropbox. I use it because it's easier than Parallel's Shared Folders functionality. How's that for buying something I don't need?

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