Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, MobileMe
Syncplicity opens up its Mac beta
The Boy Genius Report has reported on the latest cloud storage solution to grac
e the Mac world. Syncplicity, which currently exists for Windows, has opened up its beta version for the Mac.
Syncplicity, free for 2GB of storage and syncing between two computers and $9.99 a month ($99 a year) USD for syncing among an unlimited number of computers and 50GB of storage, mirrors any folder on your system with its online sibling in the "cloud." Unlike MobileMe, where items to be synced must be contained within your iDisk, any folder on your hard drive can be synced by right-clicking it and selecting it from a menu -- really nice if you need to get a subfolder of a subfolder online. As soon as that folder is updated, so is the remote one.
Another touted feature is the ability to access those folders from a browser on any computer, including your cell phone.
The Syncplicity beta is an Intel-only program and requires OSX 10.5.
Syncplicity joins a crowded field that just doesn't include MobileMe: Zumodrive, Dropbox and SugarSync are out there as well, all willing to do battle for customers who are growing increasingly dissatisfied with Apple's offering to the point that they are considering alternatives.
Have you tried out the private beta for Syncplicity? What other cloud storage solution do you use? Let us know in the comments! Meanwhile, we'll start looking at Syncplicity on our end and present you with a full look at the beta in the next few days.
e the Mac world. Syncplicity, which currently exists for Windows, has opened up its beta version for the Mac. Syncplicity, free for 2GB of storage and syncing between two computers and $9.99 a month ($99 a year) USD for syncing among an unlimited number of computers and 50GB of storage, mirrors any folder on your system with its online sibling in the "cloud." Unlike MobileMe, where items to be synced must be contained within your iDisk, any folder on your hard drive can be synced by right-clicking it and selecting it from a menu -- really nice if you need to get a subfolder of a subfolder online. As soon as that folder is updated, so is the remote one.
Another touted feature is the ability to access those folders from a browser on any computer, including your cell phone.
The Syncplicity beta is an Intel-only program and requires OSX 10.5.
Syncplicity joins a crowded field that just doesn't include MobileMe: Zumodrive, Dropbox and SugarSync are out there as well, all willing to do battle for customers who are growing increasingly dissatisfied with Apple's offering to the point that they are considering alternatives.
Have you tried out the private beta for Syncplicity? What other cloud storage solution do you use? Let us know in the comments! Meanwhile, we'll start looking at Syncplicity on our end and present you with a full look at the beta in the next few days.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Channer said 3:45PM on 2-02-2009
I actually like Live Mesh. And I usually hate M$ products...
- no need to sign up for a Live email account (I used my gmail address as a login)
- works on a Mac
- 5GB
- syncs as necessary and keeps a detailed changelog
- good web interface with file access (from anywhere)
- free!
Reply
Brett said 3:47PM on 2-02-2009
I use Live Mesh too... Pretty seamless, and no problems yet.
jonbruck said 3:45PM on 2-02-2009
I use and love Dropbox to sync files between my work and home macs. I recommend anyone who works on projects at home.
Reply
Greenie said 4:16PM on 2-02-2009
I'd love dropbox if you could choose multiple folders without messing with the symlinks.
scott said 3:51PM on 2-02-2009
ZumoDrive is amazing. The lack of the ability to use syncplicity as a local drive kills it for me, though it has a great web interface. The only problem with ZumoDrive as it stands right now is its pricing structure. With only 1gb for free and incremental GBs at $2.99/3-4gb it gets pricey pretty quick if you want to store all your iTunes music/video/pictures in the "cloud"
Reply
Bob said 4:21PM on 2-02-2009
I love dropbox and the others are worthy competitors, but I believe a little company called Google may steal the market later this year with "GDrive" (or whatever they decide to call it).
Reply
daenney said 4:38PM on 2-02-2009
Though Live Mesh is good the Mac client is horrible, always being present when you Apple+Tab, not being able to run solely out of the task bar and the UI is too un-Leopardy to feel good to me.
Dropbox is good but I hate the manual sync part, not intelligent enough for me, I need to set up and forget.
MobileMe, don't get me started...
SyncPlicity: absolutely lovely. Has a decent Mac client that runs nicely out of the task bar and keeps folders fast and painlessly in sync, set it up once to to synchronize your Documents folder and you're done.
The only thing I find regrettable for now is that when I sync my Documents folder from my Mac it appears as a separate Documents folder in the online browser instead of taking over the one already there...
A small tip if you run Office 2004/2008 and _don't_ want to have the Microsoft User Data folder synced located in your Documents folder:
mv ~/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/Office/User Data
ln -s ~/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/User\ Data/ ~/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data
That will move the Microsoft User Data folder to where it should have been stored to begin with and create a symlink in your Documents folder to prevent Office 200x from crying in a corner. The advantage of it is that SyncPlicity and Live Mesh don't follow the symlinks and won't synchronize the data, which suits me just fine.
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mike_drechsel said 11:24PM on 2-02-2009
What part of Drop box requires a manual sync? I've used it everyday for months and months and have never had to perform a manual sync. It syncs seamlessly and automatically right from the get-go.
Marko said 4:21AM on 2-03-2009
daenney, that tip is really intriguing. Could you explain it in a little more detail? Not quite sure how I'm supposed to do it - do I use Terminal?
Ed said 11:47AM on 2-04-2009
I agree with mike: I haven't had to do anything to sync my dropbox folder. I just get a growl notify and things are there.
docnilay said 4:49PM on 2-02-2009
I've been using SugarSync - $25 for 10GB - syncing 5 pcs, two macs and my iphone, works seamlessly. Truly easy to use, good price, great product. Very satisfied customer.....
Reply
Nate said 4:49PM on 2-02-2009
I've not tried the service, but their logo looks like it's flushing my data down the drain...
Reply
steve said 7:31AM on 2-03-2009
I use JungleDisk. $20 for the desktop client, and then $0.15/month per GB of online storage hosted by amazon. There is also a data transfer charge of $0.10/GB upload and $0.17/GB download. Overall though, I usually pay only about $0.20/month. And I can keep the app on a thumb drive so that my files can be accessed anywhere (even from a Win or Linux PC).
Reply
trevors said 9:48AM on 2-03-2009
I use sugar sync, it works so well and so fast that I don't even think about it, and the fact that they have an iPhone app as well means that I am never out of touch with my data!
Well worth the small fee that I pay for it every year.
Reply