I got Dropbox mainly for collaboration (sharing
datasets and R files), and now I use it as the central
storage location for all my photos - they go straight from
the card (which is then cleared to make room) to Dropbox
through it's automatic transfer function. I have had no
problems, although the occasional horror story of individual
files being lost without a trace has prompted me to start
uploading them to a photoblog.
I use Chrome sync[h] but because the computers I use are
generally somewhat slow (especially with the number of tabs
I am in the habit of opening) I don't often use the
extensions that are synchronized. I am not impressed with
the bookmark sync[h], as old folders that have been deleted
on one computer are often restored from another. Then again,
I have somewhat given up hope on keeping track of things I
want to investigate with bookmarks anyway, as I create just
too many. To-do lists have supplanted them for the most
part; I still use Chrome's "save this window as a
folder-full of bookmarks" function to save a browsing/work
session for a time when my computer is less bogged down.
For the most part, though, I have been trying to eliminate
the need for backups altogether. As a student with not much
budget for purchasing memory, and one that uses temporarily
loaned computers and ones that break after only a year or
two of use, I find it much easier to use online services for
most program and data storage - using Google Docs rather
than Word or Open Office, for instance. It makes
collaboration and sharing a lot easier, too - I can worry
less about file formats. To pick another example, instead of
using iTunes or WinAmp or VLC (although I also have the
latter for miscellaneous purposes) with a music library I
use Grooveshark.
There are still many things that need to be offline due to
the paucity of Internet access in my house and sometimes at
school, but many things can just be re-found - it is easier
for me to re-download my ebooks, and various programs
(Pidgin, GIMP, Inkscape, Notepad++, Chrome of course, a
tuner program, and others including those mentioned above
[Dropbox and VLC]) than to find and transfer them on a
jumpdrive or such. However, I noticed I have also taken
increasingly to putting all my files in one place - a folder
on the desktop - rather than using My Documents. I even run
programs that do not need to alter the registry and
therefore self-install, such as tkMOO, from the desktop.
With all this centrally located it is easier to pick up and
move shop should I need to.
And now I have a website I can put stuff I don't mind being
public in one place, too.
This all might be oblique to your question since I am not
using the pay Dropbox, or Dropbox in a big way at all.
-Arlo James Barnes