There are pretty much options for backing up your files online like Windows Skydrive, Ubuntu one etc and yet more places for sharing files like rapidshare, megaupload etc. but what if I tell you that you have can have one perfect solution, and that too will not cost anything if you need a few GBs of space. If you need more than that, you got every reason to look for their paid plans.
Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Its available for Windows, Linux, Mac and even mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry). You can even access any of your files on the website too.
You install Dropbox in as many devices you want with your account. This links your computer to your account. The moment you put a file in a dropbox folder, its uploaded to their servers and also downloaded on other devices. As simple as that and amazingly convenient.
Even if you don’t need to sync files on multiple devices or use only a single computer, it still backup all the files you put into it. How about a computer crash? Just reinstall the OS, install dropbox again and it will download every file that you used to have it inside it. Amazing? I bet, your answer to be yes.
It even lets you undelete a file or undo changes to a file.
With the free plan you get 2GB of free space that will suffice most of the office users to keep their documents.
Power of Sync & Share
You can share a folder in your Dropbox with someone else and that will be keep in sync. You want to send another person something, then just copy those files in the shared folder and it will upload from your Dropbox & download to their Dropbox right away. Perfect! For managing things, you can create a folder named Shared and keep shared folders there with multiple persons. Also you can rename & move your shared folder, it will remain shared.
When someone sign up from your invitation of share folder, they are automatically counted as your referral & both are awarded with 250MB free bonus space.
Goodbye to Email attachments & beyond
Gone are the days when your only way of sending files to other person was to send it as attachment in the email. If its a regular need with that person, get that person to share a folder with you on Dropbox else copy the zip file in the Public folder. Right click on the file > Dropbox > Copy public link. Now distribute this link and the people can directly download the file from your Dropbox just like a file from a server.
How to get even more space free?
Get additional 6GB space as reward
You can refer your friends to use Dropbox and both of you will be awarded 250 MB free space, a maximum to 8GB. Like if you signup for a free account by the link on this post, it will automatically award additional 250MB of space to both of us, that makes 2.25GB for you instead of 2GB if you signup by yourself. So, its a win win situation.
So if you do a little math, you can refer 24 friends and you will have the maximum 8GB online space for free. (2GB free + 6GB as rewards).
Small 640MB instant bonus
You can even get additional 640MB of free space by your facebook and twitter account. Simply go to dropbox.com/free and complete the steps.
You can also download MakeUseof Guide for Dropbox.
Paid plans for 50GB and 100GB are available beyond the basic plan which comes at a cost of 9.99 USD and 19.99 USD monthly. But I am almost everyone of you will suffice with the basic plan. Just refer others to get the max 8GB space possible.
Additional : Dropquest 2011 Cheatsheet (Earn 1GB+ free space)
If you have any questions, leave a comment here.
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