I disabled Dropbox on both computers but ensuring they were both synchronized. This directory would be where files are synchronized to. Once the second computer was up and running I had to set up a new backup directory. There was about 1-2 minutes while it was doing a 10 step process but eventually loaded the normal SpiderOak interface. I then had to go back and select reinstalling device so that I could select the device from a list instead creating one. It quit automatically but when I went to add it again the device had been added to the list. I encountered a server error 500 when I was adding a device which was running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. This greatly increases the speed of synchronization because the files are transfer over the network instead of out through the Internet and back again. One disadvantage of SpiderOak is the the lack of LAN Sync. Whilst Dropbox doesn’t compress the files to be uploaded it does upload only the changed bytes. Updating existing files for both services are fairly similar. Even if the file size was marked as 0 bytes? This occurred through the time I was using it. For some reason after every upload the files took a long to in the “finalizing” stage. Dropbox does not do this making the initial upload longer. Fortunately SpiderOak compresses the files prior to upload making this process quicker. Initial UploadĪs with any online backup systems there largest and longest part of process is the initial upload of the files. Also the public area is designated by yourself instead of SpiderOak where as Dropbox have public folders where files are shared and stored. The difference with SpiderOak is that they allow other uses to login without a passwork. SpiderOak also allows users to share access to other users. Sync allows multiple computers to share and keep files up to date with each other. The view also shows the amount of space free and used by the backup in graphic form (where as the Status page show it in numeric format). It’s quick and efficient but does not allow multiselect (to delete multiple backup files for example) nor any preview of the file. The View tab shows a list of files in a tree node structure similar to Microsoft Windows classic sidebar view. Unlike Dropbox where a directory is placed on your computer where everything is sync SpiderOak uses the more traditional method of allowing users to choose the folders to be uploaded. Logs show what happened in the past such as files being uploaded and downloaded, shared or sync’d and Stats just gives a summary of what the program has done. Moving to the Queue sub tab within the Status page shows the files that are waiting to be processed. There are small details within each status such as how many files are currently being upload and the remaining amount in backup, Number of “Syncers” in Sync and the number of sharers in Share. This is a good indicator as to what is happening with the 3 main features of Spideroak: Backup, Sync and Share. Starting with the Status tab, there are multiple tabs within this page. Share – Allow other people access to files or upload to your SpiderOak.Sync – Allow backups to be synchronized across multiple devices.The browser also includes revision of each file if multiple backups exist View – Look at items in the “cloud” (backups).Backup – Used to manage backup of local directories.Status – What SpiderOak is currently doing on the machine. It splits items up by category of what you want it to do. The user interface is not as user friendly as Dropbox but it is also a lot more powerful. I have accumulated a few referrals in my time so I have more than the 2GB space but I use less than this currently (but close to the limit).ĭropbox only required a login for each client to access the same account but SpiderOak required more. Dropbox has a referral feature which adds 250mb to your account. The service provides 2GB for free which is the same as Dropbox but there is no possibility of extending this without paying. Entering the usual details of username, password and email address with a confirmation email after. Not much different to other sites around today. Registering for an account was fairly simply. In this article I will compare the differences between Dropbox and SpiderOak. It’s a backup and folder sharing / sync software which runs on all 3 major platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). I was looking for a replacement to Dropbox after the EULA / T&C changes and found SpiderOak to be a very attractive alternative.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |