Dropbox

Guys and gals, I have loved Dropbox since it first came out several years ago. It was so easy to install and understand right from the beginning. It didn't take long before I had my Dropbox account and software installed on every computer in this house, not to mention 2 iPhones and an iPad. Depending on it has come naturally over the years and it has never disappointed when I needed to "get something back."  Any file that means anything to us begins and ends in a folder in our Dropbox.

If I have ever "preached" about anything, it has been the importance of making sure your personal files are always backed up in a special place. Your computer could go up in smoke any time, for a miriad of reasons. You can always get a new machine and you can always reinstall your software applications, but you cannot replace those files you created with those apps. You can't replace those photos or special music files you have saved over the years. In short, you are pretty much screwed if your computer decides to give up the old proverbial ghost and you don't have your special stuff backed up.

You should always have a copy of any files that mean anything to you somewhere other than your computer. It can be a thumb (USB) drive, an external hard drive, or a cloud service like Dropbox. Backing up your personal files on a thumb or external drive is a relatively simple affair, you just need to set a schedule and remember to do it periodically.

It's Automatic - Once you have Dropbox installed, a special Dropbox folder is created. Treat it like any other folder on your computer. You can put files into it, and create folders to organize those files. Think of it as a Documents folder on steroids. In fact, I don't even use the Documents folder on my computer for anything that means anything to me. I have all my personal files in my Dropbox folder, organized in folders there.The only difference is that anything saved in that folder will automatically be backed up via your Dropbox account to the Dropbox Cloud servers. It is amazing how many personal files you can accumulate over the years.

Use it on multiple machines - Our 1TB account with Dropbox is certainly big enough to accomodate all the computers in our house. Dropbox doesn't care if you have a Mac or Pc (or both). Install the software on your machine and your files will automatically sync with it. We have two Windows machines and a Mac and it is nice to be able to access our files from any machine at any given time. I can even access files as needed with my iPad or iPhone... nice if you are out of town and need to see a spreadsheet or pdf file.You don't need to have access to any particular computer. The files are accessible via the Internet and the cloud.

The ultimate Time Machine - Dropbox can actually let you go back in time with your files. Say you have managed to totally screw up a critical document or file. You can go to the Dropbox website, sign in with your account information and literally explore previous versions of that file.

An easy way to get to previous versions of a file is to open your Dropbox folder, find the file in question, then right click on it. Among the choices available on your Mac will be View Previous Versions. Choose the version of the file you want to restore by clicking on it. Then click the Restore button. If you change your mind, repeat the process. The file you just restored will be listed at the top, with the last one listed just below. It is a very easy process and can be a comfort if you like to experiment and have a tendency to screw up. These previous versions are stored on the Dropbox servers (in the cloud). All you need to get to them is a nice frisky Internet connection.