Hopefully my boss won’t see this, but from time to time I get some ideas when at work or I need to check something out in my current robot project. So I keep all my project files in a Dropbox folder. For those of you that don’t know about Dropbox, checkout http://www.dropbox.com/
For my use the Dropbox is perfect;
No more carrying around USB memory sticks that I more than lightly will forget somewhere or I find out doesn’t have the latest version of my code.
My projects are always backed up and in sync between all machines (even at work…)
Even project files I have deleted can be restored.
And the free 2Gb stores lots and lots of code.
I can even reach my files from any computer via a web interface
Folders can be shared with others working on the same project and removed when it’s not needed anymore.
Arduino sketches or Visual studio projects can have its files stored there and you work directly from the Dropbox so you don’t need to remember to copy anything over.
I keep my robot projects and internet bookmarks on a private folder on my Dropbox so I can access them from anywhere I go. This weekend I was away from home and I did not take my laptop with me, but with Dropbox I could use my host computer to access my files and write about an old robot I have built. Cool!
I also have some shared folders that several people have access to, anytime I get some new robotic related document or magazine, my friends can read it too!
Another awesome aspect of Dropbox is the automatic revision control.
You can go in and edit your code and every time you save to local disk (in your Dropbox folder, Dropbox just copies that folder, so if Dropbox ever goes away you still have all your files) a revision is saved on Dropbox!
So when you go in to tweak “just one more thing” on your bot and the whole project stops working, you can revert to that copy that worked perfectly fine an hour ago! (or 20 saves ago, etc,etc)
Bonus tip, If you sign up with an invite link provided by a friend you BOTH get bonus (250MB as of this comment) storage space! I already have 1GB of additional free space and don’t really need anymore. People that are short on space should post their invite url to this article.
You should also mention Wuala. Another file sharing service, where you can trade storage or pay to become a pro user, which gives you file versioning, back in time, etc.
You get as much storage as you pay for + as much storage as you trade % uptime + 1 GB of default storage.
I pay for nothing, trade 30 GB, my computer stays up 80% of the time, so I get 0 GB + 24 GB + 1 GB = 25 GB storage.
