SugarSync Offers the Best Method Yet for Replicating Files
It’s a real problem keeping all the files you need available and up-to-date on multiple computers in multiple locations, whether they are key business documents or just favorite photos or songs. Adding to the problem is the increasingly common use of smart phones as little laptops, and the growing mixed use of Windows machines and Apple Macintoshes, which use different programs.
Now, there’s a new service called SugarSync that keeps your files replicated and synchronized across all your computers, whether they are Windows PCs or Macs. It even offers limited file synchronization on certain smart phones. The service is from a Silicon Valley company called Sharpcast and is available at sugarsync.com.
Not only does SugarSync place the latest version of every file you designate for syncing on all your chosen computers, but it also creates an archive of these files on a special, password-protected Web page. That way, you can access the latest version of any file even when you are at a public or borrowed computer that lacks the SugarSync software.
I have been testing SugarSync on five different computers — three Windows PCs and two Macs — as well as on a Treo smart phone. I tried syncing everything from Excel spreadsheets to Word documents, from photos to songs to PDF documents.
My verdict: While SugarSync isn’t free and has a few rough edges, it is by far the best solution I have tested to replicating and synchronizing your files across multiple computers. It really works.
Every time you change a file — say, by editing a Microsoft Word document or rotating a photo — the changes are replicated within seconds on every computer to which it has been synced and in the Web archive as well, as long as the computers are connected to the Internet.
For example, I set up SugarSync to synchronize a folder containing some Word documents. Then, I opened one of the documents on a Dell and added a sentence to it. A minute later, I opened the same file on a Mac, which was also connected to my SugarSync network. The file already had been updated on the Mac to include the change I had made on the Dell.
While SugarSync is primarily about file replication across computers, it also helps solve another nagging problem: backups. Because the files you care about most are now replicated on multiple machines in multiple places, and are stored as well in a Web archive, they are also backed up. So if one of your machines dies, you don’t lose your files. And, if you find yourself in need of a file that doesn’t exist on the computer in front of you, it can be downloaded.
SugarSync works by uploading your synchronized files to its servers, in encrypted form, and then sending them down to your computers when they change. There is a 45-day free trial that gives you 10 gigabytes of file storage. After that, you can keep the 10 gigabytes for $25 a year. There are five other storage plans, ranging from $50 a year for 30 gigabytes to $250 a year for 250 gigabytes.
The software that makes it all possible, called SugarSync Manager, is free and comes in Windows and Mac versions, as well as versions for Windows Mobile phones and certain BlackBerry models. An iPhone version is in the works, but for now, you can scan your online archive using a special SugarSync page available through the iPhone’s Web browser.
You install the manager software on any computer you wish to be part of the synchronized network. You can select different folders on different computers for syncing. All get uploaded to the Web archive, where they can be accessed at will.
You can choose which folders you wish to replicate fully on each machine. For instance, you might want your main documents folder to be replicated on every hard disk, available even when you’re offline. But, with a folder of lesser importance, you might be content to just fetch a file when you need it from the Web archive.
SugarSync creates two special folders. One, called Magic Briefcase, is always replicated on every machine’s hard disk, so you can quickly add a file to it even if you didn’t select the file’s original folder for synchronization. The other, called Web Archive, retains files in their original versions, never updating or changing them.
So, what are the rough edges I spoke about?
Well, the Mac version of SugarSync manager is still in beta, crashes occasionally and has various bugs. A final Mac version is promised later this spring. The cellphone versions can only view photos and whatever documents the phones allow, but changes you make on the phones in documents other than photos aren’t synced back to the computers or to the Web site.
In addition, SugarSync can’t synchronize Microsoft Outlook files and it can’t, say, replicate a new calendar entry or contact change across your computers. The company has shown off this capacity in public demonstrations and says it is working on adding it.
Still, SugarSync solves a real problem and does so well.
- Email me at mossberg@wsj.com. Find all my columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
Comments
Why wouldn’t I want to use Google apps to sync and store my docs ? It syncs with my phones and even the iphone and best of all it’s free.
Posted by Bill Columbus at April 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 amThis sounds like a great idea but the sugarsync website is not available. Any idea what the problem might be?
Posted by Anne Napolitano at April 3rd, 2008 at 4:46 amYou mention that SugarSync can handle updating song tracks and photos. But what about in the context of a “container” application like iTunes or Picasa or iPhoto, where the files are stored, but also tracked by index and other metadata files? How well does it handle that situation?
Or perhaps more accurately, how well does iTunes handle having a song track that it thinks it “owns” fiddled with directly, instead of by its own control?
Posted by Michael Alderete at April 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 amIs there any reason for 100% Mac users to switch from iDisk?
Posted by oxuson at April 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pmI still use Foldershare that Walt recommended 2+ years ago. Sychronizing iTunes, Outlook, IE Favorites etc has been flawless ever since. This new product would interest me with the ability to sychronize individual entries in Outlook rather than the entire pst file.
Posted by Darren Clauws at April 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pmLooks good but before but I install it on my LAN for testing, what can you say about its general performance hit? This could be a great tool for some of my small biz clients but many of them have older workstations and I’m reluctant to install yet another process. thx
Posted by Paul Soares at April 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pmBill: SugarSync allows you to sync files between your Macs and PCs, automatically back them up online, etc. It is a more comprehensive than any Google offering in this area.
Anne: We experienced a couple of initial hiccups what with the greater-than-expected demand for the service, so if you’d like to try again, you should be fine.
Michael: Currently we allow you to replicate songs in the Music folder across your multiple computers, iTunes doesn’t have anything to do with this. If some of those songs are iTunes DRM protected (so not MP3s), you would of course need to authorize your secondary computer before you can play them there. We are enhancing the functionality to build a connector to iTunes to sync playlists and other meta data. iTunes provides an interface to allow developers to do this.
Oxuson: Some of the reasons why you might consider switching from iDisk are i. superior sync functionality ii. broad mobile support iii. optional PC sync for those that also use a PC and iv. better price. The best way of course to figure out the difference and what your best option is to try the product.
Darren: the Outlook sync functionality is on our roadmap. As Walt mentions in the article, this is something we have demonstrated in public, but the launch timing has been an issue of resources prioritization.
Paul: We have made optimizations to ensure that we throttle the network bandwidth usage, limit memory usage on workstations, move minimal amount of data to make the sync fast, etc. That said, during that initial sync, most people have a lot of stuff that ultimately has to move over the network, but after that, it is only incremental changes that need to be synchronized, so it is pretty fast. Again, the best way to find out if it works for you is to try the product for free.
Thanks for your interest in SugarSync and if you do try it out, please let us know how we can make the product better for you.
Cheers,
Gibu Thomas
Posted by Gibu Thomas at April 8th, 2008 at 10:07 amCEO, Sharpcast
I’d like to be able to synchronize files in my Documents folders, including those in Microsoft Word, QuarkXpress 7, Apple’s Pages and numerous PDFs, as well as my Pictures, browser preferences, bookmarks in Safari and Firefox, etc….between two Macs.
Posted by Cathy Vaughn at April 13th, 2008 at 11:47 amWill SugarSync do all that, and how does it compare to a program I’ve read about called ChronoSync?
The itunes sync is critical! I wrote about it here http://lifeinlists.com/2008/03/file_syncing/
I don’t really need the sync for anything but media and ITunes/Picasa/iPhoto integration would be a huge deal maker for me.
Otherwise, many of these features are part of Get Drop Box http://getdropbox.com/
Now that my Mozy (online backup service) just came up for renewal, maybe I’ll try Sugarsync or GetDropBox and kill two birds with one stone?
Thanks for the interesting article.
Posted by Evan Bartlett at April 14th, 2008 at 11:08 amI’ve been using SugarSync with my Mac for a while now, after having previously tried a number of competing services.
I find SugarSync fantastic. Enough storage space to meet my complete backup needs (60GB in my case) for a reasonable monthly price. The Mac app works well, even though it doesn’t quite feel like a native Mac application. The web site works great too. I can easily access files I’ve backed up from my main computer when I’m on the road. The iPhone version of the site is a bit limited - it allows you to browse the files, but I have trouble actually viewing PDF files, for example.
Besides having it automatically backup whichever folders from you computer you want backed up, there’s also a “Web Archive” area where you can drag files into and organize as you wish, without having to keep them on your computer.
Posted by Brian Pirie at May 21st, 2008 at 2:04 pm