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The iPhone/iPad app for SpiderOak is perfectly serviceable. These delays are very noticeable when first switching, but have since dropped into the background, with my brain and attitude now regarding it as the way things simply are. There is also a little extra latency in the encryption/decryption steps. Everything you do on SpiderOak must be encrypted, uploaded, downloaded, and decrypted. The upload/download thing is no big deal for small files, but could take a while with that 1 GB Xcode installer, depending on the internet connection.
Dropbox spideroak comparison download#
Without this, I would have to wait for the laptop to upload the file to the internet and then for the desktop to download it. When I drop a file into the laptop’s Dropbox folder, it shortcuts directly to the desktop and appears there almost instantly. If I have Dropbox installed on my desktop and laptop and if they can see each other across a local (wired or WiFi) network, file syncing takes a short cut. Deleted ItemsĪnother thing to keep in mind is that Dropbox has a mode that is optimized for transferring across a local area network.
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This is not that big of a deal with a collection of small files, but I had downloaded Xcode at work (a 1+ GB download) and placed it in my SpiderOak folder so that it would be on my machine at home when I got home - a typical scenario I would do with Dropbox - and I found myself quickly (and seemingly mysteriously) out of space on my 3 GB account, even after deleting it. Once all references to the file were gone, was it finally deleted. And it almost seems (I am not 100% sure on this at the moment) that, although the file takes up space for only one instance across all machines, I had to go to each machine and tell it to delete the file. You can go in and permanently delete those files, but you must make a conscious effort to do so. If you see the orange “percent used” bar on the topmost screenshot, that gray area taking up space at the beginning is my deleted files. With SpiderOak, your deleted files stay around forever. Additionally, I do not believe they count toward your used-up space - or if they do, it was negligible enough for me to not notice. Dropbox keeps deleted files around for, I believe, 30 days. The second concept I had to get past was with deleted files. You have to do this on each and every machine you want joined to the group - in my case six times. You then have to go add it to a sync group. To synchronize a folder (or even several folders - you are not limited to one like you are with Dropbox), you must first select it as a folder to back up to their service. The first was that SpiderOak feels like it is a backup service with Dropbox-like sync added as an afterthought. There were two conceptual hurdles I had to get past for the SpiderOak service to truly “click” with me. Your data is locked away forever and you must start over. If you don’t know your password, then it’s game over.
Dropbox spideroak comparison password#
They also have no way to reset your password if you have forgotten it. Even if served with a warrant or threatened with torture, there is no way for them to divulge your data or passwords. They have no way to decrypt any of your data since all of the encryption/decryption occurs at your end. You come up with a passcode to encrypt your data and they simply store it. The most important thing about SpiderOak’s engineering and philosophy is that it is designed to be a zero-knowledge system. If you are considering a similar transition, I hope this post will help you through. It got the job done, but it was a little confusing and awkward until I figured a few things out. I signed up for SpiderOak (referral link - I get an extra gig of space, you do too) at the time. The latest ToS change, in which they now own all of your content, made me glad I have an alternative. But the ToS change left me wanting to sample alternatives. Not only was it a great way to transfer files from home to work and back again, but from machine to machine on my home network, to share big files with friends, and (most importantly) the de facto way of syncing iPhone app data. Over time, it had integrated quite extensively into my workflow. The ToS changed from “we simply do not have access to your data” to “well, yeah, our employees technically do have access to all of your stored data, but just trust us that nobody actually looks at it unless somebody drops by with a warrant.” Up until that point, I loved and trusted Drobox. Back in April, Dropbox changed their terms of service, implying they lied about who can access your stored data.