Synchronizing files between multiple machines is one of the perennial problems that won't go away. Usually you wind up creating Common Internet File System (CIFS) shares and copying files to and from drives or using FTP servers as repositories. The problem with CIFS shares is that getting them to work beyond the local network requires tools such as VPNs, while FTP servers require FTP clients that just add another layer of complexity.

Today's focus is on a Web-based service called Dropbox that is published by Evenflow.

Dropbox provides file synchronization for multiple clients running either Windows or OS X and requires Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. On both OS platforms Dropbox creates a folder named Dropbox and anything dropped into it will appear in the Dropbox folder of all other machines attached to the account.

The relationships between the Dropboxes that are shared by all accounts is mediated by the Dropbox server independently of the networks they are on, and as the client software only uses ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS), the majority of installation will not have problems with firewalls. Dropbox also throttles its bandwidth usage to 70% of your upload speed to minimize its impact on the perceived network performance on other applications.

Dropbox actually stores your files – currently limited to 2GB total – on the Evenflow servers and all transfers are done over HTTPS and stored with AES-256 encryption. On the client side the files are cached and all changes to shared files are block-level synchronized based on deltas.

All changes are logged and displayed on your account Web page after logging in and deleted and changed files are archived and can be easily recovered.

Dropbox also supports Web-based file upload and access to your Dropbox system for those occasions when you either can’t or don’t want to install the Dropbox software.

You can also share a sub folder in your Dropbox folder with other Dropbox users who aren’t part of your Dropbox group, and if they don’t want to install Dropbox they can access the shared files through a custom Web page. There’s also a Public subfolder that can be accessed by anyone you give the URL to or who guesses it. Finally, there’s a Photos folder created by default that is intended for (natch) photo sharing.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.