Travel Technology - What synchronization strategies work best?

As many here, I move around all the time, working at several places (different clients), traveling, spending weekends away from the city, etc... there is hardly a base office and I might not spend many nights a week in my base home.

Over the time, I have generated many many GBytes of data: work and personal, that I might need to access at anytime, wherever I am.

Also, I have a number of work and personal emails, and archived emails.

What strategies do you use to work and access needed data wherever you are? Considering the many devices (several laptops, HDs, ipod, blackberry, photo cameras...).

What I do is that I carry a laptop with me always (really, always), with all my data, and this is the one I use most of the time. Then I backup from time to time, or copy to other devices.

The problem is that it's very inconvenient to carry my laptop at all times, also the security risk if it get stolen.

Sometimes, I have tried to have several computers in different places (office, home, laptop) but I always revert to "carry one laptop all the time" because of synchronization problems.

I was wondering what works well for you.

sugarsync.com has been working well for me, as I've recently been using several different notebooks/netbooks.

I imagine that any of the automatic online backup services would work just as well. I don't know how the other ones price out, but with sugarsync, the pricing is per account, not per device. If you need a document on a computer that isn't yours, you can just go to sugarsync.com, login and download it from your web browser. You can probably upload it too from the web site, but I haven't tried that.

They have this magic briefcase thing, and anything you put in there will be automatically kept in sync on all of the computers.

However, I don't back up any email locally or remotely. All my email servers use imap, so everything is kept on the server. It doesn't matter which device you log in from, all your saved email will be there in the same place you left it last time.

-David

I run my own server at home. Mostly locked up tight - but I support squirrelmail and "shellinabox" via https. With the latter I can gain administrative access via https and open ports if necessary to access other services (rdp, for example) from the specific location I find myself in. I can also enable secure https or ftp access to and specific document or folder on that server, or as needed on any other computer in my household.

I have been using Microsoft Mesh to store my documents up in the cloud recently. It enables you to automatically sync any changes to specific folders on your machines to as many computers as need be and also access everything online from anywhere. I think since it is still technically a beta project there is a 5GB cap and no option to upgrade yet. I have also tried DropBox which I know a lot of people like and has more options to upgrade if you need more space. Email I keep separately on Gmail servers and sync it with their IMAP options across all my devices.

I'll second Sugarsync, works perfectly for me, plus they have iPhone and WinMo clients.

sugarsync.com has been working well for me, as
However, I don't back up any email locally or remotely. All my email servers use imap, so everything is kept on the server.

What IMAP client do you use?

I have tried IMAP in the past but I always go back to POP: I have found IMAP works well when I am online, but not so well when offline (sync problems, headers only when I need to recover the full message...)

Nowadays, I use google apps for my email and I download a copy to Outlook using POP.

I'll have a look to Sugarsync and Microsoft Mesh. Thanks for the pointers.

I've been a foldershare.com user for many years, at times keeping a couple directories with thousands of files and sub direcrories on five machines in synch. If I worked on something in the office, it would be home waiting for me when I got home. It's now called Microsoft Live Synch, and it's still free, still works, etc.

For mails, I've tried many different solutions, and the only one that really worked for me was to convert at my provider to Exchange. It's so much easier that way, if I delete a file on the blackberry or on the laptop, next time I look at the desktop it's gone there too. If I need to access it on the road, there's web based access too.

It also has the ability to get to your files from any machine online should you turn that feature on, I've never tried that.

Syncplicity has worked great for me for a couple of trips now when I left the big laptop at home and only took the netbook.

Not sync point, but a security option that might eliminate a sync need. I have been concerned about security and having stuff with me that could be compromised. I have recently tried carrying a netbook where I know I have Internet access guaranteed. I then leave the office computer on and log into it using the free logmein program. I can then take control of the office computer and read mail, open files etc. If I need something sent to me I can then email it to myself, or for big files use skype file transfer using the remote access control. Hope that helps

I have been using Microsoft Mesh to store my documents up in the cloud recently. It enables you to automatically sync any changes to specific folders on your machines to as many computers as need be and also access everything online from anywhere. I think since it is still technically a beta project there is a 5GB cap and no option to upgrade yet. I have also tried DropBox which I know a lot of people like and has more options to upgrade if you need more space. Email I keep separately on Gmail servers and sync it with their IMAP options across all my devices.

+1 on the live mesh. Works great across platforms, mac and pc, and winmo. I think there is going to be an iphone app soon too.
I found the speed better than sugarsync (which I also have an use as an early alpha tester) but most likely wouldn't pay the 50$+ a year to keep it if I had to.

Live Mesh is free, and will most likely stay that way.

I looked at Live Mesh, but decided against it because I could never get a clear picture what Microsoft wants to do with sync - I think Live Mesh is their third or fourth sync product after things like Foldershare, Groove etc...

I just always get a bad feeling about MS products when they seem so directionless...

Indeed, there are about four other sync, or folder share apps that MSFT has. I think they were on a buying binge, and KNEW that this was a coming technology but didn't do much in a coordinated fashion.

That said, I really think Mesh stands out.

What about MSFT Winmo Search, maps, directions and voice enabled search app.? Wasn't THAT a great tool? I think it is one of the best things to come out of MSFT in a long time, before the goog app with similar function and works just as needed. Been out more than two years now.

Indeed, there are about four other sync, or folder share apps that MSFT has. I think they were on a buying binge, and KNEW that this was a coming technology but didn't do much in a coordinated fashion.

That said, I really think Mesh stands out.

What about MSFT Winmo Search, maps, directions and voice enabled search app.? Wasn't THAT a great tool? I think it is one of the best things to come out of MSFT in a long time, before the goog app with similar function and works just as needed. Been out more than two years now.

I agree - Live Search on WinMo was/is a fantastic application, and like many MS products, it is ignored too often :(

What IMAP client do you use?

I have tried IMAP in the past but I always go back to POP: I have found IMAP works well when I am online, but not so well when offline (sync problems, headers only when I need to recover the full message...)

Nowadays, I use google apps for my email and I download a copy to Outlook using POP.

I'll have a look to Sugarsync and Microsoft Mesh. Thanks for the pointers.

You have to mark which folders you want available for offline reading with most imap clients. That's just a one-time thing in t-bird. IIRC, it's in each folders properties. I think you also have to tell it when you are going offline so it will sync your local cache then. That's just a simple click. Once you get that setup, it should work fine.

Since you are using google apps/gmail, you might want to look into offline gmail.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

To me, at least, the downside of offline gmail is that you have to use the browser/gmail interface. However, some people really like using the browser/gmail interface.

It's funny to me at least that you have to cripple yourself with POP and Outlook to get what you want. :) Whatever works, right? If you use imap, (or even the browser interface with or without offline gmail) everything just stays in sync automatically.

-David

I looked at Live Mesh, but decided against it because I could never get a clear picture what Microsoft wants to do with sync - I think Live Mesh is their third or fourth sync product after things like Foldershare, Groove etc...

I just always get a bad feeling about MS products when they seem so directionless...

Microsoft's sync technologies have a clear direction:

Live Mesh is the premier consumer sync tool. It supports direct peer to peer sync, as well as allows you store data in the cloud that you can access from any PC without installing the Mesh client. Mesh clients are in development for Mac, iPhone, and Windows Mobile, and the Mesh team is specifically targetting sync scenarios that incorporate Windows Home Server as well as Media Center (and farther out into the future, support for "carputer" technology like the Ford Sync that would use the Mesh client to sync media to your car when you pull into the garage)

Make no mistake...Mesh is "THE" sync tool that MSFT is going forward with. Microsoft sees a world where people want to sync data through the cloud to all of their computers, phones, game consoles, home theater, media devices, and heck even cars and appliances, and Mesh is the sync tool that MS is developing to accomplish this. The direction for Mesh clear and broad.

Groove is the business oriented solution for companies to share and sync files securely amongst themselves.

You can think of Live Sync (aka Foldershare) as "Mesh lite". It is a peer to peer client and does not offer cloud storage. Therefore the computers that you want to sync must be online at the same time.

Pesonally, I use Windows Home Server as my primary data storage and I keep *everything* on it. I use Live Sync on my home desktop, netbook, and work notebook to sync selective folders as necessary from my Home Server. Works fantastic. I could just as easily use Mesh to accomplish this but there were some early issues with Windows 7 and the Mesh client, which have since been resolved, but I've just never gotten around to converting eveything to Mesh.

It's funny to me at least that you have to cripple yourself with POP and Outlook to get what you want. :) Whatever works, right? If you use imap, (or even the browser interface with or without offline gmail) everything just stays in sync automatically.

-David

Does Gmail allow you to sync to either Windows Mobile, iPhone, and/or Blackberry?

I use Hotmail and the Hotmail connector for Outlook. And of course, Hotmail supports Windows Mobile devices. So I'm able to use the full Outlook client for both online and offline use, the Hotmail web client when I'm not at my PC, and then automatic, realtime sync to my phone. Everything stays nicely in sync automatically.

Does Gmail allow you to sync to either Windows Mobile, iPhone, and/or Blackberry?

I use Hotmail and the Hotmail connector for Outlook. And of course, Hotmail supports Windows Mobile devices. So I'm able to use the full Outlook client for both online and offline use, the Hotmail web client when I'm not at my PC, and then automatic, realtime sync to my phone. Everything stays nicely in sync automatically.

Gmail syncs with all of the above using imap.

I'll second Sugarsync, works perfectly for me, plus they have iPhone and WinMo clients.

Hey, you are the one that told me about sugarsync. :)

It really helped me when I added a netbook and then had the problem with my XPS M1330 and added another notebook to the mix. Everything was just there when I needed it. And it keeps each one of the clients data separate, or you can use the magic briefcase when you need to keep files, folders, etc in sync, as with roboform data.

-David

If you're a Mac user, MobileMe is tailored to your situation. Their iDisk webdav online disk is not very speedy though.

I'm a very big fan of Dropbox.

It's free for up to 2GB and they have paid options if you need more space.

You can install it on multiple computers, it's cross-platform (Mac, Windows and Linux), very lightweight, and does a great job of keeping things sync'ed up. Note that it actually keeps copies of all files on the computers where you install it. That's great if you need access to files and aren't hooked up to the internet, but note that if you have 4GB of data in your dropbox folder, you'll need 4GB of free space on each computer that you install your dropbox account on (although for occasional access to a file, you can also access files through a web interface from any computer without installing the software). One other caveat is that if you work with big files, you may find it takes time to sync everything, but that's an issue with any sync service. I mostly use it for small Word, PDF and Excel files, so it only takes a few seconds after I hit "save" on my computer to update the copy on its server (and another few seconds when I log in on a different machine to update the copy on that machine). On the occasions where I've worked with a particularly large file (say an 8MB PDF), it obviously takes a minute or two to sync that up with a reasonably high-speed connection. This doesn't slow you down working, since the files are on your computer and dropbox does all the sync'ing in the background. But if you're saving a file in a shared folder and someone on another computer is waiting to get access to it, it can take a moment. And if you save a file and immediately shut down your computer, it might not have time to sync.

Dropbox also works well with multiple user accounts. On my home PC and home Mac, mrsmicah and I each have a user account on each computer, and we each have a dropbox account with dropbox installed on both our user profiles on both machines. When she's logged into either computer, she has full access to her dropbox files, and when I'm logged into either computer, I have full access to my dropbox files. This makes it much easier for multiple people to share multiple machines and always have access to their files.