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Can you recommend an alternative to DropBox?

Discussion in 'General Business' started by ship69, Jul 27, 2015.

  1. #1
    Hello

    I run a small team of family members on a personal project. We have been storing data on DropBox. Unfortunately we keep running out of memory for storing documents & photographs on DropBox. (i.e. 2GB is not enough!)

    Can anyone here recommend a good alternative?

    Background:
    - We have a near zero budget. i.e. We do not want to pay more than say $5/year (i.e. mobile phone app level of fees!)
    - Many of the team (of 6) are not computer literate. So we need something highly reliable and intuitive for us to store share documents (e.g. spreadsheet)
    - We also need to be able to open files when we are not on line.
    - If possible it would be great to have some sort of basic "file locking" system so that we can see if one of us is online and has a file open. This would avoid at least some over-writing of each others work. It would need to show the ID of the person who has the file open.
    - Once we have come to trust the software only then would we be happy to pay a bit more - particularly if we start to use it for work activities.

    Any recommendations?

    John

    PS. We were thinking of Box, Copy.com or Zoho Docs?

    PPS. GoogleDrive and OneDrive are to be avoided if possible because we feel Google and Microsoft are already violating our privacy and are spying on us to an unethical degree. Any other options?
     
    ship69, Jul 27, 2015 IP
  2. Mehdi.b

    Mehdi.b Active Member

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    #2
    I would recommend Google drive for free service and good options with small payment. Also take a look at Microsoft Live as well.
     
    Mehdi.b, Jul 27, 2015 IP
  3. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #3
    Unfortunately two of our team members are extremely against both Microsoft and Google, for ideological reasons. Any other suggestions?
     
    ship69, Jul 28, 2015 IP
  4. jestep

    jestep Prominent Member

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    #4
    If you have a hosted server with some decent bandwidth, owncloud is a great product. It's basically a private dropbox service. You don't have to worry about anyone else's licensing or access to your stored documents.
     
    jestep, Jul 28, 2015 IP
  5. love2spellcheck

    love2spellcheck Greenhorn

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    #5
    I like opendrive. They have activity log and if a file is accidentally moved to a trash can, you can restore it during a 90 day period. I know that you can work on the same file at the same time, however I don't know whether that shows up anywhere, we never needed that option. Also I really like their customer service, they reply quickly and solve problems fast.
     
    love2spellcheck, Jul 28, 2015 IP
  6. Omarsaady

    Omarsaady Guest

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    #6
    Google Drive is a viable option to store your files and documents online for free. While Google Drive does provide a 15 GB free storage, which is seven times the amount of space offered on DropBox, that shouldn’t delude you. Google Drive’s 15 GB of free space includes all your Google services, including Google+, Gmail and any other Google service in use. While this alone shouldn’t stop you from shifting some of your files and documents to Google Drive.
     
    Omarsaady, Jul 28, 2015 IP
  7. Mehdi.b

    Mehdi.b Active Member

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    #7
    Fantastic, then @jestep would be right
     
    Mehdi.b, Jul 28, 2015 IP
  8. daftdog

    daftdog Active Member

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    #8
    I use Mediafire for everything....never had any problems!
     
    daftdog, Jul 29, 2015 IP
  9. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #9
    Google and Microsoft are not options. Sadly we dont have a hosted server either. MediaFire sounds interesting (and surprisingly large for something I'd never heard of - 37 million reg users by 2012!)

    But how well does MediaFire work in a collaboration scenario - i.e. where multiple user users are sharing the same files?

    e.g.
    - Is there any attempt by the system to flag up when one user is editing a file?

    - And what happens when one user over-writes another user's work accidentally?

    Thanks

    J
     
    ship69, Jul 31, 2015 IP
  10. Ibn Juferi Al-Amriki

    Ibn Juferi Al-Amriki Banned

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    #10
    The only alternative acceptable to us is google. Drive by google. It is ok. The other ones are Jewish owned.
     
    Ibn Juferi Al-Amriki, Jul 31, 2015 IP
  11. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #11
    Google knows far far far FAR too much more than is healthy about every single one of us. Almost every one of us use Google as their main search engine ("over 3 Billion searches per day" are stored) but it's much worse than, not only does google read the emails of 900 million people [source:-https://plus.google.com/+Gmail/posts/AjktcDswdKh] but Google can also spy on us as we surf from website-to-website by using Google Analytics on a gargantuan scale. GA is used on "around 49.95% of the top 1,000,000 websites" [source:http://metricmail.tumblr.com/post/904126172/google-analytics-market-share]

    Google's invasion of privacy is a Stazi's wet dream and no one else comes close other than possibly Facebook.

    Google is NOT acceptable, and it doesn't matter how little Evil they are doing right now because that could change in the blink of an eye.

    Who are the alternatives to Google?
    And what is your case for thinking that they are owned by Jews? Moreover do you mean Jewish religion or Jewish race? Personally I have absolutely no problem with something a person cannot change (their race), however I am extremely again racist in all forms. This includes racist religions like Judaism and the Jewish culture, not to mention the behavior of Israel.
    Please clarify your position @Ibn Juferi Al-Amriki
     
    ship69, Aug 1, 2015 IP
  12. cronik

    cronik Well-Known Member

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    #12
    Seems like people are becoming more paranoid than ever... I think Drive is your best option, but Zoho Docs is a great alternative. I would most likely go with Zoho if Drive wasn't an option.
     
    cronik, Aug 1, 2015 IP
  13. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #13
    Yes, Zoho does sounds intriguing. It looks like the spreadsheets & documents are on-line only and will not work when the user is off-line (is this true?) However it is even worse than DropBox - the free accounds only get 1GB per user.
    And it will not be of any use for sharing Photos because the space is too small.

    Whereas we are already out-growing DropBoxes 2GB and the likes of Box and Copy offer 15GB.
     
    ship69, Aug 2, 2015 IP
  14. ademmeda

    ademmeda Active Member

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    #14
    You can increase your storage capacity in DropBox by doing some sharing and inviting friends etc. You gain +500MB for each referral. I'm currently at 3.38GB without trying hard at all.

    Not an alternative but something you may consider since you don't have a budget.
     
    ademmeda, Aug 4, 2015 IP
  15. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #15
    Dropbox is too small for us. Some of my family members seem to be incapable of getting referrals done. [sigh]

    I can't find anything that has at least 5GB for free (or nearly free) and which does collaboration well. By which I mean something that has some sort of file locking (i.e. when a user is editing a file [and that user is online] warns other users that the file is being edited).... Plus some sort of version control to cope with conflicts.

    Last time I looked the shared version of Box is not free. Amazon Cloud Drive does not have any realtime collaboration tools.
    [Source:
    http://www.techtimes.com/articles/42633/20150327/whats-the-best-cloud-storage-service-amazon-cloud-drive-vs-google-drive-for-work-vs-dropbox-vs-onedrive.htm ]
     
    ship69, Aug 4, 2015 IP
  16. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #16
    OK to recap what I am looking for it:
    - 5+GB of online/cloud storage (for free on nearly free)
    - ...of spreadsheets & tex documents.
    - Good at collaboration. (i.e. it has some sort of file locking)
    - We cannot use Google nor Microsoft.
     
    ship69, Aug 9, 2015 IP
  17. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #17
    Bump - Can anyone help?
     
    ship69, Aug 10, 2015 IP
  18. ship69

    ship69 Member

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    #18
    > - If possible it would be great to have some sort of basic "file locking" system so that we can
    > see if one of us is online and has a file open. This would avoid at least some over-writing of
    > each others work. It would need to show the ID of the person who has the file open.
    Thanks but like I said at the top, we are becoming increasingly hacked off with DropBox for use in a *team* environment. It's just too easy to over-write each other's work.
    Any other ideas.
     
    ship69, Aug 12, 2015 IP
  19. jestep

    jestep Prominent Member

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    #19
    What type of files are you guys collaboratively editing?

    It sounds like you need something more like a version control system like git or subversion.

    I don't know of any file sharing apps that work well with multiple users as far as overwriting and preventing conflicts.
     
    jestep, Aug 20, 2015 IP
  20. 24Hours

    24Hours Member

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    #20
    So far I've been very happy with Google Drive and Google related services.
     
    24Hours, Aug 21, 2015 IP