General Question

jlm11f's avatar

I recently (read as today) got a dropbox account and have a quick question.

Asked by jlm11f (12416points) May 31st, 2008

I am really excited and am in the process of figuring it out! My question is, there is a “My Dropbox” folder to which you add whatever files you want uploaded online. Now, I want to back up all my pictures, so if i copy-paste pictures folder into the dropbox folder, is it taking up any of my computer space? I also want to backup my music eventually, but I do not want two copies of each file on my computer because that would leave me with no memory space. I know it doesn’t make sense that it would do this, but I am just confused because the dropbox folder IS listed under My Documents. Okay…I hope this makes sense.

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17 Answers

jlm11f's avatar

PS – If anyone would like a dropbox account, I will be happy to give them one :)

wizard's avatar

Tell us, what is Dropbox?

jlm11f's avatar

i am not sure if you are making fun of me lol, but so far what I have gotten out of it is, that its an application, that syncs files from your computer to online space. every user has 5gb online space, and so you can basically backup important files from your computer, which the application does automatically for you.

edit – this video demo might help – http://www.getdropbox.com/screencast

wizard's avatar

Ok, I would say it doesn’t take up any computer space IF it’s a computer (PC) application. If it’s a computer file, or anything that is a part of the computer itself (I.E. My Computer) it would take up computer memory.
I.E. If it’s an application run online, it would be stored on that application/site.

jlm11f's avatar

uhhh the folder where i add stuff is a folder under “My Documents”

wizard's avatar

Did you download Dropbox?

jlm11f's avatar

yes. and after adding the pictures folder, the dropbox folder became 169 MB (from an initial 3 MB)

wizard's avatar

Ok, you’re fine. The memory will not be taken from your computer capacity.

jlm11f's avatar

Okay thanks!

Foolaholic's avatar

that sounds really cool, I would love it if you could hook me up!

wizard's avatar

P.S. The only memory used in that situation is the small amount of space used to actually store Dropbox itself in the computer.

jlm11f's avatar

foolaholic – check your PM for the invite link

bmrumble's avatar

I’ve been on their waitlist for awhile as this service looks incredible. I’d love an invite if you’ve still got some.

jlm11f's avatar

bmrumble – check your PM

koesac's avatar

ok here is the score, dropbox works like any other file on your computer so if you copy stuff into it, it will sit there and in it’s original location on your PC. If you move files into it, they will stay on your PC too. The magic happens with the little program you downloaded, it monitors the file on your desktop and syncs any changes with the web. So if you delete stuff in your local dropbox file it will be deleted from the web too. However you are able to recover stuff online, I have not tested this and don’t know how extensive this is.

If you share a folder with another user, you will both be able to edit and delete any of it’s contents on your computers and these changes will be reflected on the web and on the other user’s computer.

I think I have covered everything you were talking about. If you want to know more or if I haven’t made myself clear just say. There are other features that you can use like public links and photo galleries.

KOESAC

jlm11f's avatar

koesac – now that’s what i call a PERFECT answer. it makes total sense to me now, i feel like something in my brain just clicked :). thank you so much!!!

koesac's avatar

Anytime :)

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