Clouds

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message Ed Storer New member Username: ed_storer Post Number: 1 Registered: 05-2009 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 01:02 pm:    I'm seeking advice on the value and utility of cloud computing. I cut my teeth on CPM and DOS 3.1. I avoided Windows as long as I could, but it became unavoidable. Clouds are almost certainly in my future. As a sole practitioner with a laptop and desktop, I'm considering subscribing to a cloud service. There's a lot I don't know and I don't know of any better place to ask my questions than this forum. Some of my clients are posting their drawings, and deliverable packages on DropBox and another that I can't name at the moment. I use Carbonite and had to do a full recovery after the "security" software locked me out of my laptop. Do clouds operate like network hard drive? Are there any providers you would recommend? Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 443 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 04:23 pm:    I use dropbox and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I know others use googledocs and can speak to that platform. Dropbox is a "cloud-syncing" platform. Which means, when you download it, it adds a dropbox folder to your hard drive. Anything you put in that folder syncs to the dropbox cloud and also to any other device you have dropbox on (you can change which files you want to sync on each computer). So, for example, I am working on my desktop at the office. When I get home tonight, all my files that i worked on will be updated on my home laptop. Those files are now on the (1) office desktop (2) the laptop and (3) the cloud. Any changes i make at home tonight will be synced with the office desktop computer. The one feature i like (I don't think googledocs offers this) is you can work without an internet connection. When i travel, i make sure everything is synced on the laptop, then work offline, then when i reconnect to the i-net, it syncs everything. Everything is backed up and also accessible (via dropbox.com) from any computer. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 513 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 04:27 pm:    I use DropBox and Box.com. Box is more targeted towards business enterprise users, but I prefer Dropbox as it's more flexible and intuitive for me. I sync my desktops (one home, one at work), my iPhone, my family's iPad, and my laptop all to the same account and it works brilliantly. I can access whatever file I chose to save on DropBox from whatever device I'm using or wherever I find myself at when I need the file. Since it's free, there's no harm in signing up and trying it out. It is a bit of a pyramid scheme though. For each person I get signed up, I got more free storage space, so if you want to use me as a referer, I would not mind :-) Ed Storer Member Username: ed_storer Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2009 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 10:24 pm:    Robin & Nathan, Thanks for the reviews. Box.net is the service I couldn't think of this morning. I have worked with it and find that my client that uses it is too liberal with creating new files. It makes it hard to navigate. With Box, I'm on it becasue another client had me sign up. So far, I haven't placed any files in it. I don't want to put my project files out there where my clients can mess with them, but I imagine there is a way of controlling access. I'll give it a try. Thanks! Ed Storer Intermediate Member Username: ed_storer Post Number: 4 Registered: 05-2009 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 11:45 pm:    Nathan, I signed up, but I didn't see any place to acknowledge a referral - sorry. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to keep my actual working files sync'd with dropbox short of tying a string around my finger. I can use Word on the files in Dropbox, but Arcom Masterworks won't let me navigate there, so I have to continue working on a local drive. The nice thing about Carbonite is that you don't have to think about it. The bad thing is that when you do a full restore, things called "junctions" get messed up. I had all my project files and reference specs assigned as "libraries", getting them re-linked was a challenge. God, I miss DOS and WP 5.1! Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 444 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Monday, February 18, 2013 - 11:51 pm:    Ed- I am not sure what you mean that masterworks won't let you navigate in Dropbox. When you download the program, it adds a dropbox folder to your c drive. Move you files into that folder. Dropbox folder becomes your parent folder. Work like normal and Dropbox will utomsticlly sync whatever is in that folder. You not have to remember to do anything. There are ways to customize, but start by moving some files into DB folder and see how it works Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 1089 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 12:11 am:    "utomsticlly"? Ron Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP www.specsandcodes.com Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 514 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 01:16 am:    Ed, DropBox should have prompted you to install a little applet on your computer. This program creates a folder in your "My Documents" folder called, DropBox, and it functions exactly the same as any other folder in Windows File Browser. So if you are in Word, and click File> Save As>My Documents>DropBox>ProjectX, it will function exactly like you would expect. More imporantly, if you grab your iPad to view a file, you simple browser to DropBox>ProjectX and there it is, under the exact same file structure....because it is the same file structure. All your DropBox enable devices will syncronize the same folder structure and files across each device. There is no distinction between the cloud and your local C:\ drive. Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 445 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 06:05 pm:    utomsticlly - it's a legal term, LOL. darned autocorrect. *automatically. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1478 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 - 02:33 pm:    Here there is only discussion on using the cloud for simple storage. The trend is to have actual applications in the cloud. This allows the user to have significantly more power than on their PC. For word processing, probably not much of an advantage, but could be for graphics intensive or scientific stuff. The cloud application is always up-to-date and maintained, and one would subscribe to it on a short-tern or long-term basis. Microsoft is already doing this with Office. Check it out here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/. I'm not sure of the usefulness to the specifier of this service. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 1304 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 12:45 pm:    the advantage of the cloud is that it can allow you to have a much flatter, thinner tablet and still do the same work that you would with a laptop or desktop, because the tablet device doesn't have to hold all the software too. The disadvantage of that, as I've found, is if you are somewhere with no network access, you can't do a darn thing. (or at least very few things). We have a few desk locations that are entirely cloud-based -- no server on the premises (or anywhere else for that matter) and everything is updated regularly. oh, and I used Dropbox all the time when I was consulting -- it was like having an FTP site without having to administer the FTP site. Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 515 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 04:34 pm:    This seems interesting: https://doo.net/en/index.html (note its available for Mac and Windows) A write up here: http://9to5mac.com/2013/02/21/review-doo-the-incredible-new-cloud-based-file-manager/#more-262679