Our small team of 3 is in need of a better file management and sharing solution. Currently we have 1 PC, 1 M1 MBA, 1 2016 16" MBP (soon will be on Apple Silicon). I’ve been researching and everything points to Box or Dropbox. My question is, would anyone recommend one over the other? In my research it seems Dropbox still crushes battery and RAM performance and that Box has beta software for M1 Macs. They’re close enough on price so there is not concern there.
Anyone with experience and or suggestions on either one are greatly appreciated!
Have you considered ResilioSync?
It doesn’t store your data, and only syncs between machines.
I’m running it on Win, Mac, Linux, iOS, and on my Synology as a Docker container.
It’s syncing about four folders, Obsidian notes, my research code/data folders, a folder I call Sync for miscellaneous cross platform syncs.
It just works and the only time I really think about it is setting up a new folder.
I use the selective sync extensively, so the placeholders for folders and files are on, say, my laptop, but the gigs of fmri data aren’t downloaded.
If you’re looking at Dropbox, check out maestral, a third party app that uses the official Dropbox API AND it is native on Apple Silicon. Uses far fewer resources too.
Years ago (2012-2013), I started out on Box. It turned out to have problems syncing bundles — the folder-as-a-file approach that many Mac apps use for data storage (including a variety of video apps, among others). Also at the time, Dropbox was able to, no problem. I went from having to actively manage a folder of conflicted syncs and other problem files to not even thinking about it.
I have no idea if that’s still the case; I would hope that by now Box would have solved that problem. But if you’re going to be using a syncing service with Macs, definitely check that out to make sure.
That’s not a bad idea. However, we also need to share folders between our team and to clients. This makes me think we need a solution more similar to DB or Box.
This looks great but I do need the ability to share folders within our team and clients. Reading the notes it doesn’t seem to support it. Could I run Maestral but use the web client for the other functions I need?
I use both applications on my system - Dropbox for personal files and Box from my institution. What David and Stephen said in the File Management in the Cloud episode syncs with my experience. Dropbox is still unmatched in features and performance. If I add a file to Dropbox, I can share a link instantly while a new Box file sometimes takes several minutes to become shareable. In addition, Box recently updated their Mac syncing app, changing from Box Sync to Box Drive. The new Box Drive does not support Spotlight. Their legacy app Box Sync does support Spotlight.
This is an important thing to understand. Even Pages documents used to be ‘packages’ but they are not anymore. Test files from important apps with whatever service you are using.
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