Online Storage: Dropbox

Which do you think is safer, online or offline? For me, I don't think my computer is safer. Viruses, software or hardware problems may damage my important data one day. I think the online storage is safer, perhaps. Of course, you shouldn't use the online services to store your private information, such as credit card number, bank password. Of course, using the online storage service as a backup tool is much better. In this way, even thought your computer is lost, you can find it from the Internet.

In this short article I will introduce an online storage site. Its name is Dropbox. With it you can store and share your files very easily.

Try Dropbox

To use Dropbox online storage, you need to register and download its client software. For free users, Dropbox provides 2GB storage space. That's enough. When Dropbox runs at first time, it will ask you whether or not you have an account. If you have registered, enter your username and password. Then Dropbox will run in background and it will create a folder "My Dropbox" in your document folder. Note that the folder and its contents are not located in your computer, they are in the Dropbox server.

When you save some files in it, Dropbox will upload them to your Dropbox account. Let's have a look step by step:

Step 1. Login to your Dropbox account and go to "Files" to show the online files:

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Step 2. Now I put a file to "My Documents\My Dropbox". The client software will upload the file quietly. Although it seems that the file is in my computer, in fact, it is located in the remote server.

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So you refresh your browser and will see the new file.

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Share Files with Dropbox

You can share your files with your partner by clicking "Share" in the left sidebar. Create a folder and enter his/her Email to invite him/her. However, there is another way and it is more convenient. In your account, there is a folder whose name is "Public". Any file in this folder can be download directly, i.e. anyone can access the files in the "Public" folder. Let's have a look.

To find the link of a file in the "Public" folder, click the small triangle icon in the right and choose "Copy public URL".

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Now you can press "Ctrl+V" to paste the URL. Send it to your friends so that they can download your file.

Do you want to have a try? Go to Dropbox!