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I have nearly 4 computers that I work with all the time…nearly well one of them is a virtual machine so its nearly a machine. Each terminal is used for specific purpose like my laptop is Kubuntu [Linux] for open-source development, my office terminal is a Mac [OS X] for design and media, and two machines which are Windows XP for Windows development work. Most of times I am sharing files between these terminals and office/home terminals as well. Although I carry my USB thumbdrive all the time to quickly copy stuff, recently I have begun using a free online service DropBox for sharing documents and project files.

The beauty of DropBox is that it gives near real time synchronisation of folders/files from each terminal and stores them on DropBox site. Check the video on their site on how it works. Initially I was not much into it when I was one of the beta users, but ever since they launched application for Linux, OSX and Windows, life has become easy for me. The way it works is that you download a small application on your computer and install it. This application will create a special folder called DropBox at location of your choice. Now this folder is on your harddrive, and you work in this folder, copy files/folders, images, documents etc etc like you would normally do. The DropBox application that you installed will monitor this folder and copy the structure and contents to DropBox website. Next time you are at home or remote location and you connect your other laptop/computer all the folders and files are downloaded / synchronized. The best part is you can access the same folder structure via their website also.

Now this concept has been there for last few years, but what makes DropBox unique is its simplicity, ease of use, and file sharing capabilities. Check out DropBox its basic service is free for storage upto 2GB, and you can purchase additional storage for upto 50GB for US$99 per/year

Click here for DropBox website [link]