Hello All,



Some alternatives, pros & cons:

http://BeInSync.com $60/yr min, looks quite similar to FolderShare but I
have not used it yet.

http://skydrive.live.com $0, Microsoft, no 'Network Status' page, may be
same as FS, for better or worse.

At one time I also setup a FTPS server using http://bpftp.com but I never
found an FTPS client that would automatically sync everything. This solution
is also a pain with dynamic dns on the server side but you could use
DynDns.com.

Anyone have any other alternatives or comments on the above. These FS
outages are unbearable and make me reluctant to try the other MS product,
SkyDriveLive. I wonder if that has been down too?

Best regards,
Don

PowerFolder (http://www.powerfolder.com/) seems to be a good P2P solution
with good reviews. Free for basic 3 folder 10GB limit, $39 for the unlimited
Pro version.

"Don" wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> Some alternatives, pros & cons:
>
> http://BeInSync.com $60/yr min, looks quite similar to FolderShare but I
> have not used it yet.
>
> http://skydrive.live.com $0, Microsoft, no 'Network Status' page, may be
> same as FS, for better or worse.
>
> At one time I also setup a FTPS server using http://bpftp.com but I never
> found an FTPS client that would automatically sync everything. This solution
> is also a pain with dynamic dns on the server side but you could use
> DynDns.com.
>
> Anyone have any other alternatives or comments on the above. These FS
> outages are unbearable and make me reluctant to try the other MS product,
> SkyDriveLive. I wonder if that has been down too?
>
> Best regards,
> Don
>

"Don" wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> Some alternatives, pros & cons:
>
> http://BeInSync.com $60/yr min, looks quite similar to FolderShare but I
> have not used it yet.
>
> http://skydrive.live.com $0, Microsoft, no 'Network Status' page, may be
> same as FS, for better or worse.
>
> At one time I also setup a FTPS server using http://bpftp.com but I never
> found an FTPS client that would automatically sync everything. This solution
> is also a pain with dynamic dns on the server side but you could use
> DynDns.com.
>
> Anyone have any other alternatives or comments on the above. These FS
> outages are unbearable and make me reluctant to try the other MS product,
> SkyDriveLive. I wonder if that has been down too?
>
> Best regards,
> Don
>

I installed BeInSync trial on 2 machines yesterday and all seems to work
well with the sharing between these 2 computers feels a lot like Foldershare
but it is different. Although there is some cost to use it I don't mind that
as I was a paying Foldershare user before MS came along and made it all free.

I certainly need an alternate solution and this looks like it will work for
me.

Foldershare is back and running on most of my 35 machines I think 3 are down
right now. Much better than yesterday.

PowerFolder is CPU-intensive and too complicated to set up
FS is still the best if stabler.

"Bob T" wrote:

>
>
> "Don" wrote:
>

> > Hello All,
> >
> > Some alternatives, pros & cons:
> >
> > http://BeInSync.com $60/yr min, looks quite similar to FolderShare but I
> > have not used it yet.
> >
> > http://skydrive.live.com $0, Microsoft, no 'Network Status' page, may be
> > same as FS, for better or worse.
> >
> > At one time I also setup a FTPS server using http://bpftp.com but I never
> > found an FTPS client that would automatically sync everything. This solution
> > is also a pain with dynamic dns on the server side but you could use
> > DynDns.com.
> >
> > Anyone have any other alternatives or comments on the above. These FS
> > outages are unbearable and make me reluctant to try the other MS product,
> > SkyDriveLive. I wonder if that has been down too?
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Don
> >

> I installed BeInSync trial on 2 machines yesterday and all seems to work
> well with the sharing between these 2 computers feels a lot like Foldershare
> but it is different. Although there is some cost to use it I don't mind that
> as I was a paying Foldershare user before MS came along and made it all free.
>
> I certainly need an alternate solution and this looks like it will work for
> me.
>
> Foldershare is back and running on most of my 35 machines I think 3 are down
> right now. Much better than yesterday.
>

"eruisi" <eruisi@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:EFC6767B-34A1-4797-A2F9-1CFF728BE06B@xxxxxx

> PowerFolder is CPU-intensive and too complicated to set up
> FS is still the best if stabler.

Yeah, I just tried it. It has only one thing that makes it better than FS.
It worked, almost. I synced a file with it. But it did not do it
automatically. If there was a way to set it to do so automatically I missed
it. Admitted I didn't look that hard. When I tried to set up the free
online storage account I get an error saying the server was either not
available or busy. So I guess nothing is working well. I did a Google
search and found something called MediaMax but did not really try it. It's
focus is 25 GB of online storage. But it only lets you download 1 GB per
month. So what if I need all my files downloaded after a hard drive crash.
I have to pay or wait 25 months? So not realistic for syncing.

I've been trying PowerFolder most of the day now without any luck.

I'm trying to sync with another user, the problem may be their firewall,
we'll find out tomorrow but I thought I should let you all know, switching to
PowerFolder is not a no-brainer.

Maybe PowerFolder will workout with staff but not clients, too complicated.
I'll post an update when I know for sure.

After several hours of configuration, a co-worker and I got PowerFolder to
work.

The tricks are:
* Open / forward port 1337 in all hardware firewalls you want to connect
through
* Of course let PowerFolder make connections through your software firewalls
* With PowerFolder running test port 1337 using:
http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/port-scanner/
* Once both machines are responding on 1337 use "Send Invitation"

PowerFolder was a pain to setup, way too complicated for clients but it does
work. Even if FolderShare starts working again I will keep PowerFolder
installed as a backup for business critical file sharing.

I tried PowerFolder, and got it working automatically, to the point where it
was operating pretty much the same as FolderShare does.

The license fee is per computer though, so for a single user with two
computers I felt it was a rather complex, rather expensive solution. What I
did like though, was that I could sync via my own network, rather than via
the internet.

I wouldn't suggest PowerFolder to any user who could be called "client"
though. I think PowerFolder is more geared towards PowerUsers.

The limits of the free version made PF a bit too limited for my liking.


"Don" wrote:

> After several hours of configuration, a co-worker and I got PowerFolder to
> work.
>
> The tricks are:
> * Open / forward port 1337 in all hardware firewalls you want to connect
> through
> * Of course let PowerFolder make connections through your software firewalls
> * With PowerFolder running test port 1337 using:
> http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/port-scanner/
> * Once both machines are responding on 1337 use "Send Invitation"
>
> PowerFolder was a pain to setup, way too complicated for clients but it does
> work. Even if FolderShare starts working again I will keep PowerFolder
> installed as a backup for business critical file sharing.

Our organization used Be In Sync for a little while. I really like the
product in as far as a) very responsive folks, you can call up any time b)
they store stuff on their servers, so you can access your files through a
browser. But. I had serious usability issues from some of my customers. Files
didn't sync, or the app would quit or you had to restart your whole machine
to get the app back up again after closing it and on and on. Finally went to
FolderShare where I am still a newbie - but it seems much more stable, if
much less functional. As this solution is at the core of our business, I'm a
little concerned about the comments I read on Microsoft not improving on
this app and it being down for months at a stretch. I guess we'll just keep
our fingers crossed and see.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know first hand BIS feedback.
We are running Vista, and that might not have helped either.
Cheers
Zip

"Don" wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> Some alternatives, pros & cons:
>
> http://BeInSync.com $60/yr min, looks quite similar to FolderShare but I
> have not used it yet.
>
> http://skydrive.live.com $0, Microsoft, no 'Network Status' page, may be
> same as FS, for better or worse.
>
> At one time I also setup a FTPS server using http://bpftp.com but I never
> found an FTPS client that would automatically sync everything. This solution
> is also a pain with dynamic dns on the server side but you could use
> DynDns.com.
>
> Anyone have any other alternatives or comments on the above. These FS
> outages are unbearable and make me reluctant to try the other MS product,
> SkyDriveLive. I wonder if that has been down too?
>
> Best regards,
> Don
>