Dropbox and Symlinks

Since we've been using Dropbox for this class, this article on MakeUseOf.com caught my attention.

It talks about how you can skip the step of dragging files into your Dropbox folder by using symbolic links, or "symlinks." A symlink is a file that creates a reference to another file. Any changes made to the symlink will affect the original file, and vice versa. By creating a symlink and sending it to your Dropbox folder, you can sync files to your account without having to move them.

I liked the idea of this system because I do not like saving files directly into the Dropbox folder and usually end up making a copy of the original files to put into Dropbox, which ultimately just takes up more storage space on my computer.

I downloaded an application called Dropbox Folder Sync. I tried it out and created a symlink for a folder on my computer and synced it to my Dropbox folder. It was easy to do, but what I did not like was that you could only sync folders and not individual files.

I think as cloud computing continues to evolve, eventually people will be able to upload any file from any location on their computer for online storage. Tools like this are only the first step in trying to make cloud computing easier and more accessible.