Microsoft Re-Launches FolderShare

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.foldershare.com' target='_blank'>http://www.foldershare.com</a><br /><br /></div><img border="0" alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1205173332.usr1.png" /><br /><a href="http://www.foldershare.com">FolderShare</a> is quite likely the best software service (free or paid) that you've never heard of - it's a service that synchronizes two folders. Seems simple right? The devil is always in the details where synchronization is concerned however - and FolderShare gets more of those details right than any similar software I've used. I use FolderShare to keep my Documents, Pictures, Music, and other folders synchronized amongst all my PCs. Between FolderShare and my <a href="http://www.4smartphone.net" target="_blank">hosted Exchange account</a>, I can sit down at any of my PCs or laptops and have an updated copy of every file, email, and photo that I have. It's like the ultimate roving desktop scenario, and it works amazingly well. It also works well when you're working remotely, because if I'm working on a document or editing photos on the plane, when I land and establish Internet connectivity, all those updated files are pushed back, securely, to my home PCs. FolderShare has allowed me to mirror my data all over the place and worry less about losing any one PC because they all have the same data. That's powerful stuff.<br /><br />FolderShare is in my top three applications of all time, and it's fantastic to see Microsoft finally make progress on it. You see, FolderShare was created by a company named Byte Taxi, and I was paying $59.99 a year for their professional-level service. Then Microsoft bought Byte Taxi at the end of 2005 - and nothing changed for over two years other than the service becoming free. By &quot;nothing&quot;, I mean exactly that - no real software updates (in fact, some features were removed), no changes to the FolderShare Web site other than a Microsoft logo being slapped up...it was as if the whole project was <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonite">frozen in carbonite</a>. I'd been fortunate enough to connect with some of the Microsoft team members working on updating FolderShare, so I knew they were doing things behind the scenes, but it's been hard seeing no outward changes. All that's finally changed! <MORE /><br /><br /><img border="1" alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1205174084.usr1.png" /><br /><br />The new Web site looks great, and all of the functions that FolderShare users are familiar with are still there - just with a new look. You can access files on your remotely connected PCs, even those outside the shared folders, making this a handy way to grab anything off your PC. Performance on Vista-based machines has also been enhanced. There are so many interesting ways they can build upon FolderShare, and it looks like now that the back-end plumbing is in place, we'll start to see some forward motion on this software. And if you notice that it looks a lot like <a href="skydrive.live.com">Windows Live Skydrive</a>, that's probably not a coincidence.<br /><br />And, finally, the FolderShare team has <a target="_blank" href="http://foldershareteam.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0">launched their own blog</a>. Here's hoping 2008 is the year of FolderShare!

[ptyork]

FolderShare has been a true friend to me, as well. I keep thousands of files in sync between my home and work PC's and have rarely had any problems with it at all. Definitely a great product. I was worried that it would be supplanted by Groove, but I'm glad to see that they are maintaining it as a lightweight and reliable solution for sharing files. Thanks as always for keeping us in the know!

[sundown]

Your hosted Exchange service link goes to an error page.

Thanks for the FolderShare mention. I'll check it out. I'm a little concerned about security and wish they would address that on their site but I'll take a look.

[jaxim]

I'll have to look into this. Does anyone know the differences between FolderShare and SkyDive?

[Jason Dunn]

Your hosted Exchange service link goes to an error page.

Thanks - I'll have to ask 4smartphone why my affiliate link no longer works. :confused:


I'm a little concerned about security and wish they would address that on their site but I'll take a look.

I'd say FolderShare is quite secure:

"FolderShare is a secure peer-to-peer system. Only you and your invited members can view or access files in your FolderShare library. FolderShare encrypts all files and messages exchanged on our network to ensure user privacy. All P2P communication on FolderShare is authenticated via RSA and encrypted via AES over SSL."

From this page (http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:hZQSnL_IYIIJ:www.foldershare.com/info/faq/Security.php+foldershare+security&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a) (Google's cache).

[ptyork]

I'll have to look into this. Does anyone know the differences between FolderShare and SkyDive?

SkyDive involves airplanes and parachutes, FolderShare doesn't. :)

Seriously, I'm not all that familiar with SkyDrive, but FolderShare doesn't store you files anywhere but on your own computers. The service replicates the files among 2 or more computers, but uses each computer's local storage. SkyDrive takes a different approach, physically storing the files remotely (I don't know if there is an option to have SkyDrive files automatically replicated locally). I don't think that there are any size limitations for FolderShare, which is certainly different for SkyDrive (although 5GB is a pretty high limit, it would seem quite easy to exceed this when sharing media). FolderShare allows you to make the files available to others, but it requires that at least one of your shared computers stay online. Perhaps in the future they will be merged, allowing off-site vs. local storage (or both) to simply be a configurable option.

Hope this helps.

[Jason Dunn]

I'll have to look into this. Does anyone know the differences between FolderShare and SkyDive?

SkyDrive is a "hard drive in the sky" - an online storage server. FolderShare is a peer to peer synchronization service where nothing is stored online, it's all data on your hard drives. Completely different technologies and solutions...

[jaxim]

>FolderShare is a peer to peer synchronization service where nothing is stored online, it's all data on your hard drives.


Thanks!

Does anyone know what the transfer speeds are for FolderShare?

Let's say I have a 1GB file on my home computer and I use FolderShare to allow me to download this file to my work computer. Both my home and work computers have cable modem speeds. Approximately how long would it take to download this 1GB file from my home computer to my work computer?

Also are there any file size limitations? Can I transfer a 50GB file using this service?

[Jason Dunn]

Both my home and work computers have cable modem speeds. Approximately how long would it take to download this 1GB file from my home computer to my work computer?

That depends entirely on how fast your cable modem upstream speed is. :) If you have 100 KB/s upstream, and there's nothing else using your bandwidth, a 1 GB file might take around 2.7 hours (100 KB/s is 6000 KB/minute, which is 6 MB, 1000 MB at 6 MB/minute is 166 minutes)...more like 3 hours realistically since bandwidth is rarely 100% stable. Transferring 1 GB files is a bit difficult as you can see by the math.

One GREAT thing about FolderShare is that it's smart enough to know when two PCs are on the same local network, meaning you get local network transfer speeds (10+ MB/s).

Also are there any file size limitations? Can I transfer a 50GB file using this service?

I'm not aware of any file size limitations, but I've not tested it with a 50 GB file. Try it and let me know. :D

[onlydarksets]

I've been using it for about a year now to sync files to my parents' house. It takes a while, but there's no rush, so it's perfect.

[synchrotron]

before this update it was possible to use Google Desktop to remotely search PC's linked by foldershare. Now it's in the MS Live world this feature has been removed, unless anyone in this forum can tell be where it's been hidden. Still Foldershare is pretty good and quickly becomes one of those apps that's installed by default on any new machine and just runs.

[Jason Dunn]

Now it's in the MS Live world this feature has been removed, unless anyone in this forum can tell be where it's been hidden.

Nope, it's gone. I know the FolderShare team is looking at bringing it back. Personally, I never used the feature - but it seems you did. :)

[Kacey Green]

thanks for this tip
I finally set it up after waiting for some free time after I read this post