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Hi folks, I'm Daniel from Dropbox, and I am happy to answer any questions about this tech.

adamsvystun 6y ago
Out of curiosity, how much does bandwidth usage contribute to your overall operational efficiency (as compared to for example the cost of running the actual servers)? Would totally understand if you can't answer this :)
- SaveTheRbtz 6y ago
  Alexey from Traffic Team is here. Traffic is definitely a non-negligible part of the budget. We try to reduce it as much as possible for both lower operational expenses and better user experience. Main drivers for that improvement (besides owning our own Edge infrastructure) on the client side are: 1) Brotli (Broccoli) compression. 2) Differential updates through librsync. 3) "LANSync" a P2P sync within a broadcast domain (secured through server issued short lived TLS certs.) That said, Desktop Client is only 1/3 of the overall Dropbox traffic -- the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API.
  - ghj 6y ago
    > Desktop Client is only 1/3 of the overall Dropbox traffic -- the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API Interesting! I assume the desktop client is still dropbox's main product so that's surprising to hear. Is it because the desktop has everything cached and rarely has to download whereas web and mobile has to download a fresh copy each time they are viewed?
  - datanut 6y ago
    > the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API. Does this ratio include the Dropbox official mobile apps? Have LANsync peers been considered as a sources of blocks for mobile clients? Like most, I’m observing (and participating in) multidimensional access to data. For not, accessing files on my local desktop is still much faster than direct downloads from the Dropbox cloud. It’s a bummer to source files that are on my LAN from the cloud. This may become more problematic as bandwidth billing models move toward pay-per-bit.
CJefferson 6y ago
My understanding is Dropbox used to first hash file, then see if a copy was already uploaded. That was removed as it was being used for piracy. Does Dropbox still upload everything, even if the user has uploaded it before?
- daniel_rh 6y ago
  if a user has uploaded a file in the past and their desktop client can prove they have access, then they can avoid uploading it again
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  > My understanding is Dropbox used to first hash file, then see if a copy was already uploaded. That was removed as it was being used for piracy. How's that work? Somehow modify the client to say that you have a file with a user-provided hash even though it doesn't actually exist on disk?
  - CJefferson 6y ago
    Yes, that's exactly what people were doing -- then you could pirate a film by only distributing the hash.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rcarmo 6y ago
Hi Daniel, Does this pave the way for a “lite” version of the Dropbox client that _only_ syncs files and has none of the “added value” bloat that has crept in of late? That was one of the reasons I cancelled my paid plan: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2020/06/21/1600 https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2020/06/21/1600
Osiris 6y ago
When are you going to offer a cheaper plan with less storage for people that only need <50GB? I lucked out and have 2 free plans that have bonus storage from various promotions. I get about 25 GB per account. I haven't maxed either one. I absolutely love the product. My wife scans a file, I can grab it right away. I'm at work and need some document (e.g., my driver's license photo), I hop on the website and download it. I pay $5 for backblaze to backup 5TB. I don't want to spend $10 a month for storage I'll never use (I couldn't even keep that much synced on most of my devices) but I'd gladly pay $3-5 a month for 50-100GB. For now, I'll keep mooching with my free plan.
- daniel_rh 6y ago
  There's the family plan which offers up to 6 members an account for a great monthly price. https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/plans-upgrades/dropbox-family-plan https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/plans-upgrades/dro... With Dropbox Family, each member of the plan has their own Dropbox account. A single person, the Family manager, will manage the billing and memberships for the entire Family plan.
- cparsons3000 6y ago
  Check out Bookmark OS. Has 20GB storage. May be able to suit your needs https://bookmarkos.com https://bookmarkos.com

Out of curiosity, how much does bandwidth usage contribute to your overall operational efficiency (as compared to for example the cost of running the actual servers)? Would totally understand if you can't answer this :)

SaveTheRbtz 6y ago
Alexey from Traffic Team is here. Traffic is definitely a non-negligible part of the budget. We try to reduce it as much as possible for both lower operational expenses and better user experience. Main drivers for that improvement (besides owning our own Edge infrastructure) on the client side are: 1) Brotli (Broccoli) compression. 2) Differential updates through librsync. 3) "LANSync" a P2P sync within a broadcast domain (secured through server issued short lived TLS certs.) That said, Desktop Client is only 1/3 of the overall Dropbox traffic -- the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API.
- ghj 6y ago
  > Desktop Client is only 1/3 of the overall Dropbox traffic -- the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API Interesting! I assume the desktop client is still dropbox's main product so that's surprising to hear. Is it because the desktop has everything cached and rarely has to download whereas web and mobile has to download a fresh copy each time they are viewed?
- datanut 6y ago
  > the rest 2/3 are split between Web and API. Does this ratio include the Dropbox official mobile apps? Have LANsync peers been considered as a sources of blocks for mobile clients? Like most, I’m observing (and participating in) multidimensional access to data. For not, accessing files on my local desktop is still much faster than direct downloads from the Dropbox cloud. It’s a bummer to source files that are on my LAN from the cloud. This may become more problematic as bandwidth billing models move toward pay-per-bit.

CJefferson 6y ago

My understanding is Dropbox used to first hash file, then see if a copy was already uploaded. That was removed as it was being used for piracy. Does Dropbox still upload everything, even if the user has uploaded it before?

daniel_rh 6y ago
if a user has uploaded a file in the past and their desktop client can prove they have access, then they can avoid uploading it again
yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
> My understanding is Dropbox used to first hash file, then see if a copy was already uploaded. That was removed as it was being used for piracy. How's that work? Somehow modify the client to say that you have a file with a user-provided hash even though it doesn't actually exist on disk?
- CJefferson 6y ago
  Yes, that's exactly what people were doing -- then you could pirate a film by only distributing the hash.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rcarmo 6y ago

Hi Daniel, Does this pave the way for a “lite” version of the Dropbox client that _only_ syncs files and has none of the “added value” bloat that has crept in of late? That was one of the reasons I cancelled my paid plan: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2020/06/21/1600 https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2020/06/21/1600

Osiris 6y ago

When are you going to offer a cheaper plan with less storage for people that only need <50GB? I lucked out and have 2 free plans that have bonus storage from various promotions. I get about 25 GB per account. I haven't maxed either one. I absolutely love the product. My wife scans a file, I can grab it right away. I'm at work and need some document (e.g., my driver's license photo), I hop on the website and download it. I pay $5 for backblaze to backup 5TB. I don't want to spend $10 a month for storage I'll never use (I couldn't even keep that much synced on most of my devices) but I'd gladly pay $3-5 a month for 50-100GB. For now, I'll keep mooching with my free plan.

daniel_rh 6y ago
There's the family plan which offers up to 6 members an account for a great monthly price. https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/plans-upgrades/dropbox-family-plan https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/plans-upgrades/dro... With Dropbox Family, each member of the plan has their own Dropbox account. A single person, the Family manager, will manage the billing and memberships for the entire Family plan.
cparsons3000 6y ago
Check out Bookmark OS. Has 20GB storage. May be able to suit your needs https://bookmarkos.com https://bookmarkos.com