5 ms·

The selling point of Dropbox/Google Drive isn't the storage itself, but that there's app for mobile and desktop operating systems which deeply integrates it in

by dewey 7mo ago

The selling point of Dropbox/Google Drive isn't the storage itself, but that there's app for mobile and desktop operating systems which deeply integrates it in the OS so it's just like a local folder that's magically synced. So it's a cool project, but not really what I'd say is a Dropbox replacement.

Tepix 7mo ago
On the other hand when a Dropbox user shares a file with you these days, the nudges have so gotten out of hand that it's a pain to use.
- layer8 7mo ago
  That’s only an issue if you use Dropbox for sharing with non-Dropbox users, rather than for syncing files across devices and accounts, and having an extra versioned copy in the cloud.
  - Tepix 7mo ago
    And your point is... everyone should have Dropbox?
    - computably 6mo ago
      I'm pretty sure their point is Dropbox is better as personal storage than file sharing between users.
  - nolroz 6mo ago
    riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
- lossyalgo 7mo ago
  There are other less annoying alternatives such as WeTransfer.
CAmosisKilduff 7mo ago
Isn't that the scenario for Nextcloud?
whalesalad 7mo ago
Yep. Open source Dropbox is really Nextcloud - https://nextcloud.com https://nextcloud.com
- PunchyHamster 7mo ago
  Given how many fuckups sync had over lifetime of it (at one point it basically asked for re-log every day, at other it just corrupted data/didn't finish sync), no
- pbouda 7mo ago
  I use OpenCloud nowadays https://opencloud.eu https://opencloud.eu and can really recommend it. It was easy to install on a VM and uses S3 for storage. No database needed.
ajsnigrutin 7mo ago
https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/ <- like this :) Free, opensource, works on computers and phones, can in most cases puncture nat, supports local discovery (lan, multicast). No googles, no dropboxes, no clouds, no AI training, no "my kid likes the wrong video on youtube, now our whole family lost access to every google account we had, so we lost everything, including family photos", just sync! (not affiliated, just really love the software)
- mleo 7mo ago
  This is my go to solution for code sync across macOS laptop, Windows VMs, and Linux VMs to build and run/debug across environments. Unless something has changed, exclusions of build artifacts was always an issue with cloud sync providers. I have been doing more cross compilation on macOS, copy and run on those other machines lately for prototypes, but for IDE based debugging it’s great to edit local or remote and get it all synced to the machine to run it in seconds.
- noisy_boy 7mo ago
  The only issue I have, with this amazing piece of software that I heavily use across multiple devices, is management of sync failures and exclusions via the UI. I have been using it for long enough to know the tips and tricks but it would be great for the web UI to allow easy management of conflict issues and the ability to mark files/folders as exclusions in a friendly manner.
- dewey 7mo ago
  Sadly it doesn't have a great official solution for mobile devices.
- gonzalohm 7mo ago
  The problem with syncthing is that you need to download the whole folder to your device. Google drive is "streaming"
  - DarkUranium 7mo ago
    Have a look at Seafile's SeaDrive client for that. Mind, I haven't actually used it in anger, as I prefer full file sync vs on-demand.
throwaway5465 7mo ago
We can just all use rsync, no need for an app.
- nickjj 7mo ago
  Yep, I use rsync to sync files / directories between my desktop, laptop and even phone (Android). Also an external drive. I ended up creating https://github.com/nickjj/bmsu https://github.com/nickjj/bmsu which calls rsync under the hood but helps you build up a valid rsync command with no surprises. It also codifies each of your backup / restore strategies so you're not having to run massively long rsync commands each time. It's 1 shell script with no dependencies except rsync. Nothing leaves my local network since it's all local file transfers.
- bitexploder 7mo ago
  Until I want to share with say… anyone that isn’t on HN :)
  - shortstuffsushi 7mo ago
    If you're not aware, the GP was a reference to the original Dropbox HN post, wherein BrandonM said, effectively, "why wouldn't I just use rsync?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
    - bitexploder 7mo ago
      I am pretty sure I knew that and forgot it and now I know it again :)
  - wolvoleo 7mo ago
    Then S3 is not going to be a lot better :)
  - nomel 7mo ago
    Just make a route on your web server, making all the files available with some long, impossible to guess, unique ID that can be shared. Like https://files.<your domain>/<id here>. If they want to collaborate, they can just post the changed file, using the auth key you generated for them set in some header field, to https://files.<your domain>/<id here>, which could automatically increment revision numbers. Then you could access specific revisions with .../<id here>/rev/<revision>. So much easier than installing an app! You could literally just use curl as the interface! (I kid)
dangus 7mo ago
To me, integration with the Apple files app on iOS is critical for any Dropbox replacement (among other things).
twarge 7mo ago
Yes, notably, the File Provider extension is where the value is for me. Are there any open source options other than Seafile's SeaDrive?
- jon9544hn 7mo ago
  NextCloud has a version with FP support
TeMPOraL 7mo ago
> but that there's app for mobile and desktop operating systems which deeply integrates it in the OS so it's just like a local folder that's magically synced Which mobile OS would that be? The big reason I stopped being excited about cloud storage is that on mobile, from what I can tell, none of the major providers care about "folder that syncs" experience. You only get an app that lets you view remote storage. The only proper "folder that syncs" I had working on my phone so far was provided via Syncthing, but maintaining that turned out to be more effort than my tiny attention span can afford these days.
- dewey 7mo ago
  I'm using iOS and macOS. On macOS I have the folder that syncs experience (I'm using Synology Drive, but Dropbox works the same way), on iOS I have the "browse remote files" experience but I can pin files I always want to keep available which is what I want.
  - TeMPOraL 7mo ago
    Right. It's similar to Windows and Android experience. Thing is, for the latter, I don't want to "pin files I always want to keep available" - I want them to actually exist as files in the shared storage, so other apps can operate on them as if on regular files. (Unfortunately, both mobile platforms themselves are actively fighting this approach, and instead encourage apps to keep data in private databases and never expose them as actual files.)
    - brookst 7mo ago
      I get the pain point, but databases are a much better data model for multi-device, intermittently-connected sync. Filesystems just aren’t designed to be async and conflict-resolving.
      - ffsm8 7mo ago
        > databases are a much better data model for multi-device Fyi, a filesystem is a database too. And acid SQL databases ain't much better at that domain from my perspective.
huijzer 7mo ago
Yes Syncthing does those things
ariuser8434 7mo ago
Right - you pay for the GUI and the well-balanced user experience. It's less about, strictly speaking, the storage. Which is, in the end, true of a lot of tools where the underlying 'things' aren't particularly spectacular but rather it's the user experience that sells it
jayd16 7mo ago
Yeah but it seems like that can also be replicated with modest effort.
- dewey 7mo ago
  That's a very typical HN/developer response that often underestimates the effort and the interest people have into a self-rolled solution outside of tech / self-hosting circles. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674176)
  - jayd16 7mo ago
    Groan* No one said self rolled. I'm just saying the moat seems quite shallow.
drzaiusx11 6mo ago
There's a number of s3 front ends for web as well as native mobile s3 clients like S3Drive that provide exactly that https://s3drive.app/ https://s3drive.app/

by dewey 7mo ago

Tepix 7mo ago

On the other hand when a Dropbox user shares a file with you these days, the nudges have so gotten out of hand that it's a pain to use.

layer8 7mo ago
That’s only an issue if you use Dropbox for sharing with non-Dropbox users, rather than for syncing files across devices and accounts, and having an extra versioned copy in the cloud.
- Tepix 7mo ago
  And your point is... everyone should have Dropbox?
  - computably 6mo ago
    I'm pretty sure their point is Dropbox is better as personal storage than file sharing between users.
- nolroz 6mo ago
  riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
lossyalgo 7mo ago
There are other less annoying alternatives such as WeTransfer.

CAmosisKilduff 7mo ago

Isn't that the scenario for Nextcloud?

whalesalad 7mo ago

Yep. Open source Dropbox is really Nextcloud - https://nextcloud.com https://nextcloud.com

PunchyHamster 7mo ago
Given how many fuckups sync had over lifetime of it (at one point it basically asked for re-log every day, at other it just corrupted data/didn't finish sync), no
pbouda 7mo ago
I use OpenCloud nowadays https://opencloud.eu https://opencloud.eu and can really recommend it. It was easy to install on a VM and uses S3 for storage. No database needed.

ajsnigrutin 7mo ago

https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/ <- like this :) Free, opensource, works on computers and phones, can in most cases puncture nat, supports local discovery (lan, multicast). No googles, no dropboxes, no clouds, no AI training, no "my kid likes the wrong video on youtube, now our whole family lost access to every google account we had, so we lost everything, including family photos", just sync! (not affiliated, just really love the software)

mleo 7mo ago
This is my go to solution for code sync across macOS laptop, Windows VMs, and Linux VMs to build and run/debug across environments. Unless something has changed, exclusions of build artifacts was always an issue with cloud sync providers. I have been doing more cross compilation on macOS, copy and run on those other machines lately for prototypes, but for IDE based debugging it’s great to edit local or remote and get it all synced to the machine to run it in seconds.
noisy_boy 7mo ago
The only issue I have, with this amazing piece of software that I heavily use across multiple devices, is management of sync failures and exclusions via the UI. I have been using it for long enough to know the tips and tricks but it would be great for the web UI to allow easy management of conflict issues and the ability to mark files/folders as exclusions in a friendly manner.
dewey 7mo ago
Sadly it doesn't have a great official solution for mobile devices.
gonzalohm 7mo ago
The problem with syncthing is that you need to download the whole folder to your device. Google drive is "streaming"
- DarkUranium 7mo ago
  Have a look at Seafile's SeaDrive client for that. Mind, I haven't actually used it in anger, as I prefer full file sync vs on-demand.

throwaway5465 7mo ago

We can just all use rsync, no need for an app.

nickjj 7mo ago
Yep, I use rsync to sync files / directories between my desktop, laptop and even phone (Android). Also an external drive. I ended up creating https://github.com/nickjj/bmsu https://github.com/nickjj/bmsu which calls rsync under the hood but helps you build up a valid rsync command with no surprises. It also codifies each of your backup / restore strategies so you're not having to run massively long rsync commands each time. It's 1 shell script with no dependencies except rsync. Nothing leaves my local network since it's all local file transfers.
bitexploder 7mo ago
Until I want to share with say… anyone that isn’t on HN :)
- shortstuffsushi 7mo ago
  If you're not aware, the GP was a reference to the original Dropbox HN post, wherein BrandonM said, effectively, "why wouldn't I just use rsync?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
  - bitexploder 7mo ago
    I am pretty sure I knew that and forgot it and now I know it again :)
- wolvoleo 7mo ago
  Then S3 is not going to be a lot better :)
- nomel 7mo ago
  Just make a route on your web server, making all the files available with some long, impossible to guess, unique ID that can be shared. Like https://files.<your domain>/<id here>. If they want to collaborate, they can just post the changed file, using the auth key you generated for them set in some header field, to https://files.<your domain>/<id here>, which could automatically increment revision numbers. Then you could access specific revisions with .../<id here>/rev/<revision>. So much easier than installing an app! You could literally just use curl as the interface! (I kid)

dangus 7mo ago

To me, integration with the Apple files app on iOS is critical for any Dropbox replacement (among other things).

twarge 7mo ago

Yes, notably, the File Provider extension is where the value is for me. Are there any open source options other than Seafile's SeaDrive?

jon9544hn 7mo ago
NextCloud has a version with FP support

TeMPOraL 7mo ago

> but that there's app for mobile and desktop operating systems which deeply integrates it in the OS so it's just like a local folder that's magically synced Which mobile OS would that be? The big reason I stopped being excited about cloud storage is that on mobile, from what I can tell, none of the major providers care about "folder that syncs" experience. You only get an app that lets you view remote storage. The only proper "folder that syncs" I had working on my phone so far was provided via Syncthing, but maintaining that turned out to be more effort than my tiny attention span can afford these days.

dewey 7mo ago
I'm using iOS and macOS. On macOS I have the folder that syncs experience (I'm using Synology Drive, but Dropbox works the same way), on iOS I have the "browse remote files" experience but I can pin files I always want to keep available which is what I want.
- TeMPOraL 7mo ago
  Right. It's similar to Windows and Android experience. Thing is, for the latter, I don't want to "pin files I always want to keep available" - I want them to actually exist as files in the shared storage, so other apps can operate on them as if on regular files. (Unfortunately, both mobile platforms themselves are actively fighting this approach, and instead encourage apps to keep data in private databases and never expose them as actual files.)
  - brookst 7mo ago
    I get the pain point, but databases are a much better data model for multi-device, intermittently-connected sync. Filesystems just aren’t designed to be async and conflict-resolving.
    - ffsm8 7mo ago
      > databases are a much better data model for multi-device Fyi, a filesystem is a database too. And acid SQL databases ain't much better at that domain from my perspective.

huijzer 7mo ago

Yes Syncthing does those things

ariuser8434 7mo ago

Right - you pay for the GUI and the well-balanced user experience. It's less about, strictly speaking, the storage. Which is, in the end, true of a lot of tools where the underlying 'things' aren't particularly spectacular but rather it's the user experience that sells it

jayd16 7mo ago

Yeah but it seems like that can also be replicated with modest effort.

dewey 7mo ago
That's a very typical HN/developer response that often underestimates the effort and the interest people have into a self-rolled solution outside of tech / self-hosting circles. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674176)
- jayd16 7mo ago
  Groan* No one said self rolled. I'm just saying the moat seems quite shallow.

drzaiusx11 6mo ago

There's a number of s3 front ends for web as well as native mobile s3 clients like S3Drive that provide exactly that https://s3drive.app/ https://s3drive.app/