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BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

torrentfreak.com

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Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#21

Post by Shish2k »

pixdamix wrote: post #8
ritonlajoie wrote: post #2

What are the differences with AeroFS ?

A de facto standard, potential opensource clients, free, server-less, not tied to a specific company, and more.

> A de facto standard, > potential opensource clients, > not tied to a specific company,

When the source is closed, and the protocol is closed + encrypted? I think you may be a little optimistic... (Though I do hope that either the source or the protocol get opened)

Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#23

Post by Dystopian »

ritonlajoie wrote: post #2

What are the differences with AeroFS ?

Not many.

There are a few advanced configurations where BTSync trumps Aero (at least last time I used it - someone, please correct me if these have been implemented).

- One way sync

- Selective device LAN sync (so you can tell it to only sync over LAN)

- Self destructing one-time share keys

- Less-friction on sharing - using a key based copy and paste system

- Powered by BT (this may not be an advantage though since BT is throttled on quite a number of providers through DPI worldwide

Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#24

Post by uses »

I've been using BitTorrent Sync for the past week. For the use case of sharing large files, it obliterates Dropbox, AeroFS, and Cubby.

It distributes the files intelligently and makes optimal use of everyone's bandwidth. Dropbox, for example, slowly uploads all files to the cloud before distributing them, plus there's the space issue. AeroFS allows unlimited space, but is far slower than my Internet and LAN speeds allow, and does things like trying to upload the same file, linearly, to every peer at once. Cubby has limited space and has the same slow syncing problems.

I'm running BitTorrent Sync on my 6 year old Windows 7 Thinkpad, a newer Windows 8 desktop, a Digital Ocean Ubuntu VPS, and a Synology DS110j NAS. It runs perfectly on all of the above, and provides a useful web interface for the VPS and NAS.

Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#25

Post by nobodysbusiness »

notdonspaulding wrote: post #18
slg wrote: post #4

Since there is no central server, doesn't that mean that one device will have to be always on? That would add a degree of overhead and complication that services like Dropbox don't have.

There's a rendezvous server that also serves as a fallback relay in case two devices that want to sync are behind highly-unfriendly NATs. In that sense, it's exactly like Dropbox. But it doesn't store your data, so yes, one device must always be on in order to sync with a new device. However, if you have a device that needs changes made on another one, it will just wait around and sync whenever the device with change…

There have been stories on a few of these 'unlimited sync' services in the past few months. While it's a good idea, I really would prefer to have a little space available on a central server.

For me to consider switching to this service from Dropbox, it would have to be able to temporarily store some of my files from my work computer so that they could be transferred to my home computer later on when that computer was started up (for example). That is the feature that needs to be implemented for this to truly become a Dropbox-killer.

Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#26

Post by mrcharles »

Can someone give me a quick rundown on how this works, vs security of files? If it's using the bittorrent protocol, wouldn't that mean that all your files, even though encrypted, are easily gathered by a third party?

Or does this simply make direct connections between PCs you own and people you have authorized to share your files?

Re: BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

#29

Post by slg »

notdonspaulding wrote: post #18
slg wrote: post #4

Since there is no central server, doesn't that mean that one device will have to be always on? That would add a degree of overhead and complication that services like Dropbox don't have.

There's a rendezvous server that also serves as a fallback relay in case two devices that want to sync are behind highly-unfriendly NATs. In that sense, it's exactly like Dropbox. But it doesn't store your data, so yes, one device must always be on in order to sync with a new device. However, if you have a device that needs changes made on another one, it will just wait around and sync whenever the device with change…

That might very well rule Sync out for personal use by the general public. The benefit of Dropbox (and similar server backed services) is that the most up-to-date version of a file is simply there as soon as you are connected to the Internet. Most people who have two computers won’t be using them both at the same time. For example, a common use case for these services is syncing files while you are traveling. Requiring a user who edits files on a laptop to turn their laptop on when they get back to the home/office in order for the changes to be recognize on their desktop seems like a big step backwards. In that use case Sync would just be a glorified USB thumb drive.
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