Syncplicity 2.0

It becomes common to have several additional devices connected to our PC, such as netbooks, smartphones etc., and it also becomes more evident that we need to sync services so that our files are available on all these devices.

We have solutions that offer sync between computers on the web, such as Live Mesh and Dropbox, and others that only offer one of 2 things separately as SkyDrive and Livedrive, which only serve to store and share files on the Web, or Windows Live Sync, which only allows you to synchronize files between PCs and Macs.

Syncplicity fits the first category: a solution that combines web interface (to access our files from anywhere) with a desktop client that integrates with the system to make it easier to share files with other PCs. You just need to right-click on the folder you want to synchronize, and then select "Add to Syncplicity". We may also share directories with other people, but it is not necessary that these people are users of Syncplicity (with Live Mesh folders can only share with people who also use Mesh). We can even assign different privileges (readers or editors) to users who share files, again without requiring them to use Syncplicity. They will just need a link that they will receive by mail.

It's easy to exclude the directories we do not want to sync, and we can also add folders in "Backup only" (not synchronized with the rest of our PCs). However there is a serious constraint: in order to synchronize files we must use the "virtual hard disk" of Syncplicity, which offers only 2GB of space in its free version (if you pay $ 99 U.S. dollars a year, you get 50GB; and if you pay $196 U.S. dollars you will have 100GB). In contrast, Mesh can be used to transfer and synchronize via P2P folders regardless of files' weight.

Another disadvantage in comparison with Live Mesh is that Syncplicity does not have a News Feed to keep us informed of the actions performed by our contacts in the shared folders. And neither offers support for mobile devices. But as I said, in general the service leaves a very good impression. I personally prefer it to Dropbox or Synkron. Syncplicity is available for Windows XP to Vista, although we can also use a Mac beta client (only for Intel Macs with OS X 10.5 Leopard).