My thanks for those most useful comments Neil Severin Crisp
> On 20 Jan 2016, at 11:43 AM, Neil Houghton <n...@possumology.com> wrote: > > Hi Marcus, > > I must admit, I’m still not quite clear on what you are doing or why. > > What do you mean by “OSX Dropbox rather than the App Drop Box.” > > There are Dropbox apps for IOS and OSX. > > The OSX Dropbox app keeps files in your OSX Dropbox folder synched with your > off-site Dropbox folders (in Dropbox’s server cloud). The OSX Dropbox folder > lives in your OSX user folder, alongside your OSX Documents folder. > > The IOS Dropbox app (which you may or may not use) works slightly differently > – it gives you access to your off-site (cloud) Dropbox files (as long as you > are connected to the net) but, primarily due to the storage limitations of > mobile devices, it does not store any copies of these files on your mobile > device UNLESS you choose to make an offline copy of that file for access when > your mobile device is not online. > > Your time machine disk drive (depending how you have configured time machine) > keeps a comprehensive back-up of your computer and all your files but, as you > note, this will not be much use if some event causes loss of both your iMac > AND the time machine disk. So an off-site back-up is certainly recommended. > > Dropbox is really meant to be a synching app, rather than a back-up app but, > having said that, it does provide a level of off-site back-up and I do use it > for that myself – but it is important to remember that it is only providing > synch/backup to those items in your OSX Dropbox folder – any other items on > your computer (eg in your documents, pictures, music, movies, downloads > folders or on your desktop) will not be saved through Dropbox – so if your > only backup is your time machine disk drive and you lose that with your iMac > – then those files are lost forever! > > I would strongly recommend spending a bit of time browsing through the > Dropbox Help Centre <https://www.dropbox.com/help> to get a better > understanding of the ins and outs of using Dropbox. If you DO ever loose both > your iMac AND the time machine disk, it will be very important to understand > exactly how Dropbox works to be able to maximise your Dropbox recovery > options and not also lose your Dropbox files. > > > HTH > > > > Neil > -- > Neil R. Houghton > Albany, Western Australia > Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 > Email: n...@possumology.com > > > > > > > on 19/1/16 21:35, Marcus F Harris at cryptodo...@me.com wrote: > >> Thank you Neil and Steven, >> I'm wondering if you are referring to OSX Dropbox rather than the App Drop >> Box. >> I have the impression that the purchased Drop Box (Trade Marked) does sync >> files across platforms. But I would then have to start working my files >> exclusively in Drop Box. Hadn't thought of that. Good idea if I remembered >> to copy back to Documents. At 72 I'm a bit forgetful. >> >> I've chosen to copy my files to Drop Box to have them off-site from my home. >> That's because my time machine disc drive is cabled directly to my iMac and >> any misfortune to both together on my desk would be most unfortunate. >> Thanks again for reminding me to hold down option key to copy then paste. >> Regards >> Marcus >> >> Message sent from Marcus's iThing >> >> On 19 Jan 2016, at 20:23, Stephen Chape <chap...@bigpond.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Marcus, >>> I have never dragged and dropped to Dropbox. >>> When I save a file in my Mac Dropbox folder it is automatically saved >>> offsite to Dropbox. >>> >>> So I am not sure why you want to do this ? >>> >>>> On 19 Jan 2016, at 6:18 PM, Neil Houghton <n...@possumology.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> Re: SAVING TO DROPBOX (TM) >>>> Hi Marcus, >>>> >>>> Drag & drop always moves the file, rather than copying, unless you are >>>> dragging to another disk or volume – when it does copy the file to the >>>> other disk/volume and leaves the original where it is. As Mike says, if >>>> you want to copy the file to another location on the same disk/volume hold >>>> down the option key while you drag the file. >>>> >>>> Remember that “Dropbox” is an actual folder on your computer – this is the >>>> folder that Dropbox keeps in synch, through the cloud, with your other >>>> computers. >>>> >>>> So if you copy the file from your documents folder to the dropbox folder >>>> (rather than moving it) you will then have two instances of the file on >>>> your computer. Now you MAY want this, eg to keep an archive version, or a >>>> temporary work version, in your documents folder, BUT you then need to be >>>> very careful which version you work on! >>>> >>>> Any modifications to the file in your documents folder will not be >>>> reflected in the dropbox version (on your computer, other computers or in >>>> the cloud) and vice versa. Similarly if you continue to work on your >>>> dropbox version, the version in your documents folder will be out of date. >>>> >>>> As I say, you may have a good reason to keep different versions of the >>>> file on your computer but, if it was me, to avoid confusion (or >>>> accidentally working on the wrong version) I would name the files >>>> differently – eg add a suffix to reflect the status of the particular >>>> version – could be temp or archive or as simple as a rev indicator: 1, 2, >>>> 3 or a, b, c. >>>> >>>> >>>> Just a thought. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Cheers >>>> >>>> >>>> Neil > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> ____________________________________________________ Assoc Prof R Severin Crisp, FAIP, FIP, CPhys 15 Thomas St, Mount Clarence, Albany, 6330, Western Australia ph (08) 9842 1950 ( Int'l +61 8 9842 1950) mail to: sevcr...@westnet.com.au ____________________________________________________
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