Dropbox tips: Get more free storage and sync other folders

Dropbox has some basic selective sync capabilities built-in, but the Dropbox Folder Sync tool makes it more flexible.

Dropbox has become extremely popular as an automatic way of backing up data to the Internet and making it accessible from multiple computers. While it works very well and on a wide variety of operating systems and devices, it has two potential annoyances. The first is that by default, it only duplicates files in the set Dropbox folder, which the software itself sets up. The other is that it only gives you 2GB of online storage for free. Here we'll show how sync files from outside your Dropbox folder, and how to gain some more storage for free.

If you haven't yet set up Dropbox, you'll find need to install the software (available from www.dropbox.com in PC, Mac and Linux versions) and create a user name and password. Once set up, Dropbox will automatically back up files stored in a particular folder (known as your Dropbox) onto an encrypted and secure Internet location. Every time a file is changed in the Dropbox folder, it is automatically duplicated online if your computer has an Internet connection, without any effort or intervention required. If you install the software on a second PC (and log in with the same username), it will replicate the same files onto that device. (That means if your PC dies, in installing Dropbox on your new machine and signing in will give you an automatic way of copying over all the files stored in it on your old machine.) There are also Dropbox apps for iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry, so can you access your files on your phone. You can log into your Dropbox online, too. If you place files in the special 'Public' sub-folder in your Dropbox, you can share them via a link with others.

As a backup strategy, a way of easily duplicating files across multiple machines, and a simple way of sharing large files, Dropbox is extremely useful. However, while its 2GB of free online storage is reasonable, you'll have to pay if you want more. The fees aren't ludicrous ($US99 for 50GB for a year, or $US199 for 100GB for a year), but there are some ways that you can increase your Dropbox allocation, to some extent, without spending any money (see Get more Dropbox storage below).

Similarly, if you already have a carefully organised file system, it can be a nuisance to change it to the set Dropbox location. Fortunately, this it is relatively easy to work around.

Syncing from outside your Dropbox

If you already have all your important files stored in the My Documents folder in Windows, you might not want to move them all into the Dropbox folder (especially since many other apps assume the Documents folder as the default). Using a handy Windows utility known as Dropbox Folder Sync, you can easily make Dropbox sync from other folders.

You can download the software from http://satyadeepk.in/dropbox-folder-sync/. Once it is installed, just right-click in Explorer on the folder you want to sync, and then select 'Sync with Dropbox'. From then on, the contents of that folder will be automatically synced to Dropbox.

The software works by creating what's known as a 'symbolic link', which means it actually moves the relevant folder inside Dropbox, but leaves a link so any software looking for 'My Documents' (or whatever you choose) knows where to find it.

Get more Dropbox storage

Here are the most useful (and predictable) ways of increasing your Dropbox allocation:

• Referrals. If you go to https://www.dropbox.com/referrals (and log in if necessary), you'll get a 'referral link' which you can send to friends and relatives or share via social networking. If anyone signs up via your link, you get 250MB extra, as does the person signing up. You can increase your account size to up to 8GB using this method.
  Work through the steps on the Get Started tab on the Dropbox web site. This includes tasks such as sharing a file, installing Dropbox on a second machine, and other basics. Completing these will also get you an extra 250MB.
• Social media tasks. Go to https://www.dropbox.com/free and you can choose some other options to gain more space, such as connecting your Twitter and Facebook accounts with your Dropbox account.
• Use a university email address. If you have a .edu.au email address (or indeed a .edu address) and use that to sign up to Dropbox, the size of your referral bonus is doubled -- you get 500MB rather than 250MB.

None of these tactics will ultimately help if you really want to back up gigabytes of photo files. If, however, you want a little more than 2GB to ensure vital files are accessible from any machine, they're worth pursuing.