As a law student in the digital age there are few things more precious to us than our laptops. With a lone exam eventually determining a semester’s worth of blood, sweat and tears, a few tragedies have befallen my brethren to inspire this post. In two cases there were stolen laptops and there was a third where a hard drive just conked out two weeks before finals. Horror stories to those in the know.

Results from lost laptops have varied from broken faces to simply not making it through finals. How do we fix this? Now what we’re really talking about is the tragedy of lost data. Now every IT geek would stand up, shake his finger and tell you to backup your information. But screw that guy. He doesn’t get it! We don’t have the time!

Backing up is a nuisance regardless of whatever system/software/medium you use, but it has to be done to avoid the inevitable. Rather than use physical CD’s, DVD’s or even External Hard Drives why not consider something more ethereal. Rather than actively backing up to a physical medium that would take time, energy and even money, now we have Drop Box.

To quote a fellow Blogger…

“Dropbox has literally changed the way I do things in the Internet.”

Dropbox is an application, available for all platforms, that has recently come out of Beta. Essentially, Dropbox installs a Folder onto your computer(you can choose where) that automatically backs up and syncs via the Internet to a Folder you have available from anywhere you choose via the Internet. This DropBox folder can be installed on multiple clients so as to sync more than one computer seamlessly, as well it can be accessed from any browser, even via iPhone app. DropBox provides you with 2 Gbs of free space, larger storage comes at a cost, but to be honest 2 Gbs is all you’ll ever need to protect the .docs you need to get through law school.

In terms of extras, tips and tricks, DropBox has plenty. For Instance:

1. Passwords across Computers
2. Sync files outside your DropBox
3. Start Bittorrent Downloads by Remote
4. Take Dropbox on a USB Stick (Windows Only)

The DropBox Tips and Tricks Wiki has even further tools and hints. And I would check this post from Shan Krila for further hacks.

The API is expected to drop any day now so expect a variety or different services and abuses coming in the next coming months.

Try DropBox Now

One trick/hack I use, because I’m still stuck with a handful of project folders I can never get rid of…is the Alias!

By creating Alias/Shortcut Folders for the folders in my DropBox and placing them in place of my Downloads Folder or my Desktop so that I get to keep files across my hard drive backed up and sync’d.

Give it a try! DropBox! Fuck Yeah!

Red Leader | Law School, Mac, Software | 3993 Commentshttp://heavytext.com/dropbox-perfect-backup-and-sync-solution-for-law-students/Dropbox%3A+Perfect+Backup+and+Sync+Solution+for+Law+Students2009-10-01+20%3A48%3A04Red+Leader Trackback