Carbonite Currents (beta)

Everyone and his brother seems to be getting into the folder and file syncing business of late. Dropbox, SugarSync, and Microsoft have been in the game for nearly a decade. The recent trend started with Microsoft's folding its Mesh syncing product into SkyDrive, followed by Google Drive, both arriving last April. More recently, we've seen online backup services such as our Editors' Choice SOS Online Backup, with its launch of the security-focused FileLocker syncing service. And online backup providers IDrive and Mozy have offered syncing services for over a year. Now it's Carbonite's turn. And the noted online backup firm takes a decidedly unique approach to syncing that may be just what the doctor ordered?at least for people with very simple file access and versioning needs.

Signup and Setup
Currents' setup is just about the easiest of any syncing service's, and it doesn't require you to create a separate syncing folder. Clients are available for Windows, Mac, iOS & Android. You can sign up for a free beta test account at labs.carbonite.com. The tiny 6MB Windows installer installs Microsoft .NET 4.0 if that's not already on your system. (The Mac installer is small, too, at 8.4MB) After you OK a second User Access Control dialog, the Currents signup window appears. After initial installation, the Mac and PC interfaces are identical. A simple email address, confirmed password, and agreement to the terms of service are all that's required to create an account.

As with FileLocker, the only Currents password strength requirement is that it be six characters long?you can't even open an Outlook.com account with that kind of password weakness, so this raised a security red flag for me. But the knowledge base for Currents states that the service "encrypts your files on your computer before sending a copy of them to our secure online servers. Your data is then sent to us using a secure SSL connection?" This is actually pretty impressive, since competitor FileLocker only pre-encrypts files you've included in folders you've designated as "UltraSafe."

If you already have a Carbonite account with the email you use, you can't create a new Currents account with that address, but you can log into Currents with the existing account. Next, you'll get a confirmation email to verify your account so you can get going with Currents. Once this is done, you'll see an explanatory graphic, telling you pretty much to keep calm and carry on working on your documents as you normally do.

The graphic also says that the last 30 days of your work will be continuously synced, that you can access them from anywhere you have Currents installed, and that you'll be able to share everything with friends and coworkers. That 30 days is a big differentiator from FileLocker, which saves all your changes indefinitely. But as I saw later, a Currents Premium version will extend this, when the service is fully launched. No pricing details yet.

What's Being Synced?
But the big mystery of where your files can be located isn't covered in this introductory panel. Tapping Next answers that?anything you save to Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Movies will by synced by default. As with FolderShare and SugarSync (but unlike SkyDrive or Google Drive, which keep a single uber-syncing folder to which you can pile on subfolders), you can designate any folder on your PC for syncing. To my surprise, I was even able to specify external and network drives. Next, the setup wizard starts "gathering your stuff from the past 30 days."

The program's window is divided into two panels, which at first were empty for me. On the left a manageable three buttons looked like a document, a group, and a settings gear. In fact, the only option when you click Settings is to go back to the synced folders selection page. At the bottom of the right panel was an orange "Open" button. Finally, the panels populated with some file entries. When hovered over, the line for each presented three green buttons?Share, Versions, and Comment. In keeping with the service's simplicity, its window isn't resizable.

As you use Currents, your most recently edited file moves to the top of the list, which seems pretty helpful. When I signed into the same account on a Mac on which I'd set up Currents, the same list appeared, except when I clicked on a file entry, the right panel displayed a preview of the file?even documents?rather than just a huge icon my Windows installation. One thing I noticed was that when I signed into Currents on the Mac (which I hadn't used in a long time), that computer's Documents and Desktop files weren't synced, though the settings seemed to indicate that they would be. A little more experience with the service cleared all this up, as you'll see presently.

Even on the first PC, only four documents were synced, though the settings indicated that everything in my Desktop and Documents would be synced, and there were far more files in those places. What's going on here? Then it struck me: they really mean that part about the 30 days. The service is only concerned with files you've accessed in the last 30 days. Other syncing services simply cover all documents in the folders you designate. But Currents doesn't care about files you haven't touched in the last 30 days. Those files will remain on their original PC or Mac locations, but won't be available remotely. This could be a problem if you simply have a set of files or folders you want remote access to or to share to collaborators, but haven't edited all the files in the past month.

If you're just concerned with files you're currently working on, Currents is an appealing choice. It doesn't require you to save your work document to a specific syncing folder as DropBox and SkyDrive do. But the only way to include a file among the synced is to open and edit it. I wish I could drag and drop files or folders onto Currents' window to add them to what's synced. A right-click choice in Windows Explorer or Finder would work too. But neither of these choices was in the cards.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/TnYaYdKzsgg/0,2817,2414688,00.asp

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