File Syncing: which programs are easiest, and do most?

[Bernadette]

I've been taking a lot of notes these days: A LOT of notes, on a variety of different subjects. As a friend of mine says: "A short pencil is better than a long memory." This has led me to see the necessity of having a way to access these notes from anywhere. I'm thinking of getting a smartphone or other portable device so that I can have a way to save, organize, access, and transfer these notes easily and quickly. First I considered using The Cloud and Open Office, but then I realized that Open Office might not work depending on which operating system the phone uses (not sure if it's available for iPhone, for example). Since I'm not sure which phone/device I'll be getting (depends on which one's cheapest with my aunt's current plan, since I'll just be added to that for the sake of convenience and economy), I figured it would be best to find something that is usable across multiple platforms.

The program that I'm currently leaning toward is DropBox. Anybody have any practical experience with this? Is it safe? Easy to use? Can it accomplish the objectives set out above? Will it work with Open Office and other Word Processing programs? I prefer a word processing program over something like OneNote, because I find the notes easier to organize into folders and subfolders with the former program.

Are there any other programs that can accomplish the same goals?

Thanks, all!

[Gardener]

If it's connected to the internet in any capacity, it's able to be compromised. Period. If it's not connected to the internet, it's a standalone, and it's got the potential for dying. Period. There is no such thing 100% risk mitigation and any service or product selling itself as that is lying.

That said, a cross-platform Cloud service is going to be something like DropBox (hacked 2016), GoogleDrive, OneDrive (Microsoft but apps available for both Android and iOS).

The cloud compromise comes in the form of attackers (criminal and state -- I repeat myself, lol) comes in the form of an attacker entity buying say... 10k VM's (virtual machines) on something like AWS (Amazon Web Services). They then inject malware into the hypervisor (the thing which allows multiple virtual machines to exist on one physical machine, for a less than rudimentary explanation) and begin siphoning off info into their own areas. It's a thing, more so for companies than individuals, but not something you should be concerned about unless you are storing personal, damaging info:

SSN
Bank pw's and authentication methods
where you hid the body
etc.

From a security perspective, it's more likely you will be phished than Dropbox or GoogleDrive's AES-256 security encryption to be compromised.

Google has internal security issues (NSA compromise, etc.) whereas Dropbox has not been revealed to as of yet (I'd not hold my breath or bet my life).

OneDrive has some better features than Dropbox, and is cheaper (and you have a lot of free space w/ a Microsoft account). OneDrive comes with internal Office365 support, and GoogleDrive comes with a sort of OpenOffice style variant (internally create word docs, spreadsheets, etc.)

Basically -- you have to run a risk analysis for yourself. Be honest... is the info really needing to be secure like crazy for security purposes or because you have an emotional aversion to people reading your notes on doll heads? Bank account and personal info can be a problem, but simple emotional aversion is not really an analysis factor until weighed against usage features.

As one of the sources notes, the services differ in their encryption at rest vs transit (OneDrive doesn't encrypt data at rest).

If you need/want internal support for file manipulation, OneDrive or GoogleDrive. If you want the data to be encrypted while at rest, DropBox or GoogleDrive. If you are fearing the .gov will access your stuff, stay away from Google for sure, but that offers no guarantee of DropBox.

If you want cheap/free, OneDrive or GoogleDrive up to a XGB, but if you don't mind paying for more, the playing field is open.

In the end, only you can determine all the factors of cost and risk analysis and weigh them against the potential offerings.

Sources:

https://www.cloudwards.net/dropbox-vs-google-drive/
https://www.cloudwards.net/onedrive-vs-dropbox/
https://www.cloudwards.net/google-drive-vs-onedrive/

[Bernadette]

SO helpful! Thanks, Gardener! Right now I've just been emailing notes to myself, and then copying/pasting them into either OneNote or OpenOffice when I get to my desktop. So I could always continue doing that, since it seems to work so well. I think a smartphone would have other benefits, also: being able to look things up wherever, being able to make calls for practical purposes, etc.

[Gardener]

In all honesty, I find my smartphone is more used for wasting time than anything practical.

It has been useful on occasion, like when shopping and trying to determine if something is a good deal (particularly at a thrift store where I cannot necessarily go back and find the item the next day).

My plan, once we are no longer under contract, is to move to a basic call/text phone and have my wife keep the smart phone.

[Bernadette]

Research complete: Google Docs it is. Thanks, Gardener! 

[Lynne]

For organizing notes, I love Evernote. It syncs across all my devices and its search capability is very good.

[Kaesekopf]

For organizing notes, I love Evernote. It syncs across all my devices and its search capability is very good.

Ever note was good now they charge money

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[Bernadette]

I'm so in love with Google Docs and Google Drive that I want a CRHOMEBOOK!  It's like I can have my whole BRAIN so neatly organized, filed, and accessible from anywhere. I won't bore ye (y'all: take your pick) with the kinds of lists that I've been making, but they're SO useful! Plus, I love Google's emoticons the best.  I need to make a separate file of them to cut and paste at my whim. Everywhere. Muahahahah.

[Gardener]

Please don't Chromebook.

[Bernadette]

Please don't Chromebook.

Now I need to know why.

[Hat And Beard]

Please don't Chromebook.

Now I need to know why.

They're the computer equivalent of a disposable camera. For less you could get a 4-5 year old lenovo thinkpad that would blow it out of the water and last longer.

[Hat And Beard]

Also, I'd say going with the Google umbrella is the best way. Google Drive seems to give the most free storage(for a while they were giving out 10 free GB on top of your existing amount for doing the security checks on a certain day).

[Bernadette]

Please don't Chromebook.

Now I need to know why.

They're the computer equivalent of a disposable camera. For less you could get a 4-5 year old lenovo thinkpad that would blow it out of the water and last longer.

Oooh, I've heard good things about these. Excellent suggestion!

[aquinas138]

In all honesty, I find my smartphone is more used for wasting time than anything practical.

It has been useful on occasion, like when shopping and trying to determine if something is a good deal (particularly at a thrift store where I cannot necessarily go back and find the item the next day).

My plan, once we are no longer under contract, is to move to a basic call/text phone and have my wife keep the smart phone.

I switched to Ting, which has saved me gobs of money. My wife and I both have smart phones, and since Ting really only charges for what you use, we usually pay ~$45 for the two of us. In a data-heavier month, it's $50-55. It's perfect for no more data than we use, and more convenient than prepaid plans. You have to bring your own phone, so if your existing phone isn't compatible with their network, there can be an upfront cost, but I just by a refurb off of ebay anyway. I save more than $150 on the phone itself, and the bill for the two of us is half of my old AT&T plan that was just me.

[Bernadette]

In all honesty, I find my smartphone is more used for wasting time than anything practical.

It has been useful on occasion, like when shopping and trying to determine if something is a good deal (particularly at a thrift store where I cannot necessarily go back and find the item the next day).

My plan, once we are no longer under contract, is to move to a basic call/text phone and have my wife keep the smart phone.

I switched to Ting, which has saved me gobs of money. My wife and I both have smart phones, and since Ting really only charges for what you use, we usually pay ~$45 for the two of us. In a data-heavier month, it's $50-55. It's perfect for no more data than we use, and more convenient than prepaid plans. You have to bring your own phone, so if your existing phone isn't compatible with their network, there can be an upfront cost, but I just by a refurb off of ebay anyway. I save more than $150 on the phone itself, and the bill for the two of us is half of my old AT&T plan that was just me.

Can you break down your data usage for me? What makes it less than other people's? And I appreciate the way you think.