Why and How to Use Dropbox for Client & Blog Files
40
We all know that our computers will crash someday, and we all know that we need to make backups of our files to keep our work safe.
The hassle is that a lot of backup methods are tedious and time wasting to keep going. We want to have a backup system that we can set up, and then forget about it.
We’ve already shown you how to keep a WordPress database safe, but in this post we are going to look at the rest of your blog and theme files, as well as client files or any other important documents you keep.
Here’s what we’ll be talking about:
- What is Dropbox?
- Securing your blog folder.
- Why use Dropbox for backing up client files.
- Creating symlinks to preserve your current folder structures.
- Collaborating with others on blog posts, design files etc.
What is Dropbox?
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of it already, but anyway, Dropbox is a free service which offers you 2GB of storage space online.
You install the program on your computer, and it creates a “Dropbox” folder in your Documents folder. From then on, anything that goes in the folder gets copied up to Dropbox as well, instantly.
The nice part is that you can install Dropbox on as many computers as you want, so your files are accessible from anywhere (Including a regular web interface).
So, let’s start by signing up. If you use this link, you will get the free 2GB + 250MB of extra space. That’s because of Dropbox’s “Invite a Friend” program, which you may as well take advantage of!
Alternatively, here’s the regular homepage link. Just download and install the program, and you can sign up as part of the installation.
Securing Your Blog Folder and Client Files
When you installed the program, you specified a location for your Dropbox folder (Most likely; My Documents > My Dropbox, if you’re a Windows user). We’re going to copy our blog files into this folder.
With WordPress, upgrades now take place on the server, so the likelihood is, the core WordPress files on the server will always be different to the ones on your computer (Unless you’re very meticulous about keeping the two in sync).
Fortunately, those files aren’t important. You can always re-download them from WordPress.org if the worst happens. For that reason, we’ll stick to just 3 folders.
Load up your FTP client, and download a copy of the following:
- wp-content/themes/
- wp-content/plugins/
- wp-content/uploads/
- Optional: You may want to download your .htaccess file if you have edited it, and your wp-config.php file for your database options.
These 3 folders combined with your database backup, mean that you’ll always be able to recreate your site exactly as it was.
Now simply copy all of the files into the Dropbox folder on your computer and Dropbox will take care of the rest.
Why Use Dropbox for Client Files
There are some great ways to backup all of the files on your computer, but the problem is that they have to be scheduled, e.g. to happen once a day.
So if your computer dies, you’ve lost at least 1 day’s work.
That can be a costly mistake, but one that Dropbox would avoid. While working on files saved in your Dropbox folder, every time you click save, the saved file is copied up to the server.
Dropbox as a Version Control System
Dropbox also keeps a record of previous versions of the file, so it works as its very own personal version control system.
Check out this screenshot; it’s of the web interface for a WordPress style.css file I’ve been working on. I can roll it back to any previous version I like if anything goes wrong in the current one (Like accidentally overwriting the whole file with a different one…).
Click to see in full size:
Setting Up Dropbox For Client Files
The best way to work with client files within Dropbox is to set up 2 folders for your client files:
- Current Clients
- Past Clients
Current Clients is where you put all of the files you are currently working on. This is the folder that you should put in your Dropbox.
Past Clients can then be backed up to an external disk, or any other normal backup method.
You are unlikely to go over the 2GB freebie limit this way, and Past Clients files won’t change often so a daily backup will cover them 99% of the time.
Creating Symlinks to Preserve Your Folder Structure
A symlink (symbolic link) is like a folder pointer. Let’s say your original folder is here:
My Documents/Work/2009/ABC
But you’d like to be able to access that folder just by going to:
My Documents/ABC
Then you could create a symlinks for My Documents/ABC that would take you to the real folder any time you clicked it (or any time a program accessed it).
Dropbox and Symlinks
If you have a nicely organized folder on your computer for all of your client files, or your blog files, then you may not like the idea of moving the most important folder from each to a separate location.
With symlinks, we can avoid that:
- Cut and paste the folder (e.g. “Current Clients”) from the original location, into your Dropbox folder.
(Important: the original must be put into Dropbox. If you do this the other way around, files will only be backed up each time Dropbox loads)
If you are a Windows user, continue reading here for how to set up the symlink. For Mac and Linux users, Dropbox themselves have a good guide on setting these up.
- In Windows, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
- Windows Vista and Windows 7 users can then type, for example: (all on one line)
mklink /D "C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Web\Clients\Current Clients" "C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\My Dropbox\Current Clients"
The first path in quotes is where you would like the symlink to be placed. The second is for the folder in Dropbox that you would like it to point to. And don’t forget to replace YOURNAME with your name on the computer.
- Windows XP users will need to download Junction, and then type a similar command: (All on one line again)
junction "C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\My Documents\Web\Clients\Current Clients" "C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\My Documents\My Dropbox\Current Clients"
Now you can browse and find your clients folder in the same place it always has been, but you’ll actually be working on files in your safe and secure Dropbox folder!
Collaborating With Others
Folders can be shared with anyone else with a Dropbox account. Every person can edit and add to the files in the folder, and Dropbox will keep a copy of the revisions.
Just right click the folder, and select “Share This Folder” from the Dropbox menu.
You’ll be taken to a screen where you enter the email addresses of the people to share with, and it’s a simple as that.
There are a lot of options for collaborating online (e.g. Google Docs), but here are a few examples of where this could come in useful:
- Working with authors on your blog who prefer to type their posts up in Word first.
- Collaborating with another designer on a PSD for a client.
- Working with another coder on a WordPress theme, so you both always have the most up-to-date versions of every file.
Conclusion
I love Dropbox. I use it primarily for backing up my client files and the occasional reversion to an older version of a file, but I also use it a lot for sharing files with people instantly (both for code files that other people are working on with me, and for sending over small files like images without resorting to emails or IMs).
What do you think of Dropbox? What uses have you put it to, or do you have a different tool we should look at?
Enjoy this post? You should follow me on Twitter!
I love Dropbox. I’ve been using it for a few months (on the free 2gb plan) and it’s become essential. I’ve even considered upgrading my space – but I will probably wait until I run out, first. :)
Same here. The upgrade options are fairly expensive to be honest. From 2GB to 50GB is quite a jump. Not sure why they can’t have an option in between…
@Sarah, the 2gb version is great, but did you know you can get up to 3gb more space.
I have been doing it and it is AWESOME.. just get other people hook to Dropbox and “refer” them and each time they sign on, you get 256MB more free space…
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTExNjU2MDk
I love DB, and i may just set up another of just for WordPress, never thought of that..
Dropbox is so worth it when i get more clients to pay for it…
lol – That’s true George. But don’t forget that it’s great for the client as well, they get an extra 250MB too :D
I wish I could install DropBox as plugin for WordPress, so that it will automaticly keep wp-content on the server in sync with the one on DropBox, rather then my local copy (which may not be up2date on a multi-author blog or a client blog on which you, the admin, isn’t always the person uploading stuff).
Hm… seens my “wish” *may* get forfilled.
DropBox Sync: To synchronize the files + even load them from the dropbox (free CDN !)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dropbox-sync/
DropBox Uploader: A form that will allow you (or your visitors if you want) to upload things to DropBox
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dropbox-plugin/
I will report back as soon as I know it works :)
Definitely interested in hearing how you get on Cinq! :D
Great post Michael. I have been using Dropbox for nearly a year now and have found it to be one of my most essential tools because I am so often away from my main computer though would still like to be able to work on my various projects. Whether I am on one of my laptops, my desktop, or even a public computer at the library, I can always access all of my files and never worry about having multiple copies floating around on jump drives.
I use Live Mesh (currently in Beta), which provides 5GB of storage free of charge.
Sounds pretty great Ilija! Dropbox is the tool I use for this, but always open to hear of better alternatives! :)
I’ve setup YummyFTP’s (http://www.yummysoftware.com/) synchronization feature to download nightly backups of all the sites we host directly to our Dropbox account. For databases I use Navicat’s (http://www.navicat.com/) backup feature to backup to Dropbox as well. This keeps revisions at least every 24 hours. It’s very similar to what you are doing here, just slightly more automated.
It’s nice to tell a client that accidentally deleted something that we might actually be able to recover it.
That sounds pretty awesome Brandon, I’ll have to try that out I think! Thanks a lot for sharing! :D
I love DropBox. I think it’s the best out of all of the popular file sync tools.
Nice article.
I love Dropbox. I’ve been using it for about a month now. It is a great service…especially the free portion.
Haha, I can agree with you there! A generous freebie allowance definitely never hurts in building up an audience. :D
These online backup services are nice, but I still prefer to use a good ‘ol external USB hard drive for backups like this. I just don’t like the idea of having my data somewhere else.
That’s understandable. Dropbox say that they are secure and well encypted, but that promise won’t mean a lot if someone breaks into their servers.
With that said, if your data was truly valuable, it would be a lot easier for someone to nab a USB hard drive (especially given how small they are now!) than to break into Dropbox security :(
@Michael Martin: how very true…I wasn’t worried about a break in (although it could happen) as much as I was about using a service not knowing it’s future. For example, I’d hate to use dropbox for a year and have them go out of business. I’d rather somebody create a firefox extension where I could do something like this through say – my gmail account. I trust google a bit more than dropbox.
On the other side, I didn’t mean a ‘thumbdrive”, I mean like a 500GB WB “MyBook” connected to my computer, or better yet a local storage appliance attached to my home LAN. I can restrict access through encryption and MAC address, and have access anywhere in the world as well – and not pay the monthly fees of a backup service. I guess someone could break into my home and take it, but they’d probably nab my PS3 or Xbox 360 first.
That doesn’t, however, protect from fire or natural disaster, etc.
That’s very true. You have no way of knowing how stable these companies will prove to be. Dropbox has been only been around for a year or two, which definitely isn’t any great length of time.
The one defence for them however is that I have a copy of all the files on my computer anyway. If Dropbox died tomorrow, sure, I’d have to find a new backup system, but I wouldn’t actually lose any of these files. :)
I know you didn’t mean a thumbdrive though, I meant a proper hard drive as well. Some of them really are tiny! Like this wee one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-TS500GSJ25M-Trans-500GB-StoreJet2-5in/dp/B001HAMNSY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257593016&sr=8-1 :)
Setting up local storage over the LAN seems an ideal solution. If you have the equipment for that, then I’d definitely go for it. You’re completely right about it in that regard :)
Even the fact that you can have the 2 relatively separated in the house would give some protection against fire etc. (based on the hope that not the entire house will be destroyed. Scary to even think about!)
Very helpful post. Thanks Michal!
Keep up the great work on the blog.
This was a great write up. Thanks for providing this. I agree with most of the commenters here that you should have:
1. A cloud-based backup (Dropbox for example) of files, DB’s, and configs
2. A local backup (external USB drive for example) of files, DB’s and configs
3. These should be automated, preferably with version control (i.e. 30 days ago version, 7 days ago version, and last 7 days versions)
Being able to collaborate and share these files is a huge added bonus that Dropbox provides.
Using Dropbox is definitely convenient, and I agree with some of the other commenters here in that there are multiple ways to keep your data relatively safe in case of failure or theft. Depending on your security needs, there are different options, but for most of us I think it’s sufficient to have an online backup and a physical backup. So, use Dropbox or a similar service. And back everything up on an external hard drive too. You can get pretty fancy if you want to and can afford it, with redundant systems and such, but for most of us that’s not really necessary. There actually used to be a program that allowed you to use Gmail as data storage by archiving your files 10mb at a time. But I think Google put an end to that. Plus, not all files are under 10mb so it wasn’t really that practical. -Mike
I love DropBox, 2gb of vortual space in just one folder )
What Dropbox needs now are more security features. Say you lose your laptop; whoever gets it will have access to your files.
Dropbox should encrypt the Dropbox folder on your system, and give access via password when you boot up your computer.
Although you can also do this by making a Truecrypt volume and use it for Dropbox exclusively. A bit of a hassle though.
It has a solution for that already :)
Just go to Account > My Computers, and it will name every device (including iPhones etc.) that is linked to your Dropbox account. Then just click “Unlink” and they won’t have access anymore.
I’m currently using Dropbox to share large files with others. I’ve got a database on an organizational program called Pagico that holds information of clients. Wanted to use Dropbox to send that information to others so that we can sync everything together…
It apparently is working because there are constant updates in the folder, but sometimes when I open it, it doesn’t have any new files though it just said it’s been updated. It could be Pagico, I’m not sure… Or a lot of other factors.
Does anyone else have a problem like this?
Dropbox is definitely a great resource for bloggers. They have a really good system going and I can certainly recommend them to anyone needing a free, quick online backup system.
Thanks for the review – definitely a great app and service. Especially good for collaborating on big files or collecting data from clients that is over the usual 10MB email limit.
Dropbox is fantastic. I have used it for my own personal work, for sharing things with friends and also for working with clients. It’s so simple, I only with we had it years ago!
Nice post. I took advantage of the invitation, thanks! an extra push towards the 10gb :)
Is there anyway to host your WordPress.org account on dropbox with the public html available. You guys talk about syncing files and backup, that is great, but is there any way of hosting the actual files directly on dropbox and take care of all of the wordpress blog right there?
I just wrote a post that may be helpful – shows how to integrate Dropbox into WordPress so that clients can directly upload files to you.
http://www.blakeimeson.com/dropbox-intake-client-files-site/
Enjoy!
Like most people this app was the reason I joined Dropbox after seeing it and understanding what Dropbox was I had to join and this app works wonder for making folders and uploading stuff.
I’ve created a plugin to make Dropbox’s Public folder a CDN for my WordPress based site. Works pretty well!
http://www.chriskdesigns.com/plugins/dropbox-cdn/
Dropbox is a gr8 service! No doubt about that! I use it every day to sync files between my office and home computer.
They have a really good system going and I can certainly recommend them to anyone needing a free, quick online backup system.
Hy,Nice info and correct to your point. I don’t know if that is actually the best location to ask but do you guys have any ideea exactly where to employ some expert writers? Thank You
Hi, I found your post really helpful. Thanks for posting such informative content. Keep posting.
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a variety of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
its raining.cant go outside to buy softdrinks.thirsty..hmm may iniisip nanamn ako ..hay naku..kainis man oi