Features I enjoy in SugarSync

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I have been with SugarSync for almost a year now. I started with the 5 GB free plan and today I decided to upgrade my free plan to a paid plan. Why? Because I love SugarSync and I want to support it to stay strong in business so I can continue enjoying the service it provides.

If you are looking for cloud storage with generous space, I suggest you to take a look at SugarSync. If you are currently using DropBox, or SpiderOak, I suggest you to read my previous post for the comparison of these three providers.

Today, I am going to share with you some features that I like in SugarSync:

1. Upload by Email

This is so far my favorite feature. Once you sign up with SugarSync, you will automatically get an special email address like YourUsername.AGeneratedNumber@e2f.sugarsync.com, it is your Upload by Email address. If you send an email with attachment to this address, your attachment will be automatically uploaded to your SugarSync account and synced across your computers. To locate your Upload by Email address, first login to your SugarSync account, then click Account tab on the top, you will see your Upload by Email address under the Settings section. What if this email address is compromised by spammers? No worry, you can login and regenerate a new Upload by Email address.

2. SugarSync for Outlook

SugarSync plugin for Outlook allows user to send large attachment via SugarSync instead of the email attachment. The large attachment is uploaded and stored in the cloud in a folder called “Uploaded by Outlook” in your Web Archive, and the recipients will just need to click a link included in their email message to download the attachment. No need to worry about the size limit of the email attachment and also the uploaded attachment is backed up in the cloud.

3. Flexibility of File Sync and Sharing

After you install SugarSync client, a folder called Magic Briefcase will be created. Any file and folder in this folder will be automatically synced across your computers running SugarSync client. However, you can also choose any other folder on your computer to sync with any computer of yours without having to put them in Magic Briefcase. It is very useful if you just want to sync some file or folder with some specific computer, but not all computers.

SugarSync’s Magic Briefcase folder is similar to DropBox’s My DropBox folder. DropBox uses My DropBox folder for everything, including files you shared with other people and files other people shared with you, and the problem is the file sharing and sync will get confusing when you have a lot of files and folders. The shared file/folder will be synced across computer automatically, and you don’t have control over it. SugarSync, however, creates a folder called SugarSync Shared Folder when someone shared a file with you, and you can decide the destination where the shared file will reside. In my opinion, a separate folder for file sharing makes it easier to organize your files.

4. Generous Storage Space

SugarSync offers a free plan with 5 GB space for you to start with and offers some options to give you some bonus free space up to 1 GB. After you download and install SugarSync, login to your account, then click Getting Started on the top of the page, then complete those six tasks to earn up to 750 MB free space:

SugarSyncTasks

If you have iPhone, then you can install SugarSync for iPhone, then play a simple game in SugarSync for iPhone to earn additional 250 MB free space. So now you have 6 GB total free space. If you want to earn more free space, you can use SugarSync’s referral program to earn UNLIMITED free space.

There are a lot more features in SugarSync that I didn’t cover here, and the above features are those I like the most. You can check their web site to get a full list of features.

I hope you find this post and my previous post helpful. Should you have decided to choose SugarSync, could you use my referral link to sign up? If you use it to sign up a free 5GB account and install the client, you will get an extra 500 MB bonus space, and I will get a 500 MB bonus as the result of the referral. Thank you in advance.

https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=e3izqm2hfvy70&utm_source=txemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=referral

Happy Syncing!

Keep your SugarSync referral link on your own site

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Since I published my latest post titled “SugarSync vs DropBox vs SpiderOak, which should I choose”, several people have tried to post their SugarSync referral link in their comments on my post. I find it very annoying, so I would like to make it clear: please don’t post your SugarSync referral link on my site. If you want to earn bonus space by referring people, then post your referral link on your own site.

Anyone who posts their referral link from SugarSync, DropBox, SpiderOak, or whatever, is not welcome here, and the post will be deleted immediately.

CSI Miami web page messed up

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I am a big fan of CSI: Miami show from CBS and will watch the show on-line if I miss an episode. This morning when I opened their web site to see if the latest episode has been uploaded, to my surprise, I found that CSI: Miami show’s web site was messed up with The Good Wife show’s web site. Take a look the screen shot below:

CSI_Miami_TheGoodWife

When I clicked Watch Now button, I was taken to The Good Wife show web site.

Maybe the web master of CBS.com had a rough weekend?

SugarSync vs DropBox vs SpiderOak, which should I choose?

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I wrote a post in April regarding the pros and cons of several cloud storage/backup service providers based on my experience, such as Windows Live Mesh, DropBox, Memopal, SpiderOak, and SugarSync, and I concluded that SugarSync is better than the others. Then you may ask what is the purpose of this post?

Well, it seems that many people are not happy with SugarSync because it does not have a native Linux client, so those people, especially Linux users, left SugarSync and chose either DropBox or SpiderOak. What I want to do here is to give a summary of the feature comparisons of the three service providers.

1. Backup

All three provide backup with recovery feature, but DropBox only backs up files in My DropBox folder on your computer. Both SugarSync and SpiderOak allow you to choose any folder on your computer to back up.

2. Sync with multiple computers

All three allow file/folder synchronization among multiple computers running their clients, but DropBox can only sync files/folders in My Dropbox on your computer. Both SugarSync and SpiderOak allow you to choose any file/folder on your computer to sync with another computer.

3. Easy to use

DropBox is very easy to set up and use. The installation process is simple and it will create a folder on your computer called My DropBox, and all files and folders will be synced automatically with other computers running the DropBox client.

SugarSync is also easy to set up and use. The installation process is simple and will create a folder called Magic Briefcase. Like DropBox’s My Dropbox folder, any files/folders in Magic Briefcase will be synced automatically with other computers running the SugarSycn client.The client also allows you to choose any folder or file on one computer to sync to another computer.

SpiderOak is not very easy to use. The installation process is simple and easy to follow, but it takes quite some time to understand  and to use the sync process. It does NOT create any folder for you, and it is up to you to choose which folder/file to sync.

4. Remote access

All three provide remote access to your files stored on their servers.

5. Security

All three provide encryption on your files that stored on their server, however, both SugarSync and DropBox claim that they have the ability to decrypt your files when needed for the legal purpose, because the decryption key of your files is stored on their servers too. SpiderOak, however, prevents anyone except you to decrypt your file, because the decryption key is not stored on their server, instead, the key is stored on your local computer when you install the client. If you are concerned about your privacy and don’t want ANYONE except you to be able to access your files, then you have two options:

1). Encrypt your files before you upload to their server

2). Use SpiderOak

If you choose SpiderOak, then you need to remember the risk: if you ever forget your password, then you will not be able to access your files any more, because your password is created locally and is not stored on their server, and there is no password recovery feature. Then you may ask, what if I forget my password? Here is the answer from SpiderOak:

Q #13: What if I forget my SpiderOak password?

At the time when you create your SpiderOak password, you will also be prompted to create a password hint. The creation of a password hint is not mandatory however it will be your only clue should you forget your password. If you choose to create a password hint, we advise you to create one that is informative enough so that you will remember but not too obvious so that anyone may guess. The password hint may be recovered anytime on the SpiderOak web page.

At SpiderOak we have created a true 'zero-knowledge environment' meaning that no one including the SpiderOak employees will ever know what you are storing on your SpiderOak Network. We can maintain this environment because at no time will anybody know your password (or the answer to your password hint) except you.

So I guess the zero-knowledge privacy comes with a price.

6. File sharing

All three allow file sharing, but the file sharing feature in DropBox is limited. You can only share files/folders in My DropBox folder, and all shared files from other people will be placed in your My DropBox folder. Both SugarSync and SpiderOak allow you to choose any file/folder on your computer to share with other people. The good thing about SugarSync sharing is that if another SugarSync user shared a file with you, then when you accepted the shared file, a folder called SugarSync Shared Folder will be created under My Documents (or Documents in Windiws Vista/7), and then a sub folder named after the user’s name will also be created to better organize files.

SpiderOak, however, is very hard to use to share files/folders. For instance, you will need to create ShareID and RoomKey before you can start sharing something, it is not easy I warn you.

7. Cross platform

All three support Windows and Mac platforms, but SugarSync is the only one that does not support Linux platform at this moment, I hope they will have a Linux client soon.

8. Mobile

SugarSync supports more mobile devices than the other two:

SugarSync: iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian.

DropBox: iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android.

SpiderOak: iPad, iPhone, Android, N900 Maemo

9. Storage and subscription

SugarSync provides 5 GB free storage plus 500 MB bonus for each account sign up referred by you (no limit). It also provides paid plans if you need more space and more features.

DropBox 2 GB free storage plus 250 MB bonus for each account sign up referred by you (no limit). It also provides paid plans.

SpiderOak provides 2 GB free storage plus free bonus storage for each account sigh up referred by you (up to 50 GB). It also provides paid plans.

10. Upload / Sync via Email

Only SugarSync provides this nice feature. After you login your SugarSync account, click Account tab on the top, you will see your Upload by Email address under the Settings section:

SugarSyncUploadByEmail

 

 

If you send an email with an attachment to your Upload by Email address @e2f.sugarsync.com, then the attachment will be automatically uploaded to your SugarSync account and synced across your computers. You will find a new folder called Uploaded by Email is created under Magic Briefcase. I really like this feature because I can give my customer my Upload by Email address, and when they send attachments to that address, I will get them on any of my synced computer.

I hope you find this post and my previous post helpful. Should you have decided to choose SugarSync, could you use my referral link to sign up? If you use it to sign up an free 5GB account, you will get an extra 500 MB bonus space, and I will get a 500 MB bonus as the result of the referral. Thank you in advance.

https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=e3izqm2hfvy70&utm_source=txemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=referral

Happy Syncing!

Uninstall SQL Server Denali causes SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio to stop working

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I installed MS SQL Server Denali CTP3 (and its management studio) installed parallel to SQL Server 2008 R2, and everything works fine until I decided to uninstall Denali. The uninstallation of Denali was smooth and gave no error, however, after the uninstallation, MS SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio could not be launched. It didn’t give any error message and just didn’t launch at all. I had to reinstall MS SQL Server 2008 R2 to fix the error, and I could not just reinstall the Management Studio because it kept giving me installation error.

Bottom line, don’t install MS SQL Server “Denali” along with MS SQL Server 2008 R2.

Windows Task Manager Launching Error: Windows cannot find C:\Windows\system32\taskmgr.exe

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After I uninstalled MS SQL Server “Denali” CTP3, my Task Manager cannot be launched. Every time I try to launch it, it gives me an error:

Windows cannot find ‘C:\Windows\system32\taskmgr.exe’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

How to fix it?

Before I installed SQL Server “Denali”, I used Process Explorer to replace my Task Manager, and it seems that the uninstallation of “Denali” messed up Process Explorer. But since Task Manager has been replaced by Process Explorer, it will not be able to find the correctly file when Task Manager is being launched.

What I did was to rerun Process Explorer, then go to Options –> Replace Task Manager, then close Process Explorer.

If you want to go back to the built-in Task Manager in Windows, then repeat the above step (click Replace Task Manager again).
 
Hope this helps.

TrueCrypt donation

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TrueCrypt is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can use it to encrypt your files, disk partitions, and even a whole disk. It is very easy to use and the encryption and the decryption process is transparent to end user, for instance, once a TrueCrypt container (a container is a TrueCrypt encrypted file containing all your data) is decrypted and mounted, the mounted container is the same as a disk drive to the end user. Any file put in the mounted disk drive will be encrypted automatically, and any file pulled outside the disk will be decrypted automatically.

As many open-source projects, it relies mainly on donations from users for their development cost. Recently, TrueCrypt set up a donation goal of $150,000 for their future development. My donation is limited, so I would like to use my blog to give it a shout-out. If you are a happy TrueCrypt, I encourage you to consider a donation to TrueCrypt to help them meet their goal. To see the current donation status and make a donation, you can visit their home page at http://www.truecrypt.org

Happy Encrypting!

How to use conditional CASE statement in Oracle WHERE clause to retrieve data

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Here is the table structure that I need to query:

UserID

Type

Name

Department

Status

Classification

Enrollment_Status

Where “Type” and “Department” are foreign keys of the other two tables. The query criteria are:

If the user type is “Student” (type ID = 1), then only retrieve enrolled students (Enrollment_Status = ‘EN’);

If the user type is not “Student” (type ID <> 1), then check Classification field and only retrieve data with Classification <> ‘R’

It is a perfect scenario for using CASE statement in WHERE clause, and here is the complete query in Oracle PL/SQL:

SELECT    U.UserID, U.NAME, 

          D.DEPARTMENT,  U.STATUS, 

          U.CLASSIFICATION

FROM      Users U, Departments D, UserType T    

WHERE CASE WHEN (T.ID = '1') AND  (U.ENROLLMENT_STATUS = 'EN') THEN 1

           WHEN (T.ID <> '1') AND (U.CLASSIFICATION <> 'R') THEN 1

           ELSE 0

      END = 1

AND  U."TYPE" = T.ID 

AND (U.DEPARTMENT = D.DEPARTMENT_CODE (+) )

ORDER BY UserID;

For more information about CASE statement in MS SQL, check here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181765.aspx

For more information about CASE statement in Oracle PL/SQL, check here:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/appdev.920/a96624/04_struc.htm#484

[UPDATE]: I just found out that .NET TableAdapter does not recognize the CASE statement above, thought the above query runs well in Oracle SQL Developer. After further investigation, I realize the above query can be changed to this:

SELECT    U.UserID, U.NAME, 

          D.DEPARTMENT,  U.STATUS, 

          U.CLASSIFICATION

FROM      Users U, Departments D, UserType T    

WHERE 

((T.ID = '1' AND  U.ENROLLMENT_STATUS = 'EN') OR (T.ID <> '1' AND U.CLASSIFICATION <> 'R'))

AND  U."TYPE" = T.ID 

AND (U.DEPARTMENT = D.DEPARTMENT_CODE (+) )

ORDER BY UserID;

And TableAdapter will recognize the above query and execute it without any error.

More free bonus from SugarSync cloud service

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If you already use SugarSync, then you know that after you sign up an account (either Free or Paid account), if you finish five tasks under Getting Started tab in your account, then you will get 125 MB bonus storage. If you think 125 MB bonus is not good enough, then here is the good news. Started June 6th, SugarSync lets you earn 125 MB bonus for each task you finish, so the total bonus will be 625 MB when you finish all five tasks.

SugarSync bonus storage

 

What about those who already finished the five tasks before the change? The good news is they are eligible too! If you already finished the tasks before, then just log back into your account, and you will be prompted for this bonus. All you need to do is to accept the bonus, and you don’t need to do the tasks again. How nice. For more information for this new bonus, check this post: http://www.sugarsync.com/blog/2011/07/06/free-storage-come-and-get-it/

 

If you haven’t used SugarSync, or you haven’t heard of SugarSync, SugarSync is a secure online backup and file synchronization service. You can back up your important files on SugarSync cloud storage and also synchronize them with your other devices, such as computer and smart phone. For more information about SugarSync and other similar services, you can read my blog post http://www.codingbeaver.com/myblog/index.php/2011/04/29/drop-dropbox-and-pick-up-sugarsync/

If you decide to use SugarSync, you can use this referral link to sign up. With this link you will get 500 MB bonus storage when you complete the registration. So your total bonus storage will be 500 MB + 625 MB (if you finish the five tasks) = 1125 MB!

Sign up with this referral link to get 500 MB bonus:

https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=e3izqm2hfvy70

And I will get 500 MB bonus if you sign up using the above link. Thank you in advance.