Cloud has become a very important aspect of not only computing technology but also normal user life. Personally I don’t take risk with my data and want it to be crash-proof. Especially my research work in progress is something I cannot compromise and hence I like to keep my stuff in the cloud. I know there are cons as well, like the privacy concerns and also one can’t refute that the cloud servers can’t crash. However, if I were to chose one, I’d chose the lesser of the two evils and that I have my PC synced to cloud computers.

Sometime back there was the private beta launch of the service called as UbuntuOne. Ubuntu One helps you store, sync and share. Sync your files, share your work with others or work remotely, all with your Ubuntu computers.

Let’s see how to install UbuntuOne on Ubuntu and get the magic working for you.

Getting an UbuntuOne Account

Well, because it’s cloud you’ll have to have an account with UbuntuOne. There are various plans you can avail. I chose to have the free 2 GB plans as I don’t have exaggerated amount of files to sync and share. All the details of other plans can be found Ubuntu One Plan page (mentioned at the bottom of the post).

Installing UbuntuOne

To begin with you need to have Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). So if you haven’t already upgraded, this could be a good reason. Once you get the account, you need to sign in to install the software.

1. Download the deb file and double click it to install the PPA (link at the end of the post) on your Ubuntu machine.

2. Next step is to get the Ubuntu One Gnome client. To get the client click this link.

3. Next up is to start the client and to authorize it. To start the UbuntuOne client go to Application > Internet > Ubuntu One.

4. A web page will be opened asking you to Add this computer.

5. You should now see the UbuntuOne icon in the panel and folder named Ubuntu One in your home directory.

All you have to do now is to start saving files in that folder and your files will be shared/synced across other Ubuntu Machines.

Ubuntu One Plans

https://ubuntuone.com/plans/

Ubuntu One PPA Deb

https://media.ubuntuone.com/media/1677/files/ubuntuone-jaunty-ppa.deb

DropBox, as the name suggests is a wonderful piece of software which you can use to drop your files and they’ll be synced. Dropbox would perfectly fit the metaphor of what is called as cloud computing. I know a lot of people still worried about no having the possession of their data and they are worried that their privacy is at stake.

Dropbox also brings in privacy issues but to be very frank if you are on Internet I am afraid you have already put your privacy at stake. So instead of cribbing about it, let’s see the other (better) part of using cloud computing. Dropbox is a free service (for 2GB of storage it’s free. If you want more you’ll have to pay) to flawlessly sync your important files across the web. So if you have your important files like resume, photos and critical project document you don’t have to worry about the risk of loosing them as you are putting them in cloud.

The most important advantage of dropbox is that it’s almost platform independent and works with Windows, Linux and Mac. Let us see how to install it on you Linux (Ubuntu) box and start syncing files.

Home Page

http://www.getdropbox.com/

Description

Dropbox is the easiest way to share and store your files online platform independently.

Download Dropbox for Linux (Ubuntu)

You can download dropbox depending on the distro you have from the following location:

http://www.getdropbox.com/downloading?os=lnx

I downloaded the deb file for Ubuntu from here.

Install DropBox

Once you have downloaded the deb file. Double click it to install DropBox.

Once you have installed dropbox, you’ll have to get the dropbox daemon. You can get it by starting dropbox for the first time. To start dropbox go to Applications > Internet > DropBox

Once you start dropbox for the first time you’ll be prompted to install the daemon.

Click OK to start downloading the daemon.

After this  you should have your dropbox ready to use. All that is left now is to configure the dropbox. If you already have an account you can set it up, else you can create a new account to start syncing.

Once you have setup dropbox it’ll take sometime to sync your files if you already have some in your dropbox. It sits beautifully in the system tray and is very easy to use.

I don’t have no issues using it and it’s flawless to sync files across my Windows and Linux partition.