USING SKY DRIVE, DROP BOX, SUGARSYNC OR
GLADINET
Internet Traffic
Beware if your ISP has a cap on the maximum
downloads in your monthly agreement as
Sky Drive
This is a 25 GB of storage area sourced by Microsoft
and requires you to have a Hotmail Internet mail
address, this can be freely obtained, and then can be used as an alternate Email address as well.
A small program called Sd Explorer can be
downloaded to enable you to Explore the contents of the Sky drive without going via Internet Explorer to the Sky Drive.
Any Hotmail account can be of the form
Setting Up A Sky Drive Account
If you don’t have a hotmail or live email address then go
to hotmail using your web browser Here
Set up a hotmail address and sign up
Once set up you then login to your hotmail account Here At top of the window is link to SkyDrive - Hover mouse
over it and you get a pull down menu for Documents etc
Click Documents
You can create folders, upload or download documents
Hotmail Address and Emails
Once you have obtained a hotmail address for Sky
Drive then you can also use it for normal Emailing.
The Email is web based and it can contain your
contacts lists, your sent or received mail etc.
It is easy to set up the mailing function using
Windows Live Mail which is on all PCs using Vista or Windows 7
Also available is Windows Live Messenger which you
Sky Drive Links below in the pages
Click Here for latest Info on Sky Drive How to Upload files and Photos Here
How to set Permissions and share files with other
people Here
There are clickable links for most things on the
Want more than 25Gb of space
If you have more than one User defined on your PC
Other Facilities Available
Any Microsoft Office file can be Created or updated
which is on Sky Drive without having the associated program installed on your PC.
A web based version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint or
One note can be used to edit or create files stored there.
If you have received a MS Office file which you
Installing Drop Box
This has only 2GB of free space so it is a bit
restrictive if you want more space (look at SugarSync or Sky Drive)
You require a valid E-mail address to use as an
Identifier. If the DropBox is to be shared between a lot of people then create a common new E-mail
address by use of Google or Hotmail. Link for Google
or Hotmail
Go to the Drop Box web site download the program (15.4Mb) and save it for future use.
Making Files Public
The Public Folder lets you easily share single files in your Dropbox.
Any file you put in this folder gets its own Internet link so that you can share it with others-- even non-Dropbox users! These links work even if your computer’s turned off.
Step 1: Drop a file into the Public folder.
Step 2: Right-click/control-click this file, then choose Dropbox >
Copy Public Link. This copies the Internet link to your file so that you can paste it somewhere else.
That's it! You can now share this file with others: just paste the link
into e-mails, instant message conversations, blogs, etc.!
If you'd like more help with sharing files, head here:
http://www.dropbox.com/help/16
Note: You can only link to actual files within your Public Folder,
Install on All Valid PCs
Repeat the above operations for all PCs to use the
SugarSync Step By Step
1. SugarSync offers 5Gb of free space Online 2. Go To and Register with the Sugarsync site 3. download SugarSync program
4. Install SugarSync (remove ticks from the list)
5. Create a desktop shortcut to the Magic Briefcase 6. Identify folders and files to be backed up (not
exceeding 5Gb)
7. Install on a 2nd PC if you want to keep files on both
Download SugarSync program
A small program must be installed 11.8Mb Link to SugarSync
Click Signup then enter the details Use email address
Enter a Username used to identify your data the password you
use can be same or create a new one, enter it twice
You will receive an email from SugarSync to the email address
specified which will have a clickable link to activate your SugarSync account. (Checks you are not a robot and Email address is valid)
You can then download the program and save it so you can
Install SugarSync
Click on the program file just downloaded
It will Install and put an Icon on your desktop and
during normal use there will be an Icon on the Task Bar
Hovering your mouse pointer over the Icon will show
Create Shortcut
For ease of access to the SugarSync Magic Briefcase
create a shortcut.
Right click the briefcase found in Documents and
click Send To Desktop.
Right Click the shortcut and change the Icon to one
Identify Files and Folders
Any File or Folder placed in the Magic Briefcase will
be automatically copied up to the Cloud.
Once the initial upload has been completed only
Magic Briefcase new files and folders or changes to them will be uploaded.
You can also specify any other Folder on your PC to
be automatically synchronised or backed up. This may be copied to any individual PC
Any File or folder included will be indicated by a
Install on a 2
ndPC
Once you have completed the previous steps for the
initial PC you can install the SugarSync program on any number of other PCs and the magic briefcase on each PC will be synchronised no matter which PC or other device makes changes to the files/folders.
There are a series of Apps available for using
SugarSync Documentation
Looking in the Magic Briefcase Sample Documents
Gladinet & SkyDrive
This gives access to the SkyDrive 25Gb of space
available via the Mesh program in Windows Live
Essentials, and is a better alternative to the Microsoft Mesh program.
The system requires you to use a Hotmail address for
Steps to Install Gladinet
Get a Hotmail address
Go to Gladinet web site and download the program Install the program
Get Hotmail Address
get a hotmail address. Hotmail Link
Click the Signup button and follow instructions
You may have to modify the email address by use of
hyphens, underscore or adding numbers to your name to get a unique one, or you can get a
completely anonymous one
Make record of the email address and your password
Download Gladinet Program
Go to the Gladinet web site to download the free
program 14.5Mb for 32bit version or 18.1Mb for 64bit version
Link to Gladinet
Select the correct version of the program either 32
bit or 64 bit versions, it doesn’t matter which of the links you use.
Install the Gladinet Cloud Desktop Starter
Edition
Click on the downloaded program and install
You will see a new Icon on the Desktop Gladinet Sky
Drive Desktop This is used to manage the Sky Drive account
Another Shortcut Icon called Cloud Sync Folder
Windows Live SkyDrive this points to the contents of the Cloud drive
You will then register the Hotmail Email address and
Look in My Computer
A New Drive will be created on your computer and
given an identifier of
“My Gladinet Drive (Z:)”
This is an Internet Drive and clicking in it will show a
folder named Windows Live Skydrive
This will contain any files or folders you wish to
backup
Install on another PC
Using the saved copy of the Gladinet program on
another PC you can duplicate the contents of the initial PC.
You have to add the Skydrive Identity to the Drive Z: You then register the new PC with your hotmail
address and password as previously registered on the first PC
The files and folders on the skydrive will be copied to
Getting more than 25Gb of Skydrive
To obtain extra space in the cloud you only need
another hotmail address which you can register as a new user.
You then simply add that extra space on your
Gladinet drive (Z:) as another Skydrive. E.g.
Comparing Different Software
Use this link to see how Sugarsync compares with
other software
YOUR OWN PERSONAL
CLOUD
and much more!
WHY NAS?
Whether you use NAS or not will depend on your
situation. If you only have one PC or Laptop,
cloud storage such as Dropbox, etc., already
discussed may be ok for you.
However, if you have a number of PC's/Laptops,
then one local storage lace for all your files will
have many benefits.
You could just use a USB Hard Drive in a Caddie,
bus NAS has many more features.
NAS Provides...
NAS provides much more than storage and backup.
The manual supplied with the ZyXEL NSA310
comprises 568 pages!
Computer Active awarded the NSA310 a Best Buy.
ZyXEL's website....
http://www.zyxel.com/uk/en/products_services/nsa310.shtml?t=p
Other manufacturers:
DLINK, SYNOLOGY, NETGEAR, etc.
Ebuyer has some good deals:
Some Other Features of the NSA310
Share files between computers on your network.
Back up files from computers to the NSA.
Synchronise files between NSA and USB
devices like MP3 players, mass storage devices,
digital cameras without using a compter.
Handle large file downloads.
Store & play video, music and photo files.
File Access
Access to files is controlled by Username,
Password, and Permission all of which
are controlled by the Administrator.
You can access your NAS via your browser:
Locally by IP Address e.g. 192.168.1.xxx
or
Remotely via the Internet.
IP Address
Each time your Router re-boots, your ISP allocates a new IP Address. This is unlikely to be the same as before, so remote access to your network will be impossible by this method.
So, you have to ensure that “Dynamic DNS” is enabled.
First you need (for example) to access the DLINK website (there are others who provide this
service): http:\\www.dlinkddns.com
Next, Configure your Router
Log on to your Router as described in your
manual, e.g., Enter: 192.168.1.xxx (mine is 254) into your browser.
Enter your password to adjust settings.
Find “Dynamic DNS” and enter data required.
Find “Port Forwarding” to select applications, e.g.,
ftp, http, to direct to your NAS (Otherwise your Firewall will prevent access).
