This is the second of a three-part sponsored series on CloudBerry's cloud backup, storage and synchronization services. In this episode, we dive into CloudBerry Box, a data and file synchronization and sharing solution that works with your cloud provider of choice. If you'd like you can read part one: Backup to Amazon S3, Azure and Google With CloudBerry Backup.
What Is CloudBerry Box Cloud Sync?
CloudBerry Box provides a data and file synchronization and sharing solution for Windows machines (Mac OS X is due later this year). If you've used Dropbox or Google Drive, CloudBerry Box will be familiar to you.
The huge advantage that CloudBerry Box offers is full control of your data. Rather than storing your files at Dropbox or Google, CloudBerry Box allows you to store your files with almost any cloud provider of your choice, e.g. Amazon S3, Azure, OpenStack, HP Cloud, RackSpace, etc.
Personally, I've been waiting for a solution like this for a while now. I appreciate any service that gives me more control over my data.
I am using CloudBerry Box to synchronize files between my Microsoft Surface and my desktop computer. It works really well for me and I like the security that Amazon Web Services provides. — Brad Amodeo
How It Works
CloudBerry Box is quite simple. You download and install the application on all the computers you want to synchronize. You configure your cloud storage account and specify the local folder to store synchronized files and data on each of the machines. All changes made to the folder and contents will be automatically uploaded to the cloud and applied to all computers sharing access to the cloud storage account.
All data moves through direct connections between end-points and your cloud storage account. No third-party web services are involved in data transfers or processing. You can further secure your data by interfacing with a proxy server.
The video above offers a great walk-through of CloudBerry Box.
Want to get started immediately? Download CloudBerry Box for Windows.
I totally love CloudBerry Box! I am using it to store my client files, so I can access them from any computer without having to wait for access. With CloudBerry Drive, the files were available, but only at the speed of my internet connection, whereas with CloudBerry Box, they are stored locally as well, so I have access at full hard-drive speeds — Rick Jewson, cloud services specialist at Freom Pty Ltd
Using CloudBerry Box
Downloading the Application
To install CloudBerry Box, you just need to visit the website and provide an email address to download the application.
Run the Setup Wizard...and, that's it. You're ready to Run CloudBerry Box!
CloudBerry Box Product Activation
Enter your email address and click Start Trial:
Storage Account Configuration
Now you can provide the storage cloud account configuration information for your remote data storage:
CloudBerry Box works with a wide variety of cloud providers such as Amazon S3, Azure, Rackspace and more:
For my setup, I'm using S3. So I provide my access key and secret key.
Note: It's best practice to set up IAM Roles for CloudBerry Box rather than using your master AWS key.
Click Test Connection to make sure it's working:
Sync Options
Next, you can choose a local folder on your Windows machine to synchronize your cloud data into:
If you click Remove files to Recycle Bin, files deleted in the cloud (and other computers) will be moved to the trash on this computer.
As mentioned before, all data moves through direct connections between end-points and your cloud storage account, with no third-party web services involved. However, for added security, you can sync through your own proxy server:
Everyday Box Usage
CloudBerry Box runs in the background and can be easily accessed from the Start menu bar.
Click Open Sync Folder to see an explorer window with your local cloud files:
When new files are added to your local folder, CloudBerry Box will synchronize them to the cloud. And, vice versa, files added to the cloud from another machine will be synchronized to this machine or device.
You can also browse Box files within your S3 account:
There's also a Help library for CloudBerry Box:
Purchasing CloudBerry Box
CloudBerry Box is available for $29.99 per seat. To purchase CloudBerry box, click the Start menu Status bar Product Activation...
Then, click Buy and you'll be redirected to the CloudBerry Box website for purchasing instructions:
I was quite excited to learn about CloudBerry Box. It's nice to have a vendor neutral synchronization and sharing alternative to legacy providers. I hope you give CloudBerry Box a try.
What's Next?
Stay tuned for the third installment in this series: CloudBerry Explorer and CloudBerry Drive: Fast and effective ways to access and manage data in your public cloud for free.
If you'd like to know when the next tutorial arrives, check the above series page or my instructor page. Both will include all the articles from this series as soon as they are published.
Please feel free add your questions and comments below; I generally participate in the discussions. You can also reach me on Twitter @reifman or email me directly.
Related Links
- CloudBerry Box Website
- Download CloudBerry Box for Windows
- Backup to Amazon S3, Azure and Google With CloudBerry Backup (Tuts+)
