During the time I left my flashdrive in the computer lab and was not able to pick it up for a week, I decided to look for a good way to backup my files. Long story short: Skydrive – doesn’t sync >> Live Mesh –  syncs but hidden sync status >> Dropbox – much better! I’ve been using it for several days now. It is great. I really like having the little status icon on each file showing its sync status. It also saves old versions of all files which Live Mesh does not do. And if files were changed on different computers before syncing then it appears to create a separate file with an extended name showing the computer of origin.

The only advantage for Live Mesh that I can see so far (apart from having extra cloud space if you run out of Dropbox space) is that you can sync any folder. Dropbox creates a single folder where you throw everything you want synced into.

Right now, I’m using Live Mesh to sync the .spyder2 configuration folder with no problem so far. This might possibly be problematic if the configuration file is made for the particular computer it is on. I wanted to keep my template and workspace configurations the same on all three computers that I use for programming.  I use Dropbox for all my programs and everything else.

Live Mesh – sync any folder you can’t conveniently move to the Dropbox.

• Program folders with configuration files (possibly may cause problems)
• Sync any folder you want

Dropbox – sync all files you frequently work with on multiple computers.

• Sync programming code and frequently used data
• Quickly confirm sync status with file icon (or badge)
• Stores old versions of all files for recovery