SugarSync Review

SugarSync version 2 was released on February 15, 2013 and since then I have been trying out the new version of the popular online storage and file synchronization service.

Installation
If you already have an account with SugarSync you can login and download the new version. If not you can create a new account on their website. They do offer a free trial and a free 5GB so you need to look where you are depending on what you are looking for. Once you do download the application for your desktop it is a simple process to install it and should be easy enough for most computer users.

I captured the following video of my installation on my Windows 8 test machine. I already had a free 5GB account so that is what I was using for this test. In just over 3 minutes I was able to have the application installed and walked through the SugarSync tour and added a folder to sync to the cloud.

Backup
Yes you can use SugarSync to backup your data, but it is more of an online storage and file synchronization service. By syncing your folders and files to SugarSync you do have a backup copy of them and you can restore them to your computer. It is not the same as other backup services though that scan your computer for your files and will back them up automatically. If you forget to add a folder and your hard drive dies you will be out of luck.

File Synchronization
SugarSync allows you to sync folders and files from any one of you machines or mobile devices to each other. This is where SugarSync shines, in my testing of the app I was abel to easily sync my music from my Android mobile to my Windows 8 test machine. Adding new music on the Windows 8 machine synced with my mobile device. Photos taken on my mobile were automatically copied to my desktop. You can also select what folders you want to sync to what device. With no limit on what folder you want to sync SugarSync makes it easy to move files between your devices no matter what device you are using.

Mobile Apps
The desktop SugarSync app and the mobile (well Android version at least) are so similar you almost think they are the same. SugarSync helps you to effortlessly sync data between your desktop and mobile devices. Not only will it sync your photos and video from your mobile to the cloud and your desktop, just select whatever folder you want and it will sync it as well. I was pretty impressed by SugarSync on my Android device and how well it synced not just the photos and it takes a lot to impress me.

Web Portal
The web portal works well and seems to be faster than it was in previous versions, although I did not spend much time using it previously. You can view all the files you have uploaded to SugarSync, upload new files to sync with your devices, even download and share files. All the standard things you would expect to be able to do in the web portal.

SugarSync Drive
This is a new feature to SugarSync and allows you to access all of your data under one place on your Windows or Mac computer. You can easily see what folders are synced to SugarSync and access the data. It can even be data that is stored on your other computers. I found I was reguarly using the SugarSync drive to see what folders were synced and available.

Security
This is where SugarSync needs some work, while your data is transferred over SSL, is encrypted on the client before sending and stored on their servers encrypted they hold the encryption keys and can access your data. You can use TrueCrypt to encrypt your data before sending it to them but that will make your data harder to access on other machines, particularly if you want access on your mobile devices. If you are at all uncomfortable with the fact that they can see your data you will need to add your own encryption to your files or look at another service.

Overall
SugarSync has made some excellent progress in their service and they make it easy to sync files between all of your devices. If you want to easily sync files between work, your mobiles and home SugarSync is a great choice. They are still a little more expensive and offer less storage than some other service and that is definitely a drawback when there are other services that now offer unlimited storage and access. They also need to take a hard look at offering private encryption keys so you can secure your data. If you want convenience to sync your files easily SugarSync provides that and the ability to do that with your mobile and tablet devices makes SugarSync extremely useful.