I've been using SugarSync for a few months now to keep my documents synchronized between my laptop, tablet and desktop. SugarSync offers near real time change-detection and replication between computers, using a centralized server. They also claim to provide an automatic, continuous backup of your files.
Set up SugarSync once and your files are continuously backed up to your secure, personal SugarSync website. Edit these files on your computer, and your changes are automatically backed up. If your computer is stolen or damaged, you can recover your files painlessly. It’s easy – no CDs, DVDs or storage drives required.
This is only partially true. Your files are continuously backed up to their servers as long as you are connected. A few days ago Walt Mossberg wrote an article about SugarSync and they had nearly a full day of downtime.
Half-assed backup
Also while the files are continuously backed up, there is no versioning and no sanity check that says "If a container I'm synchronizing doesn't exist when the application starts, don't delete it across all computers." If you select a directory to sync, odds are high that you're not planning on deleting it. Recently I lost the hard drive on a laptop, and when I restored SugarSync launched and wiped out all my files, across all of my computers.
Versioning is very important as well. If I'm working in a document on Tuesday and it is corrupt when I try and open it on Wednesday, I'm out of luck. Most real backup services offer versioning. SugarSync says this on their roadmap.
Deleted Files Organization & Recovery
After thrashing all of my documents, tech support advised that I look in my Deleted Files folder. Hey, that's great! All of my files are there! Literally, all of them. In one single directory. There's no way of telling where a file came from since every almost every file was removed from it's parent directory, and my Deleted Files folder contains all of those and a pile of empty directories.
To make matters worse the Deleted Files folder allows duplicate file names, so I've got 15 files with the name ~$andard Consulting Agreement.doc. I've got no idea what it was originally called.
Oh, and the SugarSync Manager chokes when attempting to restore files from the Deleted Items folder:
Could not copy '…\Local Settings\Application Data\SugarSync/small_file/sc/10342/12852_10460.!12852_985' to 'C:/sugarsync recovery/Deleted Files/~$andard Consulting Agreement.doc'
I did open a ticket for this a few days ago and was pointed to a document that helpfully informed me that you can't download items in bulk from the Deleted Files folder from the web interface. The web interface being very different from the Windows application the ticket is for. That document – which is on their public support site – mysteriously contains an email from another frustrated customer containing their name, email address and phone number.
Allowing you to restore a deleted file to it's original location is on their roadmap.
Managing Multiple Computers
One of the use cases of SugarSync is to quickly recover your files if your computer is stolen. OK, now how do I unauthorize that computer so the thief won't continue to receive the latest version of Corey's_Tender_Sentiments.doc? Oh, I can't? What about the evaluation laptop I had, can I remove it from my account so it's not cluttering the web interface and desktop client? No again? Ah, it's on the roadmap, excellent.
Quality of Support
I've opened three tickets, and on average it's been at least a day before I heard a response. Once the ticket has been assigned I may receive a reply in an hour, or it may be another day. While that's frustrating, I can overlook it. Presumably they're just understaffed following their public launch.
Here's something very important though. If you're going to call customers, it shouldn't sound like you're on a bandwidth-starved VOIP line. Crackling, volume changes, cutting in and out – none of these things help expedite a call, nor do they inspire confidence.
It's on the roadmap
There's a common theme to every issue that I've experienced – the solution is on their roadmap. How wonderful, anything I can throw at SugarSync, they've already got plans to address! In fact there's barely a question in their forums that isn't on the roadmap, including:
- Network drive support
- More granular sync control
- Versioning
- Expose files to local directory tools
- Ignoring deletions (one-way sync, eg photos)
- Emailing a link to a file
- Shared Folders
- Collaboration
- Dropbox
- Throttling upload speeds
- Importing CSV files to the address book
- Calendar syncing
- Backup SMS and contacts from a mobile phone
- Filter sync files
- Sync hidden and system files
- Allow users to provide their own encryption keys
- Public API
- Let users use their own S3 account
- More granular control of the photo gallery
- Show status of sync
- Sync external drives
- Share a top-level photo folder
- Outlook sync
The thing about a roadmap is that you're setting a level of expectation. Once you imply there are plans to add a feature, people will expect to see it. Soon. Currently the desktop client is fairly minimal; it lets you select folders to sync, and then it syncs them. And it's far from perfect if my problems are any indication. The list of items on the roadmap seems to grow every day and it represents a huge amount of development time. SugarSync now needs to add these features in addition to continuing to manage users expectations and handling growth.
So I'm torn – do I invest more time with SugarSync – which failed me – and hope they are able to resolve some of the issues and grow gracefully? I'm hesitant, especially with the very slick looking Dropbox in private beta. Dropbox already has versioning, deleted file recovery and a refined Mac client. Speaking of Dropbox, if you've got a spare invite please drop me a line or send it to dropboxinvite@coreygilmore.com.
Update: Drew – the voice of the screencast on getdropbox.com – saw this post and hooked me up with an invitation. I'm already very pleased with the feel of the local interface and site, less than 30 minutes in.
