As the new semester begins, we’re in the process of setting up git code repositories for students in programming courses. And while this may take a few days, you don’t want to ever be without a back-up plan for the work you do.
I highly recommend using a service like Dropbox or SugarSync. The convenient web-based interface will allow you to save your work when you’re on a lab computer, and even more slick is the install that will automatically back-up the folders you want on your PC. While you’re on your home computer, you just use the folder normally… and in the background the contents of the folder are synced with the remote location. You can even share documents with others.
Be warned that there are security issues with these services on shared computers (don’t store your passwords and financial info), the rollback/ is not nearly as robust as a real source repository, and you don’t get the ability to merge changes either.
However, for daily back-up of course documents and your own code… why risk losing it all due to a hardware crash.
Best of all.. it’s free. So, check out Dropbox!
