FolderShare is a file synchronization and sharing solution originally developed by ByteTaxi until it was acquired by Microsoft in late 2005. It's invaluable to folks with multiple computers and/or constantly traveling. It's a free (after the acquisition), yet still not a widely known offering from Microsoft.
FolderShare gives you three main capabilities:
- Synchronize files of your choice across multiple computers transparently.
- Share your files with other FolderShare users of your choosing.
- Access those same files from any of your computers from any web browser
The number of files you'd like it to synchronize is unlimited - so is the traffic, but it does place a 2GB size limit on each file (I can live with that).
FolderShare works by having a small client application running in your system tray called FolderShare
This application aware of your My FolderShare account on FolderShare.com. By logging in to My FolderShare you can create and edit Shared Libraries (folders on one or more of you devices that you've told FolderShare that you'd like to share). You also specify in your online account Your Devices (i.e. machines running the FolderShare client).
This forms a small peer-to-peer network of your own creation. Above I have a library called "Shared" that I'm having FolderShare synchronize for me across my two home PC's (JUPITER and OTTO) with as well my desktop at work.
My FolderShare.com account is aware of each of my devices, and each of my devices are aware of my online account.
It's important to note that this "Shared" library is virtual. I'm able to tell FolderShare what to physically synchronize on each of these devices. For example - for each of my home PC's "Shared" maps to C:\Shared. On my work PC, I have it mapped to D:\Shared, but it could anywhere of my choosing.
FolderShare will keep copies of the files in this library in each physical location. If I change a file at work, when I come home, I know that same change it present on my home PC's. Similarly, if I delete a file at home, it will be deleted from my work PC. The same works for adds. This is an important note.
Like the name suggests - it synchronizes an entire folder. So if I were to have Shared pointing to C:\Shared at home and it pointed to C:\ root at work, I'd come home from work with my entire C:\ drive copied to my home PC. My advice is to keep it simple - change the drive around per device as it makes sense to your setup, but if you library share the same name with the folder on your devices.
The file sync functionality by itself is invaluable to me, but having web access to those same files is wonderful sugar on top. For that same Shared library mentioned previously, I can go to FolderShare.com, login to my account, and access the files directly from any of the devices of that library
Note, FolderShare lets me see the whole machine from a file system perspective. As you can see above, my JUPITER machine at home has a Western Digital USB Book Drive plugged into it (E:\WDBOOK1). I can access the files of that drive here over the web if I'd like.
I can directly download files from any of devices over my FolderShare network. If I need a file from my work PC while at home - no problem... it's a couple of clicks away. Just to make that point clear, I can do the same from any browser. When I go back to Detroit for Thanksgiving next week and if I happen to need that same file from my mother in-law's PC? No problem.
FolderShare offers a very powerful file synchronization technology that can offer a lot of value for those on the go that don't like the hassle of backing up files constantly or emailing files to yourself repeatedly.
I've been using FolderShare for almost 2 years and love it. I was happily paying for it before the acquisition ($100 per year). I don't mind the price drop. It's now sporting the "Windows Live Service" moniker, so my guess is Microsoft has plans to bake this into their Live.com offering in some way.
You'll be seeing a lot more of this technology in the coming years I'm sure.