I am having trouble with SugarSync and want to ditch them. I like the look of Microsoft Live Mesh, but I have more than 5GB I want to backup. Could I do the following?
1. Syncronize my desktop computer and two laptops with MS Live Mesh. (Some files, up to 5gb gets backed up by Microsoft.) 2. Have another program/service on one of the computers (e.g. a "main computer" with a hard drive with ALL data that's backed up) to backup to "the cloud" (with something like JungleDisk.com or Mozy.com) for all 50GB of my data.
File types & activity: I'm a grad student, writing my dissertation from different computers day to day, with "home" stuff like digital photos and music. I want to change my work location (computer) fluidly from one computer to another: work from the office one day, and the next day work from a laptop.
Q1: Would the two pieces of software conflict?
Q2: If not, what kind of computer performance degredation am I looking at? (Memory, hard drive, and network bandwidth occupied, etc)?
Q3: How do new/changed files from a secondary computer get backed up with Live Mesh? Obviously, Laptop -> MESH -> Desktop -> Backup. Do both computers need to be on the internet (powered on) at the same time for the sync to occur? Or, can live mesh store the latest copy from my laptop in its cloud, and then get downloaded to the deskop (and thereby backed up) next time I turn on my desktop? I'm confused about the Live Mesh 5GB limit for files not backed up on the "live desktop"
Thanks for the help! Let me know if I'm not being clear
I don't think you'd see a conflict. However, keep in mind that Live Mesh is a preview/beta, so do not entrust your data to it without having a local backup. There have been a handful of reports of lost data, though that's actually rare. It can, however, happen. Obviously, both programs will be using CPU time and memory, plus bandwidth when uploading data. On a typical PC sold these days, and a broadband connection, there should be no significant performance issues. Live Mesh throttles down the bandwidth usage when you are using the connection for other things. Both computers need to be on and connected to the network for synchronization to take place - both via the Live Desktop and using P2P if you exceed the 5 gig Live Desktop limitation. Let's say you have 20 gigs you wish to sync in a folder called \Stuff on PC #1. You add the folder to the Mesh and it creates a folder called \Stuff on the Live Desktop. It exceeds the 5 gig limitation, so it will only sync up to 5 gigs to the cloud - Live Desktop. When your other PC is offered the synchronized folder from the Mesh, you accept it and the contents of \Stuff on PC #1 will sync to PC #2 over time to a folder you configure \Stuff to sync with - the default is a folder called \Stuff on the desktop of PC #2. All 20 gigs will sync to PC #2 via P2P, but it will take a while. Manually copying the files over the network will be faster. When a file is added to \Stuff in any location or changed in any location (PC1, PC2, or Live Desktop), the new or changed file is written to the other locations.
-steveMicrosoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
I don't think you'd see a conflict. However, keep in mind that Live Mesh is a preview/beta, so do not entrust your data to it without having a local backup. There have been a handful of reports of lost data, though that's actually rare. It can, however, happen. Obviously, both programs will be using CPU time and memory, plus bandwidth when uploading data. On a typical PC sold these days, and a broadband connection, there should be no significant performance issues. Live Mesh throttles down the bandwidth usage when you are using the connection for other things. Both computers need to be on and connected to the network for synchronization to take place - both via the Live Desktop and using P2P if you exceed the 5 gig Live Desktop limitation. Let's say you have 20 gigs you wish to sync in a folder called \Stuff on PC #1. You add the folder to the Mesh and it creates a folder called \Stuff on the Live Desktop. It exceeds the 5 gig limitation, so it will only sync up to 5 gigs to the cloud - Live Desktop. When your other PC is offered the synchronized folder from the Mesh, you accept it and the contents of \Stuff on PC #1 will sync to PC #2 over time to a folder you configure \Stuff to sync with - the default is a folder called \Stuff on the desktop of PC #2. All 20 gigs will sync to PC #2 via P2P, but it will take a while. Manually copying the files over the network will be faster. When a file is added to \Stuff in any location or changed in any location (PC1, PC2, or Live Desktop), the new or changed file is written to the other locations.
-steveMicrosoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
It occurs to me that I didn't mention that I have no experience with Mozy or Jungle Disk. One this that you might want to check is if the backup service you are considering modifies the files in any way, changing the archive bit or something, for example. If it does, that will cause Live Mesh to sync the files back to the other devices, causing lots of network traffic. -steveMicrosoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
