I mean, I signed up simply 'cos I liked its ability to encrypt data. However, what happened was that everytime I tried to upload data, every file was stuck on finalizing. I even tried running a few commands and other fixes suggested in certain forum threads but those simply wiped out everything I'd uploaded. I ran out of patience when a number of files later, the issue was still around.

I didn't contact the help support btw, 'cos I was just simply looking around and it didn't seem worth my time to go through a ton of steps just for some files. And from the forums, the tech support didn't seem too responsive anyways.

In the end, I'm going back to Dropbox. After all, what use are those touted features if you can't even upload a file?

A decent backup tool - that's what this is.

It's not really an alternative to Dropbox as Dropbox is aimed at sync and this is aimed at backup. Yes it has a sync feature but the sync feature in comparison to Dropbix is terrible - in the event of conflicts, Spideroak just overwrote everything whereas Dropbox creates conflicted copies.

Currently I have the Pro version of Dropbox (as I sync all my data between work laptop and home PC) but I forsee when my need for syncing such large data disappears when I complete my studies, I'll move to Pro version of Spideroak.

Better control setting than dropbox.
it owned my change to it!

GENERAL DISADVANTAGE:
Not so simple interface as you may think while viewing the screenshots. I think the problem is having too many tabs - in result you actually don't know where to find an option you are looking for. For example: in 'Status' tab you have subtabs: Overview, Queue, Actions, Log, Stats. And I think that Overview tab is just unnecesery - actually it does... nothing. It only views your actual status, but you CAN'T change anything about that status. To do so you have to go to another tabs, or subtabs. It's unnececerily complicated. And in result - I'm always NOT SURE what is going on with my files - are they being uploaded or not, or where, or when.... COMPLICATED.

Second thing is like this: by mistake I marked a 4GB file to upload and a free account can handle only 2GB. What is wrong? I can't JUST cancel this upload. I don't know what to do because my whole activity with this program is blocked due a 4GB upload waiting in queue for me to upgrade my account. I've already deleted whole folder containg THAT file and still nothing - 4GB monster is still waiting for my money :/ Not good

ADVANTAGES:

• VERY easy for use by guests - you can send them a link to whole directory containg your files and they can acces it by internet browser without installing any other applications. VERY VERY easy. You can send them a link to a specific file too, and when this link is pasted into browser, it's instantly downloadable, without any other interface. Just "Save" or "Open" :)

Oh well, seems it was a cock up over the SpiderOak SSL certs, too late for me though, i'm on dropbox already and see no reason to change again!

Hmmmm, was a nice idea in theory. Unfortunately I am constantly getting disconnected from the SpiderOak network and it seems rebooting is the only way to force a reconnection. I tried closing and reopening the client and it just didn't work. It couldn't cope with the laptop using suspend. A+ for effort, D for achievement. I'm off to dropbox since I need Linux support which rules out SugarSync.

I really tried to love SpiderOak but I could not. To me, the interface is limiting (I am a power-user) and my syncs were not working. I had 3 computers connected with SpiderOak, 2 Linux and 1 WinXP. My Linux were kind of in sync, with few files never updated. But my windows machine was one month late. I contacted support. They responded quickly with a few advices. I tried what they suggested without success. I then tried a few things on my own and came to deactivate SpiderOak on my Windows machine when trying to reinstall from scratch. I had been experiencing slow performances in the past weeks with my WinXP computer during startups and occasionally during normal work. After SpiderOak was deactivated, my computer was working fast again. I realized that the slow downs on my machine have probably started after installing their product.

I think this software is just not ready for my working environment, it demands to much of my computer resources. I stopped trying to look for a solution since it will cost me more to investigate the issues then using their competitor Dropbox. Sadly, Dropbox does not offer some of the nice things found in SpiderOak, but it just works fast, never had a syncing problem and the pricing is almost OK (a little expensive).

Like software and service. It's more secure than some other services because files are encrypted with key/password on client machine plus it uses kind of compression method where same files are stored only once savings some data. I found it as easy and reliable way to backup and synchronize my 3 PC (win/linux).

"Hmmph it seems impossible to sync 2 folders of 1.5 GB with a free account, because SpiderOak thinks you're trying to upload 3 GB of data..."

Actually If you go to "Preferences -> Interface -> Disable Disk Space Calculations" you can force the sync to go through. SpiderOak will of course de-duplicate the data from both machines, so if you really only have 1.5 gig of unique files, you'll be fine.

I do not like, that SpiderOak and DropBox do not support the synchronizing with "Windows Mobile" devices.
If I need this feature I prefer SugarSync or use the DropBox-AddOn CloudFiles.

Hmmph it seems impossible to sync 2 folders of 1.5 GB with a free account, because SpiderOak thinks you're trying to upload 3 GB of data...

I really tried to like this. Unfortunately, it's behavior was "beta" quality on Linux. It didn't watch my folders for new items correctly. It also made my CPU spike when trying to download multiple files. Support was rather good but I need something that just works. If I can't depend on it then I don't trust my valuable files with it. It's a shame really because it has potential.

I love the way this program looks and feels but, you do have to pay if you want to back up more than 2gb's of info. It is only $10 a month for every 100gb's though,so it's very reasonably priced.

The great thing about SO is that you can watch/backup ANY folder, and have quite secure shares.

And they encrypt your data so well that even THEY don't know what you have...