Cubby

The highly regarded maker of remote-computer-control software, LogMeIn, claims that its new file-cloud-syncing and online storage offering, Cubby, attracted more beta testers than any product in the company's history. And it's no wonder: Cubby is a delight to use, and offers all the simplicity, apps, and features you could want in such a service. Of course, it didn't hurt that the service was free with 5GB of online storage space. With the service's exit from beta, the free 5GB offer remains, but paying $6.99 a month ups that limit to 100GB and adds collaboration and more management and security features.

Cubby goes beyond the standard folder-syncing services such as Dropbox, Box, SugarSync, and SkyDrive, which keep all your files accessible at all times, using cloud storage. Cubby's twist on the genre makes storage limits a moot point: Its DirectSync feature lets you sync between your own separate computers without taking up space on Cubby's servers. (Unfortunately, this feature is now only available in paid Pro accounts.) But perhaps most important among the new service's claims is that it offers the best middle ground between simplicity and powerful features?"Your digital happy place," is Cubby's motto, and I tend to agree with it. Something you don't get with Cubby, though is device syncing for settings and such, like you get with Apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Microsoft Skydrive.

Signup and Setup
In addition to the free 5GB storage, Cubby still offers a referral program that gets you an extra 1GB for each user you get to sign up, up to a maximum of 25GB. SugarSync actually has a higher cap on referral bonuses, at 32GB and unlimited if your friends sign up for paid accounts. The 100GB you get with a $6.99-a-month Pro account is generous by industry standards, but be aware that that price is prepaid annually?not actually monthly.

Cubby has one of the friendliest setup processes I've seen. After you download and run the tiny 4MB installer, you're greeted with an attractively designed box with a single "get started" button. The small box serves as the desktop interface for all Cubby activities, and there's no need for a full-screen app. Now comes signup: All you need is an email address and password (Cubby ensures your password is strong, too). You can't use Cubby without downloading the desktop client, unlike some services such as SkyDrive.

Using Cubby
The desktop program for most syncing services, such as SugarSync, Google Drive, SkyDrive, and FileLocker are simply agents that place an icon in your system tray, show you sync status, and link to your synced folders. Cubby's desktop app is a bit richer, offering new folder syncing via drag and drop, sharing, and the creation of Web links to the folder or file.

Like Dropbox, Cubby creates a master folder whose contents are synced across all your devices. As with any subsequent syncing folders you create, this is called a "cubby." To create a new cubby, you drag and drop any folder in your system onto the Cubby desktop app. It will be synced, too?but the folder's original location won't be moved. This is a fantastic solution to the dilemma of syncing services: Should there be a single synced folder all of whose subfolders get synced, too, or should you let the user sync any folder wherever it is on the hard drive? Two of our Editors' Choice folder-syncing services, SugarSync and Dropbox, show the extremes of each approach. Dropbox has one box, for the ultimate simplicity. SugarSync has great controls for syncing only what you want, so it's more complicated. But Cubby deftly combines the flexibility of SugarSync with the simplicity of Dropbox.

Cubby helpfully marks any synced folders' icons with its green C logo in Windows Explorer. And right-clicking on any folder entry offers just one simple choice: "Make this folder a cubby"?far more straightforward than many other syncing services, such as FileLocker, which has four choices, some with subchoices. For already-Cub-ified folders, you get two simple choices: share now and public link. Choosing the first opens the desktop app, and if the folder is non-cloud synced, you'll be asked if you want to turn that on. Clicking a cubby opens its Windows Explorer window?just as it should.

For Pro accounts, Cubby also has "cloud on" and "cloud off" options on your synced folders. The "on" choice means you'll be able to share live Web links to a cubby and get mobile access to it. The other option is DirectSync, which has the advantage of having no storage cap. ?New cubbies you create are "cloud on" by default, but the checkbox-and-cloud icon lets you easily change this setting, after a confirmation. You could certainly use this feature as a backup system if you have two machines running Cubby at separate locations. But if you try to switch the Cloud off for a folder and you're using a free account, you'll just get a message prompting you to upgrade. Since it doesn't cost the vendor anything, I find this kind of arbitrary.

One of the very few slightly confusing notes in Cubby appeared after I'd already turned off the cloud for a folder: The tooltip for the X button to the right of the folder read "remove this cubby from the cloud." This really just meant the folder would be removed from any Cubby syncing. I was surprised that the main My Cubby was fair game for this remove?a nice show of flexibility. Another very slightly confusing element was that I couldn't drag a folder onto a cubby, but when I double-clicked on the cubby to open its Windows Explorer window, I could easily drop in a subfolder. A drawback to this method, though, is that the subfolder didn't stay in place on my folder structure but was copied or moved to the Cubby folder. If, however, the Cubby-ized folder already has subfolders, they remain intact in their original locations, and get synced.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GBOrnXE-4P0/0,2817,2412716,00.asp

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