Tao Effect Forums

Espionage => Espionage 2 => Espionage 2 Tips => Topic started by: greg on April 02, 2009, 04:40:43 PM

Title: Using Dropbox to synchronize folders across machines
Post by: greg on April 02, 2009, 04:40:43 PM
UPDATE! - These instructions are for storing Espionage'd folders within Dropbox, which is not recommended (though possible). For new instructions on how to encrypt your Dropbox folder safely, see this blog post (http://www.taoeffect.com/blog/2009/12/use-espionage-with-dropbox/).

Note: While this tip is for Dropbox, similar (if not exact) considerations can be taken to synchronize Espionage'd folders via different means

We received a support email with the following question from Alan:

Quote from: "Alan"Can I somehow configure Espionage to work with Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com/) so I can use my Espionage folders on multiple systems? I see how the backup works, but I was hoping to be able to keep a single Espionage folder in my Dropbox and have it sync on both machines.

While it is possible, currently we do not recommend it because there is no explicit support for Dropbox built-in to Espionage, and because Dropbox changes how the Finder behaves this causes some issues with Espionage when using it to sync folders (as you mentioned though, using it as a backup destination is fine).

If you still want to try though, here's how to do it (we recommend using a dummy test folder first):


Finally, you'll have to make sure the two Espionage's are in sync by making sure that the folder is in the same state that the other Espionage expects.  In other words, after you finish working with the folder on one Mac, lock it and do not unlock it on the other mac until both sides have finished receiving the changes. The other Mac's Espionage should expect the folder to be locked as well.

Some other things to keep in mind: