In January, ReadWriteWeb brought you an exclusive look at SugarSync, the long awaited file syncing utility from Sharpcast, our 2006 Most Promising Web LittleCo. SugarSync is a software program that syncs files across multiple systems -- i.e., desktop, web, and mobile -- allowing users to access backed up data from whatever device they happen to be connecting with. Sharpcast officially launched SugarSync yesterday.
SugarSync is a platform for what the company refers to as "real-time sync and backup of your data across all of your computers, the web and your phone." What that means that is SugarSync monitors the files on your devices and then automatically syncs to a central server. So your files are always accessible from anywhere across all of your various web connected gadgets.
The service, which offers a free 45 day trial, costs $49.99/year for 10GB of storage with plans running up to $249.99/year. The company is running a special 50% off the first year promotion, but 200 ReadWriteWeb readers can have the promotional price extended to two years by clicking this link.
SugarSync provides both a PC and Mac client, as well as mobile clients for the Blackberry and Windows Mobile and a browser-based application.
SugarSync is the product of nearly four years of work by the crew at Sharpcast, and the result is quite nice. It's an easy to use system that can free your data from a single, physical location. It has some nice features, such as the ability to share photos with friends, or the ability to lock certain versions of files online so that even if they're updated locally you still have a backup of the original. It also has some things we wish it did better, such as automatic file versioning, which is absent in this release.
In January, we said that Sharpcast reminded us of Feedburner, "in that it wants to become the leading platform for a new type of media service that only came into being in the Internet age." In Feedburner's case that service was RSS, whereas for Sharpcast that technology is file syncing.
Unlike Feedburner, though, SugarSync is entering a slightly more crowded space. They face competition from BeInSync, Windows Live FolderShare, and the currently in beta Y Combinator startup Dropbox. Even so, SugarSync comes to the table with a very nice product that is super easy to use and quite polished (it should be after 4 years!), so we still expect that our earlier prediction that it could be a future acquisition target to hold true.
Have you tried SugarSync? What about any of its competitors? Which do you like better? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that SugarSync costs $49.99 per month for the 10GB package. That is incorrect. $49.99 is the yearly price at that storage level.
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Posted by: Jenny | March 21, 2008 10:27 PM
I've been using SugarSync for a month or two as part of their beta program and think it's great. Everything stays backed up, everything stays synced. There have been a number of occasions where I needed a doc off my laptop but was at an offsight and didn't have it with me. I just logged onto my SugarSync account and found the doc I needed.
Posted by: Jeff Singfiel | March 21, 2008 11:35 PM
I loaded it yesterday and so far so good. I use a MacBook and PC desktop and hate having to deal with the problems that SugarSync has solved.
Posted by: murat | March 22, 2008 7:29 AM
Sugarsync is so damn slow. 30 kb/s are the maximum I can get. In parallel I try humyo (www.humyo.com) and speedwise (> 85 kb/s) it looks much better.
Posted by: shylock.myopenid.com
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March 22, 2008 7:53 AM
Too slow for me. My Speakeasy Speed Test shows upload at 10 mbps, whereas, SugarSync is uploading at 10 kbps.
Posted by: pdandurand | March 22, 2008 9:06 AM
SugarSync is very disappointing. Slow, lacking many features and most of all incredibly difficult to understand. I recommend Beinsync or Mozy for synchronization or backup. I may give SugarSync 2.0 a try, but definitely not the current version.
Posted by: ajay | March 22, 2008 6:41 PM
Hi guys,
This is Gibu Thomas, CEO of Sharpcast, the company responsible for SugarSync.
I wanted to respond to some of the negative comments expressed here about the product. We have a lot of happy customers who have already uploaded over 13 million files into the system, so if your experience is not consistent with that, I would request you to contact support [at] sugarsync [dot] com. Or email me directly at gthomas [at] sharpcast [dot] com. We are super-responsive to customer issues.
Regarding the specific comment about speed of uploads, in case it wasn't obvious, the current status message in the SugarSync client displays Kilobytes per second, not Kilobits per second. This has caused confusion for a few people, so we are looking to address that. In additon, we currently throttle your bandwidth usage to not use 100% of available bandwidth. This is a decision we made to not compromise your web browsing experience, and we are in the process of adding a way for you to override the throttle.
I will be the first to admit that the product is far from perfect and we are constantly making improvements. But, I will also say that if you gauge by the overwhelmingly positive reaction of the people who have reviewed or are actively using the product (do a search on Google), it would seem that some of the negative comments here are anomalies.
So, if you have a legitimate issue with the product, please contact us and we will do everything in our power to make your experience a happy one. On the other hand, if you are an unscrupulous competitor or someone who just relishes spreading negativity about anything new and innovative, I am sure our legion of happy users will crowd out your words in due course of time.
In closing, I would encourage people to try the product and come to your own intelligent conclusions about the experience.
Cheers,
Gibu Thomas
Sample SugarSync Customer Emails:
"The Pure Unadulterated Awesomeness of SugarSync! I just wanted to let you know how freaking awesome this product is! I have been looking for exactly this for so long, it is almost too good to be true”
"All other backup/sync services I‘ve tried do not work as effortlessly as SugarSync.“
"SugarSync is the solution I’ve been waiting for. Good work!"
"Great work - congratulations to you all. This has been one of the best pieces of software I’ve tried for a long time."
"It’s effortless and beautifully presented...doing a job that many have tried but most have failed."
"I love how I’m able to log into the website to see and download my files if I don’t have my laptop nearby."
Posted by: Gibu Thomas | March 24, 2008 12:51 PM