Beepster
 
As to the OP... seriously I would NOT use any automagic online syncing options/apps... especially on a DAW. Best bet would be to just back up and upload manually or get a good external drive with a hyper customizable backup/sync program then upload that manually to the online storage site.

+1 
I want complete and active control over what leaves my hard drive to anywhere, and I do not want anything automatically finding its way from the cloud to my computer. The advantage to using synchronization in DropBox for backups is the ability to just do the differential copy, so a slight change in a file does not require the bandwidth to transfer the entire new file. But that is possibly the disadvantage as well. Until the sync is complete it is not clear what you have where. Some of the same issues exist with automated backup programs operating locally. If you just do a manual upload of a complete file and send your collaborator a link, you both know you are on the same page. My primary project file would never be linked to the cloud. Copying the files/folder from the primary folder on your hard drive to your linked folder is the safest way to do it. You can move backups and versions to the cloud for offsite backup in any case. 

" My primary project file would never be linked to the cloud. Copying the files/folder from the primary folder on your hard drive to your linked folder is the safest way to do it. You can move backups and versions to the cloud for offsite backup in any case."
 
well said-there`s no substitute for physical backups(and no excuse) especially for audio files but I imagine the cloud would be very attractive to non audio users who can`t be bothered with Acronis etc or have a drawer full of thumb drives and just want to backup their selfies and mp3`s.
 
so,in the last 2 years I have gone from sending data discs ,then usb sticks by courier,then emailing via broadband and now it takes me roughly 5 minutes to login,upload,send link,receive confirmation.done.
hats off to dropbox etc-no more "transit problems"with AusPost/DHL,no more physical handling and packaging.
from recording to mastering to production-all with one link and all from the comfort of the kitchen table.
works for me.
cheers
 

Yup acronis and external hard drive backups all the way. Further backups on the cloud should be encrypted where at all possible.

Transferring data from one person to another is a different scenario however.

What others are doing with Dropbox I do with Onedrive. Because I have an MS Office 365 account I have 1TB of storage. I don't want to have to run multiple cloud accounts so this suits me. As the office 365 account allows me to share with upto 5 "family" members I have as much as 5TB of storage if needed. But it's certainly cheaper than if I wanted more than 15GIG which seems the maximum free on any other cloud services.

webbs hill studio
"As Keni said (and I can confirm after probably a hundred or so transfers at this point) there is absolutely NO need to download and install the Dropbox "app". Nor does the recipient. They try to make you THINK that but it is not true."
 
good point-I found the app and all it`s hunting around and autosycnching pretty invasive as well but once you strip it back it`s flawless and reliable and seems to be the standard for submitting wavs for mastering etc.
will check out wet transfer though as file sharing/cloud is becoming increasingly efficient and hopefully the developers will be falling over themselves for market share so the upgrades shouldn`t be far away.
 
if you had told me 12 months ago that I could send via the web a 50gb file to someone else I would have been sceptical so who knows what Moore`s Law will bring by Xmas??
 
cheers   
 

Very true.

I disabled all the invasive stuff immediately upon install. It takes no resources and pretty much acts as a browser if I run it...

I do use the IOS app... It too dies nothing unless I open it and on my iPads I really don't worry...

Sorry, but I still don't like the idea of using online storage as anything more than transfer services...

I use dropbox in the same way as the original poster, it makes things very very easy as I work in two locations in one day often. I don't use it as a backup media just as part of a working canvas.

slartabartfast

Beepster
 
As to the OP... seriously I would NOT use any automagic online syncing options/apps... especially on a DAW. Best bet would be to just back up and upload manually or get a good external drive with a hyper customizable backup/sync program then upload that manually to the online storage site.

+1 
I want complete and active control over what leaves my hard drive to anywhere, and I do not want anything automatically finding its way from the cloud to my computer. The advantage to using synchronization in DropBox for backups is the ability to just do the differential copy, so a slight change in a file does not require the bandwidth to transfer the entire new file. But that is possibly the disadvantage as well. Until the sync is complete it is not clear what you have where. Some of the same issues exist with automated backup programs operating locally. If you just do a manual upload of a complete file and send your collaborator a link, you both know you are on the same page. My primary project file would never be linked to the cloud. Copying the files/folder from the primary folder on your hard drive to your linked folder is the safest way to do it. You can move backups and versions to the cloud for offsite backup in any case. 

 
It would be a problem if two people are working on the same project at the same time.  One of you has just lost all your work.  Communication would be key in that area.  I have tested this sync method with very minute changes and indeed it works.
 
Just to clarify I have my projects backed up on another hard drive and a flash drive just to be sure.
 
It is an awesome thing, the technology of today!
 
My original question about the integrity of the files seems to be answered, in that they are safe from degradation from multiple transfers.
 
Thanks for all your input guys.
 
dana

I have used Dropbox on all my computers minus my DAW for about 3 years now. It is a life saver for people like me who use more than one computer and I'm often away from home. But I also have limited bandwidth at home so have to limit my files to documents and PDF. If I put pictures in it they are web sized. 
 
But I'll add that dropbox slows down your start up as it syncs up so I would not dream of using it on my DAW. It's probably OK if you have lots of power and fast internet but for me it would screw things up. I can still open the files on my DAW using the web but I did not install the app.  
 
For transfers I use my portable hard drive. It's a 2 TB and I make regular full backups of all my Sonar files from the Sonar data drive. I guess my projects are simple because I think my total size of all my working Sonar projects is only 80 gigs right now. I also have finished project folders that I remove from my working drive and back up 6 times elswhere. The working backups are always dated - Sock Monkey-Sept7-2015
My collaboraters live in the same town so I just take the drive. 
It would not be hard to save them to a cloud location however. 
 
I save all projects in their own folder with everything assosiated, there will be CWP, a midi file, the audio , lyrics etc. 

mudgel
What others are doing with Dropbox I do with Onedrive. Because I have an MS Office 365 account I have 1TB of storage. I don't want to have to run multiple cloud accounts so this suits me. As the office 365 account allows me to share with upto 5 "family" members I have as much as 5TB of storage if needed. But it's certainly cheaper than if I wanted more than 15GIG which seems the maximum free on any other cloud services.

I have the same because of Office 365. In my case, I manually move projects into Onedrive at important milestones. But I'm looking supplementing Onedrive with Dropbox so my files are on more than one provider's servers. Just in case. MS is not going anywhere in the near future, but they could just up and decide not to support Onedrive. Not likely since they have doubled down on cloud services, but I'm getting more paranoid I guess.
 
Others in this thread have mentioned not liking having synch processes running in the background. In my experience they can interfere with audio processing. But now in Windows 10 it is not easy to pause Onedrive synching. I'm not happy about that. I manually synch in Win 10 because of that.