[James BlackHeron]

What happens to the stuff in my file shelf or other local storage if the chromebook dies/is destroyed/stolen/is restored to factory settings? Does any of this stuff sync anywhere or is it all just lost when a new chromebook comes to replace the one I dropped into the vat of acid?

If not, are there any plans to do this? One of the reasons I wanted to get into cloud computing is so I didn't have to worry about this sort of stuff and it would have all the stuff I collected saved in the cloud.

Is there an app/extension that might do this in the future for a fee?

 

[BWR]

I use DropBox (dropbox.com) Depending on how much data you want to sync, it is either free or a monthly charge. Up to 2 GB is free. I use it not only to sync (or backup, if you like) data on my Chromebook, but to sync collaborative items between my Chrombook, my desktop PC, my laptop, my wife's desktop and laptop and her executive assistant. In fact, I only download files from DropBox if I will need them when off-line.

The upload process requires that you use the "Basic loader". I assume the default loader is probably Java based and doesn't work. I don't know what difference it makes, the basic loader does the simple job that needs to be done.

 

[James BlackHeron]

But isn't the dropbox app basically a manual upload? It's not syncing with the folder and keeping everything current on the cloud server and the local storage folder.

I could already do this on my Windows laptop.

For me, the whole purpose of the chromebook was to be fast, light, and simple -and do everything automatically in the background.

Maybe there is a way to set up the dropbox account as the default place to save the files from a chromebook and not even use local storage?

 

[BWR]

Yes, on the Chromebook, it is a manual process since, currently, there is no true DropBox application for the Chromebook. However, since it is a Chromebook, and I use it to access cloud-based services, I have very few files stored in it. The vast majority of my files are stored in the cloud where the service exists (i.e. Google Apps and other e-mail systems), so it works OK for me. The files I do keep on the Chromebook are relatively static, reference-type files or temporary data I am going to move somewhere else.