Users of Box have that added advantage of being able to assign tasks speedily and centralize team feedback something that is not easy to find in other file sharing software. When tasks are completed, the admin can automatically move the final docs to an 'Approved' folder and …
I actually recommend this service to all my students and colleagues. It's got more storage space for free than any provider I've found (and for students and teachers, this is a BIG deal). It's wonderful if you want to upload video, too, because where Dropbox and other providers severely limit file upload sizes, Copy is much more generous. Also, since Copy is cloud-based, you don't even need your own computer to use it necessarily since you can access it online. I can't really think of a situation where it would be less appropriate unless you wanted to store classified documents (in which case I'd wonder why you're uploading them to a cloud-based server in the first place).
I think Box is great for research teams or anyone that has a large number of files that need to be securely stored. Particularly in the case of social science research, where it is important to protect identifying data, Box is a great option. In cases where teams need a more reliable means for real-time collaboration, I would probably consider a different alternative
I'd easily recommend ownCloud to small businesses or teams within organizations. I've not used ownCloud in large deployments, so I'd hesitate before suggesting it in a situation where more than 10 users need support. That said, ownCloud is easy to set up and multiple instances could be used to service a large user base.
Copy is similar to Dropbox, in that you have a folder on your computer where you store the files you want to be able to access and sync via Copy's online service. It's very reliable about making sure files are synced across machines.
You can create "shortcuts" to files on your main computer in order to access them from other locations without it impacting the amount of space you're using on your account. It seems to work almost like a VPN (but not quite).
You can share folders and files with others, allowing various privileges and rights. This process is incredibly easy. It also sends your affiliate link in case the people you are sharing with want to sign up (bonus space!).
Copy is attractive and simple to use. It's not complicated, and their support site is clear and monitored.
Copy is great if you regularly need to upload or share video files. It allows a larger upload size than Dropbox which means that those videos you shoot on your smart phone can be uploaded and shared more easily.
The main feature that I like the most in Box is that it makes collaboration seamless, workers can easily check the documents any time and make changes according to the needs.
Box manages and backs up all of your files on its cloud servers, and provides a very nice interface for creating, viewing, editing, and collaborating on the most commonly used file types (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.).
Over the past few years, Box has built on top of its basic cloud storage management with a host of other tools, such as workflows, AI, monitoring, and analytics.
It is helping us to make good connections with clients and our workers themselves as to its syncing and viewing feature to all is very much helpful and easy to go.
Attention and dedication to making the product a world class product with continual product updates.
Ease of use from an administration standpoint, and a very Clear UI.
The price -- you can't beat free!
Mobile applications are great.
Integration with public S3 cloud providers like AWS S3 and Wasabi S3.
2FA authentication is supported and works great!
Marketplace Add-Ons: I love this! For example, I can install an add-on that natively opens raw images. I am a photographer as well, and being able to quickly view the CR2 Raw Files direct from the camera is fantastic! This was made possible by a marketplace add-in.
Embedded Media Players: Photos, Music, and Video files can be viewed and played right in the browser window.
Sync application to keep local files on a computer updated with the files on the server.
Access control and permissions -- shareable links!
One thing Copy doesn't do is allow you to sync any folder on your hard drive (like Sugar Sync does). You have to save the file in the designated Copy folder. However, Dropbox and most other popular cloud storage services don't allow this either, so although this is a negative, it's so common that it's hardly a major drawback.
EDIT: You can work around this by creating shortcuts in your Copy folder that point to the folder in its original location on your hard drive.
There are a few areas of support (instructions, primarily, in regards to file shortcuts) that are a little vague (although at the time of this writing they may have been clarified and detail added).
Copy isn't as well known as other cloud service providers, so your friends may need to be caught up on its awesomeness. This also means that it isn't as well integrated into apps and programs. I'm hoping time will change this as the service grows.
Inability to easily collaboratively edit the same document by several people. Some advances have been made with Collabora (Libreoffice online) but it is still very sub-par compared to Office365 and desktop/online Office editing Sharepoint or OneDrive documents.
Apps for Calendar and Contacts are not part of the basic core, and although now quite supported they cannot still be easily deployed in common email clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird, separate CalDAV and CardDAV plugins need to be installed. Embedding an email solution and plugins for major email clients so they can work just by entering username and password would be good.
Risk of moving important folders/files to another location just by random drag-and-drop on Windows. Sometimes this breaks public links that cannot be restored anymore. Reverting such mistake by any of the users is impossible automatically.
When some user deletes some data in a shared folder it is put into recycle bin of the owner of the folder. The user who deleted cannot himself/herself revert such action as he/she does not see the recycle bin (trash) of the owner. Also, there is no log in the recycle bin who deleted that file or folder.
It's by far the most reasonably priced storage solution. Microsoft OneDrive has great pricing, but most would agree that this service isn't quite as easy to use as some of the others (I do actually use it, but not for sharing or collaborating). Also, Copy's less stringent file limitations makes it a step above every other service I've tried. And, it's super easy to explain to others how it works and how to use it.
I like the security features and I like the website. It's easy to use and create and move things around as needed. The main reason for a lower rating is because the Box Sync app is just not a good program. It's a memory hog, it's slow, transfer speeds are slow, and it's not the most efficient route. If you have a large Box account and you need to get a computer up to speed on a large amount of data within Box, you are in for the long haul. Last time I had to do this, it took 3 days to sync all of the files and we are talking around 100 GB worth of data
Copy is so easy to use, it's beautiful, and it just works well. Although finding my referral link could be easier, I'm constantly recommending it to others. I love that there are no restrictions on the size of file uploads, making it my favorite place to upload video files that are shot on my phone. I like that I can share files if I want. It's a great service, and I don't think anyone beats the amount of free space you start with.
Everything with Box is seamless. It can be integrated into virtually any other software or application. You can even get the app for your phone or tablet to work on the go. File syncing is so quick. The only reason I gave it a 9 is the issue I discussed earlier about the local file application rebooting and not continuing to sync files. Other than that, it's great!
OwnCloud is easy for me to use, and I believe it would be for others too. The barrier for most people will be the set up. For a technology professional like myself, ownCloud's setup is pretty straightforward, but it's not the sort of thing most casual users will be able to handle. Also, it's on the user to maintain the service. These can be taken care of by paying someone to do it for you.
Yeah, it's always worked, I've never had any kind of connection issues, the only issues I've had it I've been on our end when the Internet hasn't worked.
The general operation and management of Box is very efficient, both when accessing the account, and when adding files, downloading or modifying any document directly. The web platform, mobile and desktop versions work really well and quickly, making all the work and process flow smoothly and without setbacks. So far I have not been able to observe any inconvenience
Compared with other cloud services, ownCloud has been the most efficient. It doesn't create a noticeable drain on resources and very quickly syncs across all my devices. I'm usually able to save a file on my laptop and by the time I walk over and sit down at my desktop machine, it's already there. I don't need to wait as often as I have with services like OneDrive.
I found their support community lacking in clarity when I experienced a login issue. The error messaging was poor on my Box Sync application. I did not reach out to support staff for help, instead, I reasoned that I should try downloading the Box Sync application again and reinstall it. That fixed my issue, thankfully. I think a less computer-savvy user would've been much more frustrated.
Regarding the community edition, there is a reasonably good support on the IRC, forums and in the issue section on Github. Perhaps a much more individual approach would be available if the premium support was chosen and the instance of the server was provided by the Owncloud company that also offers some premium extensions, not available generally. However, we did not need this level of support yet.
The documentation is good. Since Box is a popular service, there were also a number of YouTube videos and other sources that were helpful as we were considering the product and planning for deployment. Also, the ability to try the free version helped to prepare us.
Be careful with settings. It is easy to get overwhelmed with updates. For example, you don’t want to be updated when doing historical data uploads. I recommend taking off notifications initially and then turn on post you have done your historical data upload.
Although Dropbox, SugarSync, and Google Drive are all excellent services (and I still use one or two of them depending on the circumstance - required by business, collaborative document creation, etc.), Copy is probably my favorite. The closest second is SugarSync. What keeps me coming back to Copy (after a long, happy stay with SugarSync) is the pricing and the amount of space you are given for the amount paid (that and my business started blocking SugarSync and Dropbox). Copy has a clean interface, has an equal (or better) user interface and functionality, makes sharing a breeze, and offers a ton of storage for a very reasonable price. And, since I've installed it, I've had zero problems with it getting out of sync or losing files. I'm in love!
They are kind of the same. And both of them do their job as promised. But for company and project wise I think that Box slightly wins for some points. Which [makes him] win over Google Drive (don't forget that Google Drive is very easy to use and has a lot [of] nice features too).
The paid cloud services are expensive if you need a lot of data. You're giving your personal and business information to a data-hungry organization. Local NAS solutions are too slow. We run ownCloud on an older business PC and the performance is outstanding, even for remote access, due to local syncing.
+easier file sharing with my colleagues and students (less stress, more efficient than using flash drives).
+easy access to files I use regularly, whether on my home computer, my phone, or at work, meaning increased productivity.
+fast syncing (and selective syncing) means that I can choose which files to sync to each location, leading to optimized storage management on my hard drives.
+since it's super easy to get lots of free space, the ROI is awesome. Plus, because you start with more free space than other options, you're already one step ahead.
Box has been an only positive experience. It provides a seamless way for me and my team to collaborate on documents in such a way where we're not sending the document back/forth via email. It's a huge timesaver.
Box reduces the risk of sharing a sensitive document to the wrong person via email.
Box has provided a platform where my team can share notes in meetings - this has helped streamline and organize our meetings. Our meetings are more productive and actionable.
