Box vs. Dropbox vs. Oracle VirtualBox

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

Let me describe a scenario that happened recently in our organization's marketing team storing thousands of images videos and pdfs and Dropbox is done a great perfomer in this situation by the product features which is very helpful for the team, such as smart sync reduces disc usage, preview support for many media formats & Integrate with Adobe Creative Cloud.

Incentivized

It is best suited when you want to have different operating systems on your laptop or desktop. You can easily switch between operating systems without the need to uninstall one. In another scenario, if you expect some application to damage your device, it would be best to run the application on the VM such that the damage can only be done to the virtual machine. It is less appropriate when time synchronization is very important. At times the VMs run their own times differently from the host time and this may cause some losses if what you doing is critical. Another important thing to take note of is the licensing of the application you want to run your VM. Some licenses do not allow the applications to be run on virtual servers so it is not appropriate to use the VM at this time.

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• 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.

Incentivized

• I can share projects I need feedback on.
• I can make projects available to editors so that they can do their work.
• Dropbox is a place where I can store files that I can access from anywhere, even if I don't have my laptop with me at the time.
• I have an old friend who is an acting professor in Tokyo. He loves the dialogue that I write in my novels. He converts chapters into scenework for his acting students. They get very excited when there's new material!

• It is simple to install - there is no advanced knowledge required to begin building virtual computers
• It is easy to use - adding new virtual machines is simple with wizard-based deployment
• It enables easy portability - moving virtual machines from one host to another is straight-forward and simple
• It is free

Incentivized

• The graphic design of the dashboard should be simpler and more tangible that can be changed to the liking of the Admin.
• Sometimes there are some syncing issues in the background.
• The product has very limited functionality in some areas which could be a bit frustrating at times.

Incentivized

• I’d like to be able to hover over an image/document and have it expand/enlarge without actually opening it
• I’d love to see a carousel that lets me thumb through more quickly
• I’m almost always in thumbnail view. I’d like to see them re-organize automatically when something is moved or deleted instead of leaving an empty space.
• AI options for photo editing.
• Easier pdf markups

• I have had issues in the past when it has come to resizing VM disk storage. The issue is entirely detailed here: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/9103 -- the problem was caused because of having existing snapshots (which error message output was not detailing). I haven't had to deal with the issue due to my dynamic disk sizes not being small from the start anymore (this is mostly an issue for my Windows VMs where the base disk may need significant size for the OS). It looks like, for a resize, that a merge of all snapshots has to occur first -- one user on that list details a workaround to maintain snapshots by cloning the VM. (Note: 5.2 was just released a few weeks ago, and looks like it should prevent the problem happening in the future by properly informing users that it isn't possible with snapshots).
• Certain scenarios, like resizing disks, required dropping into a terminal as there were no options to previously do so via the GUI. According to some recent posts, I've seen that v5.2 has added disk management stuff like that to the GUI (or will be adding it). I'm comfortable with dropping into the terminal, but in a teaching scenario or when evaluating the learnability of the tools, it complicates things.

Incentivized

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

Dropbox is a user-friendly, easy tool which requires little to no skill and they offer a free version with a good amount of storage available. There are other file sharing tools available however at a cost. Dropbox free version I have used for years and it serves every purpose I need.

I give this rating because virtual box is inexpensive but there is another product such as vm ware that can also be used

Incentivized

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!

Incentivized

It works extremely well, and we have never had any issues with connecting or sharing files. It's very easy to use, and any team member can share, add, and delete files to a virtual drive. This is extremely helpful, and it's an amazing tool to use, ensuring everyone can connect and work together effectively.

I love using the Graphical User Interface. The VirtualBox Manager is very easy to understand and use. You can quickly create, configure and manage all your virtual machines in one window. It makes operating virtual machines easy and simple. When using VBoxManage it gives the user comprehensive control over VirtualBox so that you can use automation and scripting at the command-line interface

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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.

Incentivized

I really recommend the product for the Dropbox availability is a great having very very less downtimes, they errors are less I have been faced yet, due to connectivity sometimes we are getting errors. Only sometimes the limitations of some features show some errors.

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Dependency on the Host OS means it is as reliable as it is possible to be. Application errors are beyond the purview of the application.

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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

Incentivized

Dropbox is really useful, you can access any file from anywhere and you can upload and even edit files online, but, sometimes it can be slow. Downloading, uploading, and syncing is a bit slow, it can take several minutes. Furthermore, the search engine for large amounts of data can be slow too and it is not powerful.

No issues, especially with the extensions addons.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

They immediately responded like in an example that I gave where one of our staff members accidentally deleted the whole Special Hope Network Dropbox, we immediately contacted Dropbox they walked us through the steps of how to retrieve the information and luckily enough we were able to retrieve the entire Dropbox and we have had back and forth with Dropbox on what to do when an employee leaves how to remove them how to add another employee.

Oracle have a very fast response rate and a strong user community. One can geet help from many sources if they choose to research for themselves.

Incentivized

The in person training was done in house and I helped with the training, people seem to respond well.

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The person for corporate product dealing and knowledge of the product explore and better and secure use are properly handover to us. Also provide full software and tool training from the basic to the pro level with each and every possible explanation. Provide many sessions regarding every doubt. Also Guide better suitable options for our business to migrate and integrate for the expansion in all places employee smoothly.

Incentivized

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.

I did not personally take any training for Dropbox so I am self taught but I know when our Vice President selected Dropbox, he personally did do some training modules on it and I'm assuming it was very easy and simple to understand since he now acts like he is a pro at it!

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.

I needed to stay current in improving my daily operations. Dropbox
was suggested to me by a former colleague two-years ago and I've been using it just fine ever since.

We really enjoy using virtual box. We do not require to buy expensive hardware but instead we can minimize costs and maximize profits.

Incentivized

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).

I prefer the layout and visual aspect of Dropbox as it mirrors my files on my computer. I feel that I am more organized, and it's easier to find my files in Dropbox than it was with Google Drive.

VirutalBox is very similar to using Vmware with the slight difference in appearance and what might be considered a less polished look. However, what it lacks in polish and looks it makes up for in functionality, easy of use and the wide range of operating systems and features it supports without the need of buying the full professional edition

Incentivized

I would recommend to this product directly to the sales team of Dropbox for the best deal provide to my referred person and provide the best service to them.

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It's great, as we put more files on there it's done very well.

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It's easy to integrate with the systems of Windows and Linux, easy to have web versions accessible, which provide the web login credentials. Also, it can be installed for individuals for the best autosync features.

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The only problem I have found is that the deployment is dependent and intrinsically linked to the Host OS. This is different from bare metal solutions which remove that dependency on a Host OS. The latter is more reliable and removes a layer of potential failure.

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Their services are highly rated for moving massive, complex data sets from legacy on-premise servers to the cloud with minimal downtime.

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• 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.

Incentivized

• When it works (usually if a client already has Dropbox, so they don't get the solicitation to sign up), it works flawlessly.
• I've had multiple clients not see the "continue with download only" at the bottom and email me to resend the media another way because they don't have a Dropbox account.

• Minimal-to-no support needed from the DevOps team.
• Provides a direct and an easy way to access multiple VMs inside the same machines which enables performing various testing and QA tasks without the need to switch hardware.
• Automatic provisioning using tools (esp. Vagrant) which enables developing a base image once, and allows for exporting/importing anywhere across the developers team.
• Very cost-effective (no fees or monthly subscriptions).

Incentivized