Copy vs Dropbox UPDATED: iOS and Linux

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UPDATE: Linux Install.

Installing Copy on Linux was pretty easy. You go to the web page, download a tarball, upack it, then inside the tarball figure out the folder that matches your OS (i.e., 32 vs 64 bit) and go into that folder. Then run the Agent. That may, if you are good, put a thingie on your notification area. Click on that and then sign in and install and stuff, that’s it.

There are two pages you might find useful, one for Ubuntu the other for Copy more generally if needed.

Notably, the install on Linux was easier for Copy than for Dropbox. Dropbox install LOOKS easy but never goes as planned, in my (extensive) experience with it.

Copy is a new cloud storage service that may be a serious competitor to Drobbox. I just installed it and I like it.

Dropbox gives 2 Gigabytes for free, 100 Gigabytes for 9.99 a month, 200 Gigabytes for 19.99 a month, and 500 Gigabytes for 49.99 a month.

Copy gives 15 Gigabytes for free, 250 Gigabytes for $10.00 a month, and 500 Gigabytes for 15.00 a month (cheaper if you pay by the year).

I know for a fact that Dropbox works well with Linux and Mac and I assume Windows. Copy claims to be compatible and well integrated with all of these system. I’ve not thoroughly tested Copy yet, but they do seem to work differently.

To make Copy work on my Mac, I installed the app from the menu by downloading the image file and doing the drag and drop thingie. I then ran the application and after a few short steps I had a new folder on my computer called “Copy.” It was place within my home directory, though I had the option of using a different folder. The installation program conveniently (or obnoxiously depending on how well you keep your lawn trimmed) placed a short cut on the shortcut bar in “finder.”

At a couple of times during the process of signing up and installing I was given the option to just move everything from my computer, or from “another cloud storage device” to Copy, which I chose not to do because that would have certainly involved upgrading to a paid account; I wanted to try this out with the free storage first, though I’m not adverse to buying storage if I need it, especially at rates so much lower than Dropbox.

The first thing I did was to attempt to drag and drop a folder that has several files in it into Copy. The folder held a handful of subdirectories, several hundred files, and was in all about 1.2 gigabytes in size. Within a few seconds upload started. Seemed to be about on par with Dropbox, but I did not take any measurements for comparison. Copy allows local syncing, which of course I’ve not tested yet.

It is difficult to recommend for or against Copy until it has been out a while longer, but at the moment it seems to be essentially the same as Dropbox but cheaper. Will Dropbox lower its price? Will Copy be amazing like Dropbox is? Will this work just as well on my Linux machine?

Tune in next week for another installment of …. “Copy vs. Drobox”


UPDATE: I’ve installed the iPad app. Installed cleanly, much crisper, easier to use, better laid out than Dropbox, a total win. And it functions fine.

Tomorrow PM I plan to install Copy on my Linux laptop. Later in the week, on the Linux workstation.

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41 thoughts on “Copy vs Dropbox UPDATED: iOS and Linux

  1. I moved everything from UbuntuOne to Copy. I used a service at mover.io and the nice part is that in order to move them I didn’t need to download the files to my pc and then over to Copy. They went from server to server, which was quite speedy.

    I downloaded the client for Copy and installed it, but it is not launching in Mint. The browser interface works pretty well, but I do want to sync files, so I will have to figure this out.

  2. Why risk a security breach on a cloud system, and pay a monthly fee, when storage is so cheap? Buy a couple of Terabyte external drives, and clone your PC’s hard drive files (not software, of course) to both drives. Now you have three identical copies and no monthly fee and no security concerns.

  3. Because I want an off site backup and syncing between sites done for me instead of me messing with it and access to the files from any machine anywhere any time. I actually do have a couple of TB external drives with the backups. That addressees a different set of issues.

    They are still a security concern, of course.

  4. Dropbox has thrown a ton of storage at me because I’m a student, but what the hell, I’ll still give Copy a try. Toss me a referral.

  5. No mention of other features aside from the backup. Sharing? Screenshot integration? Public folders? Web UI?

    1. I’m still messing with it. There is sharing, and there is also a whole different kind of sharing; you can get together with other people and share an account and the cost is split by how much each person uses, proportionately.

      I’m not sure what to say about a web interface at this point; reading other reviews of Dropbox and other systems, I think this is a very mixed bag. In my opinion, web interfaces of filesystems are by definition broken, I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t. So it may be hard for me to contribute to that discussion.

      Don’t know abut screenshot integration.

      In any event, I’ll be testing out the Linux version of the software, and at that point I’ll be able to see how well syncing works across machines (i.e. will it make use of the local network, etc.). I’ll be either updating this post or writing a new one.

      I have family obligations today so I won’t get to it immediately. Something about a large rabbit laying eggs everywhere, not sure what that’s all about….

  6. I’ve tried it out on Linux, specifically the “headless” version. Copy works, no argument there, but it’s not as easy to use on the command line as Dropbox is. Dropbox has start/stop commands that work out of the box but you have to kind of hand-craft these for Copy. Copy’s versions are more on an admin level of user interface.

  7. Hey Greg,
    you ought to give MEGA a try: https://mega.co.nz
    MEGA gives you 50 GB of end-to-end encrypted storage space in the cloud. For free! Accessible through any web browser, on any OS. Solid apps for mobile OSs. Also free.
    Best of all: MEGA is outside of US jurisdiction and NSA snooping. Unlike Dropbox, Copy, and a lot of other cloud hosters.

    1. Johnny, interesting but I don’t think I want to store my files in the complete opposite side of the world, but maybe one backup copy there just in case.

  8. “interesting but I don’t think I want to store my files in the complete opposite side of the world”

    Huh? How is that different to you from storing them next door?

  9. I use google drive for the bulk of these purposes typically, and they just lowered the price on additional storage. That said, if you manage properly, you get get hundreds of gigabytes for free by combining gdrive, dropbox, box, sugarsync, microsoft one drive, amazon etc. Takes a bit fo work to keep things safe, but worth considering for the cost conscious.

  10. “I assume the process is slower and the possibility of interruptions is greater”

    Even if true (which I don’t think it is) that never stopped you before from using websites on the other side of the planet, did it? So why would it in this case?

    “(Of course, for all I know, Copy.com is in New Zealand.)”

    I couldn’t find confirmation of that. However, Mega (https://mega.co.nz) IS located in New Zealand. AND Mega offers more than 3 times as much storage space for free as Copy.com does. AND all your stuff is end-to-end encrypted with Mega. It is NOT with Copy.com.

  11. I am using Dropbox many years and I love it.
    I tried many cloud storage but I feel no one close to
    Dropbox. First time I feel a cloud service named “Copy”same like Dropbox But 20Gb space. Means ten times more than Dropbox and Better, faster than Dropbox.

    Copy is the best. I am extremely happy using Copy.
    You can download from this link :

    https://copy.com?r=LMDyx2

  12. Guys, Copy is excellent and cheaper than Dropbox. Copy is the new Dropbox now. I use both currently, but Copy offers you more space for free than Dropbox. Both are good and both come with the desktop client to sync your files to their cloud servers.
    Check it out and use this link to sign up for Copy to get 20GB free instead of the regular 15GB

    https://copy.com?r=DFygGq

  13. I’m learning that one problem with Google Drive is this: For data that exist in “packages” …. these are sets of files that look to an operating system like separate files but that look to a particular piece of software like a single “project” or file … it is essential that cloud services don’t mess with the files while they are being worked on. Software can “lock” files to prevent this, but Google Drive ignores “locking” and thus causes havoc with certain data.

    I believe Dropbox is good at this, and I suspect Copy is too, but I’ve not determined that for certain yet.

  14. Guys, COPY is unfortunately shyte. I have tested it thoroughly and it suffers from consistent Time Out issues and very unreliable slow uploading. Just to show I am not the only one please go to the COPY forum on the link below and see for yourself, the thread was started over 1 year ago and still today there are people complaining abut the very same thing with very poor to no support at all.

    https://copy.zendesk.com/entries/24998906-Copy-s-upload-VERY-slow

    I did a test last night and dropped my work folder into the COPY desktop account, it has many folders inside it and the size is about 6.7Gig. I left the laptop on and went to sleep, today excited I went to check the progress and it showed me that COPY stopped copying after 50mb ‘Time Out Error’

    DropBox has NEVER ever done this EVER!

    I was testing the new awesome MEGA service also which gives 50Gig free to start with, its really awesome but I preferred COPY as it was the closest in features to DropBox, however its painfully slow as you can read from their very own thread and 12 months later nothing has changed. I did a test with a single zip file 35mb, it took the same time about 5:30min on MEGA, COPY and DropBox was actually about 1 minute longer my connection is not a fast upload.

    I think if you have single files then upload them to Google Drive or MEGA, but if you have folder structures and depend on perfect accuracy then there is nothing better than DropBox I’m afraid. I mean I didn’t really want to spend $100p/yr on dropbox but after seeing the unreliability of the other providers, well, what price do you out on a peace of mind?

    I just want stuff to work, also thought that Google Drive offered unbelievable service, I have 130gig with them for just under $2 per month, however if you have lots of folders with subdirectories and want to work on files stored in those folders GDrive might not be the best option, also seems slow to upload such a folder structure.

    So for me, as I literally keep my current work folders inside DropBox and work on them, and need this synced to my Laptop and Work computer I will continue to use DropBox for that.

    As soon as the project is finished I then make a zip and upload as a single file to Google Drive or MEGA from where I can send a download link to the client as well as leave as backup.

    Long live DropBox! COPY is just not worth the hair on my head.

  15. I’m currently running into a problem with Copy – it won’t sync my files to my iPhone 5S. Started out using Dropbox, switched most of my data over to Copy last year. Copy syncs well with my home / work computer (both OSX), but I can’t get it to update the files on my phone. Not sure if it’s an IOS 8 app problem or something more troubling. I may switch everything back to Dropbox and pay the $10/month for the sake of my sanity. Is anyone else having this problem with Copy?

    1. Both dropbox and copy can have problems when there is an OS change. Dropbox on iOS Yosemite had a problem (working with Finder), for example. Is your app for copy totally up to date?

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