Someone explains Skydrive and Live Mesh for me

IHAVEAQUESTION

Golden Member
Nov 30, 2005
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Well, I used to know the difference between the two. Live Mesh to synchronize files between devices (and available online), Skydrive to store files (no synchronization). But now MS just released Skydrive app, it does the synchronization just like Live Mesh. So...for someone like me who has been a long time user of Live Mesh, is there a reason why I should still keep it? I just want to make sure I am not missing anything before uninstalling Live Mesh.

:)
 

Chiefcrowe

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2008
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don't think so.. as far as I understand it, the new skydrive is combining functionality of both.

p.s. nice user name!
 

IHAVEAQUESTION

Golden Member
Nov 30, 2005
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Thx! Found this piece of information on Wiki as well:

SkyDrive Microsoft announced on February 20, 2012 that Windows Live Mesh is set to be superseded by a new SkyDrive desktop application, where the cloud storage portion for the application will utilize the full 7 GB SkyDrive storage (or more if the user has purchased additional storage), rather than the limited 5 GB "SkyDrive synced storage" in the current version of Windows Live Mesh. However, the new SkyDrive desktop application will not support direct PC-to-PC synchronization, and must utilize the SkyDrive cloud storage for synchronization between two or more devices.

It's time to uninstall Live Mesh. :)
 

notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
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Don't forget Live Mesh uses LAN-sync though (the last sentence) versus sending everything up and down through the internet like the Skydrive app is currently doing.
 

IHAVEAQUESTION

Golden Member
Nov 30, 2005
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But isn't it better to have everything sent up to the cloud and back down to the devices? This way the cloud has a copy of your files...in case you are on a computer that doesn't have Skydrive app installed and you still want to access the files?

Btw, I can access my Live Mesh folder via web browser anywhere from any computer. So Live Mesh does keep a copy of your files in the cloud as well...or do you mean we can disable it and just have direct LAN-sync?
 

notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
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I think what it does it sync to the cloud, but then (like Dropbox) it can smartly sync another household computer from the other local machines.

Machine A: add file 1.
Uploads to cloud.
Machine B: see's file 1 needs to be added, gets it locally. Thus saving the bandwidth associated with downloading from internet.

Right now the Skydrive app will sync to cloud, but Machine B will download it from the cloud as well.
edit: now the ability to see any files on your linked Skydrive machines (even removable storage) remotely through a browser is pretty bad ass.
 

IHAVEAQUESTION

Golden Member
Nov 30, 2005
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Yeah, the access to your linked skydrive machines is pretty bad ass. My other puter is a Mac and it has "Back to my Mac" feature. Not sure if they do the same thing, but I all these cloud solutions are starting to make NAS a bit obsolete.
 

wirednuts

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Jan 26, 2007
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nas is nowhere near obsolete yet. when you can get a few terabytes of cloud storage for $10 a month, then yea... but thats a decade away

right now, a good low power draw nas thats equipped with redundancy , along with vpn or some way to access those files over the net, is the best bet.

i do use cloud storage for securing important documents though... its pretty foolproof if you use something like dropbox as it lets you go back to previous versions and such.
 
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notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
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nas is nowhere near obsolete yet. when you can get a few terabytes of cloud storage for $10 a month, then yea... but thats a decade away

right now, a good low power draw nas thats equipped with redundancy , along with vpn or some way to access those files over the net, is the best bet.

i do use cloud storage for securing important documents though... its pretty foolproof if you use something like dropbox as it lets you go back to previous versions and such.

Definitely not obsolete when you consider what ISP's in general are doing to push technology forward. Their idea of a good time would be dialup speeds and rates 3x what we have today. Plus overages...you went over your 640K allotment! $100!