Transporter Sync Private Cloud

I've just had a Sync for a few weeks, but it's behaving itself very well so far. First, some things you should know up-front (easily spotted in the documentation, but some buyers have complained because they hadn't noticed these items):1) When you connect a USB drive to the Sync, the drive will get reformatted -- so don't connect a drive that's holding material you can't replace.2) Currently, the Sync doesn't support the "Library" function that the full-up Transporter does (but this will come via a firmware upgrade, according to the Drobo/Transporter folks). This means that in the meantime, the Transporter won't act as offline storage, it'll "mirror" a folder that its software sets up on your desktop computer.3) The Sync doesn't really set up "cloud" storage for you -- the data lives in the USB drive attached to the Sync, wherever you put that. If your house burns down, or gets cleaned out by a burglar, the data's gone. If you need the extra security of offsite storage, you'll want to buy a second Transporter or Transporter Sync and host it elsewhere -- these boxes can be set up to mirror each other.4) The Sync connects to an external drive via USB 2.0 (*not* 3.0). This isn't really a limitation since USB 2.0 data rates are as fast as / faster than any hard drive you connect to this -- and most likely, if you're buying one of these for home, USB 2.0 is faster than your home broadband anyway.All that being said, my Sync is performing for me exactly as advertised. Software setup was easy, hardware setup was trivial, all the steps are spelled out for you on the inside of the Sync's packaging.One proviso, though: the Sync advertising states you can connect it to "any USB hard drive." This is literally true, but they don't all work equally well. For starters, you can't connect to a solid state or RAID drive (this is in the documentation). What isn't in the documentation is that some drives / drive enclosures aren't fully supported by the Sync (it's a function of how the enclosure handles data caching, and in the process, how it would handle a sudden power outage). If you're like me and have an older (> 3 years) drive you'd wanted to use, you may need to upgrade to a new drive enclosure for your drive to "play nicely" with the Sync.

Yes, it does what it says it does. It syncs automatically, There are no fees, It's 100% Private, You can access it anywhere, You're always protected and you have unlimited sharing.That being said, here is what I don't like about it.1. You can't just plug a hard drive full of stuff into it and share it. If you plug in a hard drive, it automatically formats it and then sets it up for use, which means the hard drive can then only be used with this device. It will ERASE anything that was already on the drive, so be aware of that!2. You need software to make it work. The software does NOT work with windows 98, XP, or VISTA, so forget it if you have those OS systems. You need Windows 7 or 8. (or apple OS)3. You have to create specific folders that can be shared. You can't just pick a folder and make it sharable. So now you are creating all kinds of new folders and copying stuff into them to share, which eats up a ton of hard drive space. You can't access the drive connected to the device directly. You have to have specific folders that will sync with the connected hard drive. So now you are buying tons of hard drive space for both the computer and the sync drive on the device. So let's say you wanted to have 2 TBs of stuff to share....you need two extra TBs on your computer to make sharable folders with and also the 2TB external drive for the device to sync with.4. If you want to share one file with somebody, you can get a link to it like dropbox does and send the link to your friends. HOWEVER, if you want to share an entire folder with your friends, they have to download software first to have access to it. I have no idea how compatible that software is with older windows formats.5 You still have to set up an account online which means you're still using somebody else's server, not your own. You can't just look at the device and see what's on it. You have to log in to the software or website and access it that way. I guess that's what makes it secure, but what a hassle.

More stupid smart people at Drobo."The Good"Temendous potentialOccasionally works as is"The Bad"Extremely poor design as far as ease of use. Desktop software isn't intuitive at all.You have to install software to download a shared file. That's stupid. How comfortable is someonegoing to be to do that? There's absolutely not technical reason, I believe for this, and certainly not one explained, that I'm aware of. Once again they are invading privacy, this time the privacy of the person with whom your sharing a file. Everytime you want to make changes you have to connect online rather than simply make changes to the local software and Transporter which would get synced if need be. I don't want to worry about my info (name and password) going through your servers.Why do you have to create an account? Get real. Any notion of security with using my own hard drive is destroyed by the fact that you have to create an account. If you want to offer a more secure option to "cloud" based storage then stay out of our business and don't ask for us to create an account where you get our personal info and PASSWORD. Ever hear of "Sony"? Another disaster waiting to happen if you get hacked. As is, I have no way of knowing if Drobo or whomever is on "my" hard drives or not as I've had to create an account and put my password on your site.The android app is a joke, and really convinces me that along with everything else, this is another example of a company run by very stupid smart people. Meaning, there's a lot of smart people that can write code but not very many that can write it for anyone to use easily. This is why Apple is so successful, it works and any idiot can use it. Drobo has a lot to learn as far as this goes.Only one folder option to upload from in Android app. Would it kill you to let us pick more than just the camera folder to sync?They format your hard drive in some sort of proprietary format. Just freaking brilliant..NOT. So my files are on my hard drive but as I see it I'm still dependent on drobo. What happens if Drobo disappears? Will I still be able to use my $165 peice of plastic? How do I get my files that aren't synced on a computer?As there's been a lot of complaints for both the desktop and and android app, and nothing has changed, I can only assume this is going nowhere and the company doesn't care what we think and Drobo will die soon. Pogoplug (an alternative) also had a hardware with your own harddrive option and a lot of potential but also didn't listen to its users and now they're on the verge of colapse from what I've read, which is exactly what should happen to companies that don't listen to its customers IMO.Very disappointed so far, as is everyone, I'm hoping changes that fix mine and other's complaints come but I'm not hopefull. As is, I don't recommend these transporters but I'd keep checking back and checking their site for changes. If they decide to listen this would be the next big thing I believe.Wake up Drobo,

A little slow when connecting from another network. The transporter library function takes a long time to display files. That being said, it really does work like Dropbox. No problems at all with file synchronization and auto uploading of pictures taken on my iPhone is handy as a backup of my camera roll, as I can have all photos from multiple devices on different accounts be backed up to one location.

I have supported the Kickstarter for this product and need a second one for extending my configuration. Like it for it simplicity of configuration and the ease of adding external drive to this Transporter.

外付けHDDが必ず必要です。またそれらは常時電源に繋いでなければなりません。またパソコンにソフトをインストールするのですが重い…。しかもどこのどのファイルをクラウド化しているのかもぉ常時アップロードしている。。。2万円無駄にしました。

この商品はすでに4台知合い等の間で接続し、Dropbox以上に活躍してくれています。今回TransporterSyncは国内終息と言うこともあり、いずれ輸入品で行かねばならなくなると思って今回の出店者さんから購入してみましたが、保証書等がついていなかったので、無保証とは書かれていなかった為と確認いたしましたところ、海外製品につき1年保証が受けられないから安くしていると、ここで初めて手の内を見せられた感じを受けました。消耗品のない製品である為、これでは中古品と変わらぬ感覚と私感的には感じました。で、保証はアマゾンの規定になります。とのことですが、これは確か初期不良の時だけですよね。質問させて頂いたのは1年保証の件で聞いていたはずです。出店時にこの辺は記載しておく必要があると思います。