Comments on: firefox + dropbox = profile synchronization across machines

By: Hello Everyone « Your daily dose of random

Hello Everyone « Your daily dose of random — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:53:17 +0000

[...] To start off this blog, I will first post about this great site I found used for syncing files, called Dropbox. They give you 2GB storage off the bat and more with referrals or for a monthly fee. Completely cross platform compatible with windows, linux and mac os. This storage space is then synced with your “My Dropbox” folder on any computer you install the software, and instantly when you make changes to that folder the files are updated on the server. I use mine to host my Firefox profile, because I have so many bookmarks they get corrupted via other methods, this way I have all my bookmarks, as well as addons and settings synced across all my computers. A quick tutorial on how to use it to sync Firefox can be found here. [...]

By: Oliver Treend

Oliver Treend — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:00:04 +0000

I have to say, I did try this and it seemed a pretty clever idea. Everything seemed pretty hunky dory, so to speak.

But just now, while working on a pretty important project, I bookmarked about 35 tabs worth of web pages which I need to refer back to tomorrow when continuing with the project. I saved the bookmarks and closed Firefox. Within seconds, a popup appeared and it said “Dropbox has updated files that have changed on other computers”…….. alarm bells started to ring (in my head, not literally )

This seems pretty screwed to be honest. Dropbox for some reason, thought my other computer (which wasn't even turned on) had a newer copy of my Firefox profile, and decided to overwrite the newest copy with an old one…. For $@!*% sake!!! :-@

Now I've lost all my bookmarks, plus the history's been cleared. I'm not happy! :-
I'll definitely be sticking to local profiles from now on…. no more of this syncing bollocks.

By: robzand

robzand — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:52:46 +0000

i haven't tried. sounds like a project for someone

By: l3utterfish

l3utterfish — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:01:14 +0000

amacyng tip!

Is there anyway to do it on firefox portable on usb? I cannot locate profile.ini on Firefox portable.

If it is not possible… Which way should i sync the firefox in my pc with firefox portable in my usb (and keep it syncronized..)?

By: kc79

kc79 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:05:16 +0000

I found a Firefox extension for Dropbox.

Dropfox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/...

By: Grant

Grant — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:47:00 +0000

Thank you for the very informative post! I just followed your instructions and they seem to be working perfectly. Until dropbox allows the ability to monitor any folder, this is a perfect workaround

By: robzand

robzand — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:51:43 +0000

weird things happen when you keep 2 browsers open simultaneously, which, i must admit, i do out of laziness. nonetheless, the quirks are outweighed by the syncrhonization that does occur. to me, this is “good enough software” at its finest

By: NikLP

NikLP — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:35:35 +0000

Well, I'm assuming the issues are because of there being so many files open at once. We have a lot of SQLite files knocking about, and if these open and then changed, this can play nasty with Dropbox. Mostly it annoys me because the drive never looks synced for that very reason, so if you're waiting for a file to sync but can't close your browser for some reason, you'll never know if it's finished.

I might try again with FF3. I would also like to find a way to change the default directory that Google Gears stores its offline files in, so I could encrypt all of this stuff together on the local drive.

By: robzand

robzand — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:45:59 +0000

i have been running ff3 though. maybe – for reasons beyond synchronization – you should upgrade?

By: robzand

robzand — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:43:51 +0000

i'll be the first to admit, this is a “good enough” solution. you will experience some “wonkiness” if you keep multiple browsers open simultaneously (which creates conflicts and prevents some config files from being written). if you want a 100% solution, you might try weave. i've been running like this for 6 months and feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. incidentally, the machines i run this across include 2 xp boxes, including my primary work machine, and i have not experienced the issues you list. good luck.