BitTorrent’s Secure Dropbox Alternative Goes Public

[shamu726]

BitTorrent Inc. has opened up its Sync app to the public today. The new application is free of charge and allows people to securely sync folders to multiple devices using the BitTorrent protocol. Complete control over the storage location of the files and the absence of limits is what sets BitTorrent’s solution apart from traditional cloud based synchronization services.

Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Skydrive and Mega are just a few examples of the many file-storage and backup services that are available today.

All these services rely on external cloud based hosting to back up and store files. This means that you have to trust these companies with your personal and confidential files, and that your storage space is limited.

For those people who want to be in control of their own data there haven’t been many alternatives, but BitTorrent Sync has the potential to trigger a small revolution on this front.

BitTorrent Sync’s functionality is comparable to services such as Dropbox and Skydrive, except for the fact that there’s no cloud involved. Users sync the files between their own computers and no third-party has access to it.

Besides increased security, BitTorrent sync transfers also tend to go a lot faster than competing cloud services. Another advantage is that there are no storage or transfer limits, so users can sync as many files as they want, for free.

Earlier this year BitTorrent started a closed Alpha test with a limited number of users, and today Sync is being released to the public for the first time.

“We’re really excited about opening up this Alpha. The feedback has been universally positive. Those in the closed Alpha have already synced more than 200TB since we started the program,” BitTorrent announces.

Over the past weeks many improvements have been made to the Sync application, prompted by user feedback. Among other things it is now possible to allow one-way synchronization and to exclude files or directories from being shared.

While Sync uses BitTorrent technology, people’s files are not accessible to outsiders. Only those who have the unique private key can access the shared folder.

“All the traffic is encrypted using a private key derived from the shared secret. Your files can be viewed and received only by the people with whom you share your private secret,” BitTorrent explains.

To increase security, the latest Sync version also has the option to let the secret key expire after a day so new devices can’t be added, even if outsiders have the private key.

BitTorrent stresses that Sync is still in Alpha development but tests carried out by TorrentFreak confirm that it works very well. It is an ideal tool for people who want to share large amounts of data between computers without going through third-party services.

The application is also surprisingly easy to configure. There’s no need to create an account and it only takes a few clicks to get going.

The Sync application is available for Windows, OSX, Linux and has the ability run on NAS devices through a web-interface. Readers who are interested in giving it a spin can head over to BitTorrent labs, where the Sync app can be downloaded.

For testing purposes, BitTorrent has set up a shared directory that can be accessed by using the following key: RWC4YD3S723QRVHHHIZWJXPTQMO6GKEQR

Source: TorrentFreak

[DKT27]

BitTorrent Sync creates private, peer-to-peer Dropbox, no cloud required

No size limits, no cloud: Hands-on with BitTorrent's new file syncing software.

BitTorrent today released folder syncing software that replicates files across multiple computers using the same peer-to-peer file sharing technology that powers BitTorrent clients.

The free BitTorrent Sync application is labeled as being in the alpha stage, so it's not necessarily ready for prime-time, but it is publicly available for download and working as advertised on my home network.
BitTorrent, Inc. (yes, there is a legitimate company behind BitTorrent) took to its blog to announce the move from a pre-alpha, private program to the publicly available alpha. Additions since the private alpha include one-way synchronization, one-time secrets for sharing files with a friend or colleague, and the ability to exclude specific files and directories.

BitTorrent Sync provides "unlimited, secure file-syncing," the company said. "You can use it for remote backup. Or, you can use it to transfer large folders of personal media between users and machines; editors and collaborators. It’s simple. It’s free. It’s the awesome power of P2P, applied to file-syncing."

File transfers are encrypted, with private information never being stored on an external server or in the "cloud."

"Since Sync is based on P2P and doesn’t require a pit-stop in the cloud, you can transfer files at the maximum speed supported by your network," BitTorrent said. "BitTorrent Sync is specifically designed to handle large files, so you can sync original, high quality, uncompressed files."

In the pre-alpha testing that began in January, 20,000 users synced more than 200TB of data. BitTorrent Sync clients can be downloaded now for Windows, Macs, Linux desktops, and Linux-based network-attached storage devices. Mobile support will come later.

Setting the client up is easy. No account is required, but a randomly generated (or user-chosen) 21-byte key is needed to sync folders across computers. After installing the application and choosing a folder to sync you'll be given a string of random letters and numbers that should be typed into a second computer to sync the folder:




By default, BitTorrent Sync creates a folder named "BTSync," but you can name it whatever you'd like or choose other folders to sync. As mentioned earlier, you'll enter the secret key on a second computer to allow the two computers to sync:



I dragged a few small files into the sync folder, and they synced across my two computers just about instantaneously. Then I dragged a 3.5GB Windows 8 ISO into one of them, which of course took much longer to sync, completing in just under 10 minutes.

The BitTorrent Sync client provides a view of what your other devices are up to:



It also shows current upload and download speeds, which topped out around 7MBps (far below the actual speed of my network):



The sync application comes with a preferences pane:



Clicking Folders lets you add another folder to sync, while setting up another secret key for the new folder:



Sharing folders with another person can be achieved by right-clicking the folder within the interface pictured above in order to bring up an advanced preferences menu. From there, you can choose whether to give someone full access or read-only access, and generate secret keys for one-time uses.

BitTorrent Sync perhaps doesn't make it quite as easy to share files as cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or SkyDrive do. It's also far from being the first software to sync files across devices without storing them in a cloud service. But it works well so far, and—particularly when it adds mobile capabilities—BitTorrent Sync seems destined to become a worthy addition to the rapidly expanding file sharing market.

View: Original Article

[mazigh]

Great news =)

[DrKash]

Thank you for info ! :)