free file transer tool for mac including folders

Sign into Live Mesh with your Windows Live ID, assign your current system a name, and click the Add Device button. Run the installation routine, which adds a small Live Mesh icon to the lower-right portion of your taskbar.

Click the large Add Device button, and download the accompanying Live Mesh software for your system. But before you can look at what’s in your cloud-based storage, you’ll want to add a system or two to synchronize. The Live Desktop screen is where you’ll manage the connections between your PCs and your Microsoft cloud. Click the I Agree button to transfer to the main Live Mesh screen. After logging in via new accounts or by typing your log-in name and password, you’ll jump to the ‘Review and accept agreements’ page for Live Mesh. To use Live Mesh, you must have a Windows Live ID if you don’t have one, create it now. Use this Live Mesh configuration screen to select which PCs should sync with which folders, and whether to drop your files into your cloud storage.To get started with Live Mesh, head over to and click the Sign In link. At this writing, the service is entirely free for download and use. Soon it will support Macs and phones, though these services have not yet been enabled.

This beta tool for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 systems combines Microsoft’s Windows Live Sync utility–a free, direct-synchronization tool–and 5GB of space in a Microsoft-hosted cloud. Windows Live Mesh offers the best of both worlds. And since the available bandwidth between you and your ISP effectively caps your synchronization speed, relying on the cloud may not be a good idea for heavy file transfers. No service provider gives you access to more than a few gigabytes of free storage space for your files. The major downside of the cloud is limited capacity. Computers will sync with your virtual storage space whenever they come online, eliminating the need to keep two or more systems running in order to keep files matched between the two. Anything you upload will exist in its own protected space on the Internet, accessible from any device that you allow into your cloud network. Its primary disadvantages is that you have to run both systems simultaneously to perform the synchronization, which eats up electricity and limits your ability to sync files when you’re on the go.Ĭloud-based synchronization services act as a third-party host for your files. There are two primary ways to synchronize files across PCs, be they desktops, laptops, or a combination of the two: through direct, system-to-system synchronization, or by uploading files to and downloading them from a third-party cloud service.ĭirect synchronization benefits from faster transfer speeds and an unlimited capacity for changed data (because you perform the sync directly across two connected computers on your personal network). With that in mind, we’ll focus on three different types of synchronization: PC to PC, PC to Mac, and PC to mobile device. The underlying synchronization philosophy is the same, but different devices have different foibles that affect your ability to sync them easily. The result is a smooth, seamless (and free) process for ensuring access to the latest versions of much-needed files. Lots of free applications and utilities can ease your multidevice lifestyle by keeping your critical files up-to-date and accessible to all of your deskbound or mobile systems. The solution to this problem of data creep is synchronization. And of course you can’t do anything by phone. In the case of frequently updated files, you have to run back to your host system to copy new material. Sure, you can use removable media to transfer files, but the process is slow, you have to keep the media on hand in order to access files, and the cost of scratching a disc, losing a thumb drive, or dropping a portable hard drive is high. You’d like to watch movies on this system while you work, but they’re stored on a Windows-based computer elsewhere in your apartment. Your cell phone may be the hub of your social life, but that means nothing when you surf the Web on a Mac. You may store your business files on your work computer and your personal files on your home laptop. Live Mesh’s offer of 5GB of free, online space is hard to resist.The hard part is getting the various products to talk to each other. Windows Live Mesh splits the difference between using a peer-to-peer design and supporting cloud-based synchronization for PC-to-PC connections. But working with so many different devices poses some challenges. Every day you probably run your hands across various different keyboards, touchpads, and plastic buttons.

Free file transer tool for mac including folders