We’ve reached a point where a lot of us live and work with multiple computers, and often times need to be able access the same files from all of those computers. Unfortunately this tends to involve relying on CD's and flashdrives, or by constantly emailing yourself attachments.

Wouldn't it be helpful if there were a way to automatically synchronize your files?

Enter SugarSync.

SugarSync is an simple to use application that allows file backup and synchronization between devices – even if those devices aren’t on the same network – making it much easier than it used to be to access and update your files.

SugarSync Review

Setup is really easy. Create an online account, download the SugarSync application to each computer you want to backup and/or synchronize and then select the folders you want.

After that, your're pretty much up and running. Depending on your needs, you can set each individual folder to either simply backup online, or synchronize with other computers.

Once you add a file to SugarSync, it is uploaded to your secure account. From there you can access your data from anywhere you have internet access - even without installing SugarSync! SugarSync's web based interface makes it easy to download and share any of your files, wherever you are.

As a user, you can invite friends/family/colleagues to sign up for a free account, and then share one of your folders with them. The files you share can be set as either "editable" or "read only," depending on what your needs are for that particular folder.

Whenever a document is edited on one of the computers or devices connected to your account, SugarSync uploads the new version to your online account, and then destributes it to the other computers as soon as the have an internet connection (or right away if they are already online.

SugarSync has a handy web interface, desktop application and also apps for several mobile clients like BlackBerry, iPhone and others. During the course of this SugarSync review, we'll take a look at each of them.

SugarSync.com and The Desktop Client

SugarSync Review - The Online Interface

Logging into SugarSync.com displays all of the computers on your account, as well as available storage and other items.

By selecting one of your synchronized computers, you have access to all of the files you have set up with SugarSync on that computer. When viewing the files on a particular computer, you can easily download, move or copy anything you need.

Sending files to others is also easy with the online interface. Simply specify the email address you want to send the folder to, and SugarSync will email out a link (valid for 21 days) so your file can be downloaded by whoever you send it to.

Think about how much easier it is to send photos across the contry with a single link, rather than attaching them all to a series of emails.

In addition to your synced computers, you also have the option to select your "Magic Briefcase," your Mobile Photos and your Web Archive.

The SugarSync Magic Briefcase a constantly synchronized folder across all computers. It’s a nice, simple tool for users who don’t want to take the time to manually select folders to sync… all they need to do is drop them into the Briefcase and they are good to go.

Note: Placing files in the Briefcase does NOT copy them, it MOVES them completely.

The Mobile Photos section is pretty self explanatory… these are the pictures that you have taken from your mobile phone, which we’ll discuss a little more later on in our SugarSync review.

The Web Archive is a place to store files that you do not want synchronized with your computer. The Web Archive alows you to save files to your account even if you don't want them synced, so you know you always have a backup.

SugarSync Review - The Desktop Client

The desktop application offers pretty much all the functionality of the web client. When you first open the program you’ll see a list of the files on the computer you are currently viewing, as well as a list to the left containing icons for your Magic Briefcase, Web Archive, etc.

There are also convenient buttons for accessing the photo gallery, your online site and your shared folders. You can also easily send and share files, so the only time you’d really need to work directly with the online interface is when you were away from your personal computer.

Clicking the "Manage Synced Folders" button at the top of the screen will open a window that allows you to add local folders to SugarSync, as well as select folders from other computers to synchronize. Selecting a folder without connecting it to anything on another machine essentially creates an online backup - which is updated as you modify anything. The entire interface is extremely user friendly, but if organizing different folders is more work than you are interested in, you can always just use the Magic Briefcase as described earlier.

SugarSync For BlackBerry

This is where it gets really fun. SugarSync offers several mobile clients including support for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile devices, and Symbian – in addition to the ability to access your online account from pretty much any phone with a web browser.

From the SugarSync application you can do pretty much anything you want. Accessing computers and online files is a breeze, simply navigate to and select the file you need and SugarSync will download it to your phone and cache it for use.

If you have the right software, you can edit files from your phone (usinge "Docs-To-Go" to edit an MS Word document on a BlackBerry for example). Once you finish editing a file, SugarSync notes the change and asks if it should be uploaded.

Uploading files from your mobile device is also usefule. The only drawback (on a BlackBerry, at least) is that there's no option to select multiple files at once for uploading. This makes uploading, let’s say an photo or two that you want to share really quickly a breeze, but beyond that you will probably want to wait to transfer the files to your computer and upload them from there.

One of the real benefits of the mobile application is that if you know in advance that you want the pictures you are taking uploaded, you can fire up the application and select "Take photo," which will launch your BlackBerry’s native camera application and upload any pictures you take from there (please note, only photos taken from within the SugarSync app are automatically uploaded) to you Mobile Photos folder, which is synchronized across all of your computers.

Viewing images from your device is equally simple. Each picture is downloaded and and cached to your phone, and you can scroll through the pictures in a particular folder one at a time. Each picture also has a "High Res" option in case you need to view in greater detail.

SugarSync is also capable of streaming music to your phone as well, so if you synchronize your iTunes library, you’ll be able to access it anywhere, without necessarily having to keep it all on your phone at once.

SugarSync offers several different price options depending on how much storage you need. Each plan includes a 30 day free trial, which is plenty of time to get comfortable with it before making any final decisions.