Comments on “Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox”

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-07-19T10:48:14-04:00

op –

It can be a little verbose, but I’ve never found it to be problematic. Dropbox handles things just fine.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-07-18T14:47:00-04:00

My places.sql bookmarks file is currently 22MB, will this generate too much traffic to dropbox?

I read from above that FF seems to change places.sql file every 10 seconds, requiring a complete upload of that file to server?

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-07-10T07:29:36-04:00

This is Great. Currently i’ve been syncing my whole profile on my home pc. And i have portable firefox with the profile synced up to the portable dropbox on my usb drive. But its really choppy cause my dropbox is always updating which uses a lot of resources on a usb drive and cause all the programs running off the usb drive to bog right down. With this fix it might alleviate some of my syncing stress. Something that has been an issue for me is that every time i plug into a new comp i have to update all my add-ons? Any ideas on why that is?

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-07-06T17:36:08-04:00

Hmm, well I just sync the whole Mozilla folder and use this AutoHotKey script to automatically close Firefox after 15 minutes of computer inactivity, although I only use Firefox on Windows.




#Persistent
#InstallKeybdHook
#InstallMouseHook

InactivityPeriodMins=15

SetTimer,CheckPeriod,1000

Return

	CheckPeriod:

If (A_TimeIdlePhysical >= InactivityPeriodMins*60*1000)

{
	SetTitleMatchMode 2
	GroupAdd, Firefox, Firefox
	WinKill, ahk_group Firefox

}

Return

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-06-12T19:34:33-04:00

Unfortunately, I do not. I’m also cross-platform (Mac, Win, Linux) and ended up switching to LastPass from 1Password for that reason. 1Password was great, but I needed a more available solution. Before I switched, I had the same problem you’re having, but never found a solution.

I wish I could be more help.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-06-12T17:49:43-04:00

Been using this for a few weeks now on two macs and a Windows machine. Unfortunately every time I start Firefox on Windows, it deletes the 1Password extension – presumably because it’s mac only. However, I need that desperately, so I have to reinstall it every time I use a mac after using windows…
Any suggestions?

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-06-12T14:58:16-04:00

Take another look at XMarks (Formerly Foxmarks). Until recently I was completely resistant to the idea of syncing my bookmarks into the cloud. Until I found out that it supports the use of a “Custom Server”. So you can use your own FTP or WebDAV (via https even) server to do the synchronization with. Which is much more palatable to us security minded individuals (read: paranoid).

Not to say that I dont want to continue syncing my forms, passwords, and extensions… I will however be moving the bookmarks out of the dropbox folder and back into the default profile.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-05-12T09:35:57-04:00

Yeah, I notice a similar level of chatter if I have FF open on multiple machines. It doesn’t eat Dropbox space (as far as I can tell) because it’s the same file, nor should there be a bandwidth issue unless it’s a huge file, but it’s definitely annoying.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-05-11T01:06:39-04:00

This works fairly well. But places.sqlite is still being synchronized almost constantly (about every 10 seconds, I guess everytime I visit another page). This seems like too much to me. I get the impression that it will eat up my bandwidth and dropbox space. For now I think I’ll just synch the other things.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-04-21T07:11:37-04:00

Once the technique is fully refined, wouldn’t it be great to package it into a Firefox extension? Is there anyone here who would know how to do that??

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-04-13T22:48:22-04:00

thank you for the guide. I have extensions and greasemonkey scripts syncing using dropbox. just fyi for windows vista and win 7 users.. the mklink command works wonders.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-03-04T00:12:37-04:00

@gollyjer:

As far as I know, Dropbox doesn’t do delta syncing. I may take a look at powerfolder, though. That sounds interesting.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-03-02T19:40:48-04:00

Does dropbox do delta syncing yet? I switched to powerfolder (which does delta syncing) 5-6 months ago. My entire FirefoxPortable folder is syncing with significantly reduced chatter as places.sqlite is really the only file that changes drastically between runs.

As far as your problem with accidentally leaving firefox in one location, thus causing issues when opening in another location… Can’t someone write an addon that let’s you set a timer that closes firefox if left unattended for more than x minutes already?

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-02-05T12:49:06-04:00

That’s outstanding, Markus. Thanks for the additional information. I didn’t know about the fsutil hardlink command.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-02-05T09:33:17-04:00

Thanks for the answer. I tried this all out now: it doesn’t work with shortcuts. One has to make hardlinks. On the commandline: fsutil hardlink create c:\link.file c:\original.file
It will look like two files, but they point to the same file.

By the way: I synchronize these files to have all passwords and form-entries and cookies synced:
cert8.db / cookies.sqlite / formhistory.sqlite / key3.db / permissions.sqlite / places.sqlite / secmod.db / signons3.txt

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-02-04T07:25:18-04:00

A symbolic link (to a file) is, in the Windows world, a shortcut. That will work for files, but I don’t believe it will work for directories. If you have Cygwin installed you can create symlinks for any directories, but otherwise I guess you’d have to create a shortcut to each file involved.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2009-02-04T03:41:56-04:00

I will try this too. thanks for the idea! On windows: how can I create symbolic links?

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2008-12-17T17:30:11-04:00

It’s working better with just bookmarks and extensions being synchronized. Sync’ing everything was just too much. There was way too much activity unless you can somehow be sure that only one instance is open at a time. Full duplex action is just too chatty and created a lot of conflicts for me.

Redux: Synchronizing Firefox Through Dropbox

2008-12-16T16:33:21-04:00

Dropbox + Firefox synchronization = hot topic these days – keep us posted on your results- at this time I’m lazy to set everything up, but maybe eventually I’ll give your solution a try