Windows Live Sync vs. Live Mesh vs. SkyDrive: Which is
Right for You?
I found a pretty short and useful article about this
three tools, that sometimes they overlaps and it is not
clear which to use when.The full article is published here: http://www.labnol.org/internet/compare-windows-live-sync-mesh-and-skydrive/6166/Following, a transcription of it:Windows Live Sync vs. Live Mesh vs. SkyDrive: Which
is Right for You?Written by Amit Agarwal on December 20, 2008 Text Size
The new Windows Live suite includes three different
services for file storage and online synchronization. They
are called
Live Mesh, Windows Live Sync and Windows Live SkyDrive
- all apps are available for free and you just need a
Windows Live account to get started.
Windows Live SkyDriveWindows Live SkyDrive
is an
online file storage
service similar to Box.net. You can manually upload
documents, pictures and other files to Windows Live
servers via the browser and your uploads will remain
accessible from any other computer or web-enabled mobile
phone. Windows Live SkyDrive requires no installation and you
get 25 GB of free storage space though the maximum size
of an individual file / document cannot exceed 50 MB.
Each file or folder on SkyDrive has a unique Web address
(URL), so you can easily paste that link into email
messages or other documents for direct access.
Windows Live Sync
Windows Live Sync, formerly known as
FolderShare, is a desktop app + web service that lets you sync
files and folders across different computers. You can
synchronize up to 20 folders containing up to 20,000
files each. Individual files cannot be larger than 4 GB
in size.Say you have music files stored in your home computer’s
hard disk and want to access this collection from the
Office computer. Simply install Windows Live Sync of
both the computers and add "my music" folder to your
"personal folders" - now your entire music collection
will be accessible from either of these computers.Windows Live Sync also lets you remotely access your
files on the hard drive from any other computer via the
browser without setting up synchronization. This is
handy in situations like where you have to download a
presentation from your work computer that’s saved on the
desktop - just browse to the desktop folder via Live
Sync website and download the file.Other than online synchronization, Windows Live Sync
also lets invite family members and colleagues (as
readers, contributors or owners) to access certain
folders on your computer though they will have to
install the Live Sync software for this.Windows Live Mesh
Live Mesh includes everything that Windows Live Sync
has to offer plus two extra features - cloud storage and
remote desktop (with support for copy-paste).You first need to download the Live Mesh software and
then select folders / files that you want to sync with
other computers. The process is almost the same as Live
Sync but here you can add folders for synchronization
from Windows Explorer itself (right click any folder and
click "Add Folder to Live Mesh") while Live Sync only
offers a web interface to explorer.When you add any folder to Live Mesh for
synchronization, a copy of that folder gets stored
online so you will always have access to your files even
if the main computer is offline. This service is known
as Live Desktop and offers 5 GB of online storage
space.Another important difference between Live Mesh and
Windows Live Sync is Live Remote Desktop - Live Mesh
lets you completely control the remote desktop just like
other screen sharing application. You can even copy
files and folders from the remote desktop to your local
desktop through simple copy paste - copying folders
manually is not possible in Windows Live Sync.
Both Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync offer clients for
Windows and Mac but you may also install Live Mesh on
mobile phones running Windows Mobile 6.1 or later.
Which Live Service is right for me?
As expected, each of these Live services do have some
overlapping features. Live Skydrive is for online storage,
Live Sync is primarily for folder synchronization across
computers (no storage) while Live Mesh offers a good mix
of both though with limited storage space(5GB). Therefore
my suggestion would be to go with SkyDrive as well as Live
Mesh - you’ll get plenty of storage space plus remote
desktop plus you can access important files from any other
computer.