DropCopy - Drag-n-drop local network transfers
Oct 24, '06 07:30:06AM
Contributed by: robg
The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 8 out of 10]
This handy little application, which Macworld's Dan Frakes looked at back in 2004, is great for moving files and folders quickly between machines on a local network. DropCopy puts a small mostly-transparent circle on your desktop (along with an optional dock icon and menubar icon). Run a copy of DropCopy on each of your machines, drag a file over the circle on one machine, and the names of the other local machines will then pop-up right next to the drag zone. Continue dragging onto the destination machine of choice, and the file is transferred.
You control the notifications and warnings, as well as the destination location and other related preferences. You can even change the drag zone image (and sounds) by simply replacing a few files within the application package. Also, if you control-click on the drag circle and choose a machine, you can send a quick pop-up message to the chosen machine (and the recipient will have the option to reply).
I've been using DropCopy now for a couple weeks, and find it more convenient than keeping aliases to each of the other machines. With DropCopy, I just start a drag, hit F11 to clear the screen, drag into the DropCopy circle, choose a machine, and off goes the file -- I have its preferences set to never ask for confirmation, so it all happens dialog-free.
DropCopy isn't perfect -- the program won't copy resource forks by default, for instance. It can do so, but you'll need to remember to hold down the Option key before dragging. Also, DropCopy sends folders by first creating an archive of that folder. When you transfer a relatively large folder, you'll experience a delay as your host Mac first creates the archive (you can see this in the status window below the drag zone), then sends the archive. On the receiving end, however, the archive is automatically expanded, so it's seamless for the user. Finally, I think DropCopy needs an in-between price point ($10 or $15) to cover those with more than three Macs, but not enough to qualify as a large network. For while I find the tool useful, I wouldn't fork over $25 if I needed it to cover all four of our Macs (I rarely transfer anything from our older PowerBook, so I don't run it there).
There are other tools that handle network transfers, of course, and it's quite simple to build your own system of aliases and hotkeys that would work nearly as well as DropCopy. I just like how well DropCopy works, and find its drag-and-drop interface elegant and easy to use.
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