Q.1) That's the only download that's on offer - anyone know the situation?
I'm still back as version 2.10a the latest is 2.60a - if I update will I have to pay this monthly fee?-tomos
If you paid for the lifetime license you can upgrade normally (from everything I've seen) without being charged. The $20 lifetime license w/ $1 per month optional subscription (for web access, block level updates, and resume) is still available go to:
https://jungledisk.com/secure/signup/JungleDiskPurchase.aspx and click "also available" which takes you here:
https://jungledisk.com/secure/signup/JungleDiskLifetime.aspxThey claim the change is because users felt $20 up front was too much, but I have a feeling they're looking at it and feel it would be more profitable as a service with monthly charges.
They say it does "Block-level file updates: upload only changed portions of files"
Q.2) this sounds like synching as opposed to what dropbox offers (which is the option to go back to previous versions). Does anyone know it or use it and can say?-tomos
This isn't a type of versioning (though I believe JungleDisk offers that too). This is more for dealing with large files where only small changes have been made. For instance, take an audio file and just change the tags. With block-level updates, they only upload the part of the file that has changed instead of the entire file, so a few KB instead of MB. It's intended to make syncing quicker and reduce the amount of data transferred.
Q.3) anyone know anything about "Rackspace Cloud Files" [well it looks like Rackspace bought JD last year] and how to change to it (if worthwhile) if you already have an S3 account ?
You have to re-upload stuff but I cant find how in the JD GUI or in the forums (keep getting offered hundreds of threads no matter how I try to narrow search) and when I look for more info in the official website I get offered the dreaded series of videos - I presume I'll have to upgrade which leads me back to Q.1 above ;)-tomos
Rackspace did buy them, but they claim they won't discontinue Amazon S3 access anytime soon. The advantage seems to be they don't charge you for the transferring just the space used, and from what I've read they seem as good as Amazon S3. I don't have any experience with Rackspace, so I'm not sure if it's worthwhile to switch or not.
I do recall reading that you'd have to mount both clouds and transfer the data from one to the other yourself, but that JungleDisk is planning to offer a service or the functionality to make this easier sometime in the future. So for now you'd have to transfer each bucket separately, and it seems like it could be a real pain.
I don't believe you'd actually have to upgrade your license unless you want support for web access, block-level updates, and resuming transfers. As you already have a license though you should be able to just add those services for $1 / month, which I believe you do by logging into My Account on their website.
Hope that helps!