Got Mac OS X Lion? You’ve got AirDrop. It’s a quick and easy way to send files to another Mac near your Mac. There’s just one problem. AirDrop is new and only works on the newest Macs. If you have Macs scattered around your home or office, there’s an easier way to send files back and forth. It’s free, too.
DropCopy vs. AirDrop
DropCopy is a sleeper app. It just works. Not many Mac users know about DropCopy. What it does is shamefully simple. Think drag and drop of files and folders to various Macs on your network. DropCopy doesn’t care if they’re the latest Lion-equipped Macs, or sport the latest Wi-Fi.
There are no dialog boxes, no passwords, no confirmations, no nothing but drag and drop. Set up DropCopy on each Mac on your network (free for up to three Macs). DropCopy will find the other Macs and set up a drop zone; a small translucent circle about the size of an icon in the Dock.
Setup is straightforward, though options abound.
After that, it’s just drag a file to the translucent circle and drop. If you have three or more Macs connected and using DropCopy, a pop up will direct your drop to the correct Mac on the network.
DropCopy is available in the Mac App Store. The basic app is free. The Pro app, which works on four or more Macs and has other options is a paltry $4.99. Is it better than AirDrop, which is part of Lion? Setup is more complex, but that means more options, and it works on older, non-Lionized Macs, too.
Caveats? Beyond the drag and drop, DropCopy gets a little complicated but the results are worthy. You can connect and drop files to remote locations via SFTP. My favorite is copy and paste. Copy text on one Mac and send it to DropCopy and the clipboard on another Mac. Even send messages back and forth between Macs.
It may not be quite as easy to set up as Apple’s AirDrop on Lion, but the functionality makes it worthwhile.