Ammended notes on Dropbox and iCam

[Zarkov]

I corrected this in the original thread, and am posting it here again since many people read new items.  Basically, this works very well, but one must not change the name of the alias of the iCam data in the Dropbox.

I want to occasionally use iCam as a simple security system.  I was concerned that in the event that someone broke into my house, one of the first things they'd go for was my computer.  So, other than anything I was able to snap of the iCam data stream on my iPhone (assuming I acted on a push alert), the record of the burglary would be gone.  I wanted some way to backup the data stream other than on the machine running iCam Source, so if the computer is stolen you can still get the perp’s picture.

I've been playing around with Dropbox, and I think it’s a killer solution.  Note that the MJPEG images comprising the iCam stream are stored in Pictures are presently stored in:

[user]/pictures/iCam source motion events/[gigantic hash sequence]/[date-time stamp].

If you make an alias of the [gigantic hash sequence] folder you can drop it in the Dropbox, which might be on your computer desktop.  Do not rename the alias! Any images that appear in the [gigantic hash sequence] folder are immediately reflected in the Dropbox Cloud server, as well as anyplace else you have a synchronized Dropbox.  This updating is continuous and does not wait for the motion trigger event to be completed!

The mirrored Dropboxes will show the JPEGs in the Dropbox files, just as they do on your computer.  However, if you throw away the file from the alias in Dropbox, the file is gone for the Mac as well – so be careful.

This seems to be an ideal solution to remote backup of the MJPEG stream.   I've tried it and it works!  Best of all, Dropbox is free for up to 2GB storage.

And, thanks to Stefan for doing a sanity check on my ideas!

[aen333]

Still haven't gotten your 3 gigs yet Zarkov?

[Zarkov]

Another variation... If you use Hazel, you can tell it to watch the iCam camera file folder [gigantic hash sequence], and if it sees a new file, Copy it to Dropbox, which will store it and distribute it to other Dropboxes.  The advantage over using an alias is that the Dropbox contains a copy, rather then an alias of the original.  If you accidentally trash the alias file in Dropbox (easy to do since the names are similar, being data-based), it will go away in your Mac as well. This approach is slightly safer.

[kirshley]

I corrected this in the original thread, and am posting it here again since many people read new items.  Basically, this works very well, but one must not change the name of the alias of the iCam data in the Dropbox.

I want to occasionally use iCam as a simple security system.  I was concerned that in the event that someone broke into my house, one of the first things they'd go for was my computer.  So, other than anything I was able to snap of the iCam data stream on my iPhone (assuming I acted on a push alert), the record of the burglary would be gone.  I wanted some way to backup the data stream other than on the machine running iCam Source, so if the computer is stolen you can still get the perp’s picture.

I've been playing around with Dropbox, and I think it’s a killer solution.  Note that the MJPEG images comprising the iCam stream are stored in Pictures are presently stored in:

[user]/pictures/iCam source motion events/[gigantic hash sequence]/[date-time stamp].

If you make an alias of the [gigantic hash sequence] folder you can drop it in the Dropbox, which might be on your computer desktop.  Do not rename the alias! Any images that appear in the [gigantic hash sequence] folder are immediately reflected in the Dropbox Cloud server, as well as anyplace else you have a synchronized Dropbox.  This updating is continuous and does not wait for the motion trigger event to be completed!

The mirrored Dropboxes will show the JPEGs in the Dropbox files, just as they do on your computer.  However, if you throw away the file from the alias in Dropbox, the file is gone for the Mac as well – so be careful.

This seems to be an ideal solution to remote backup of the MJPEG stream.   I've tried it and it works!  Best of all, Dropbox is free for up to 2GB storage.

And, thanks to Stefan for doing a sanity check on my ideas!

It is a great solution. This is something I've thought for a long time and could not find solution.I recently install the Dropbox and this program is very useful to complement the ICAM but I have a problem with dropbox on th ipod.
If you try to access the alias floder  from the dropbox app or from safari using the ipod, you can not see the photos.in fact, if the alias folder has pictures inside this folder on the iPod stops being a folder. its strange...Please, can you try to access to your Dropbox account using your ipod or iphone and tell me if you have the same problem as me? thanks, and once again, great idea!

[kirshley]

I corrected this in the original thread, and am posting it here again since many people read new items.  Basically, this works very well, but one must not change the name of the alias of the iCam data in the Dropbox.

I want to occasionally use iCam as a simple security system.  I was concerned that in the event that someone broke into my house, one of the first things they'd go for was my computer.  So, other than anything I was able to snap of the iCam data stream on my iPhone (assuming I acted on a push alert), the record of the burglary would be gone.  I wanted some way to backup the data stream other than on the machine running iCam Source, so if the computer is stolen you can still get the perp’s picture.

I've been playing around with Dropbox, and I think it’s a killer solution.  Note that the MJPEG images comprising the iCam stream are stored in Pictures are presently stored in:

[user]/pictures/iCam source motion events/[gigantic hash sequence]/[date-time stamp].

If you make an alias of the [gigantic hash sequence] folder you can drop it in the Dropbox, which might be on your computer desktop.  Do not rename the alias! Any images that appear in the [gigantic hash sequence] folder are immediately reflected in the Dropbox Cloud server, as well as anyplace else you have a synchronized Dropbox.  This updating is continuous and does not wait for the motion trigger event to be completed!

The mirrored Dropboxes will show the JPEGs in the Dropbox files, just as they do on your computer.  However, if you throw away the file from the alias in Dropbox, the file is gone for the Mac as well – so be careful.

This seems to be an ideal solution to remote backup of the MJPEG stream.   I've tried it and it works!  Best of all, Dropbox is free for up to 2GB storage.

And, thanks to Stefan for doing a sanity check on my ideas!

It is a great solution. This is something I've thought for a long time and could not find solution.I recently install the Dropbox and this program is very useful to complement the ICAM but I have a problem with dropbox on th ipod.
If you try to access the alias floder  from the dropbox app or from safari using the ipod, you can not see the photos.in fact, if the alias folder has pictures inside this folder on the iPod stops being a folder. its strange...Please, can you try to access to your Dropbox account using your ipod or iphone and tell me if you have the same problem as me? thanks, and once again, great idea!

It's me again. I try to access my Dropbox account from another computer and is similar to that from the ipod. if the alias folder has pictures inside this folder changes to a file and I can not log in to view images

[kirshley]

I corrected this in the original thread, and am posting it here again since many people read new items.  Basically, this works very well, but one must not change the name of the alias of the iCam data in the Dropbox.

I want to occasionally use iCam as a simple security system.  I was concerned that in the event that someone broke into my house, one of the first things they'd go for was my computer.  So, other than anything I was able to snap of the iCam data stream on my iPhone (assuming I acted on a push alert), the record of the burglary would be gone.  I wanted some way to backup the data stream other than on the machine running iCam Source, so if the computer is stolen you can still get the perp’s picture.

I've been playing around with Dropbox, and I think it’s a killer solution.  Note that the MJPEG images comprising the iCam stream are stored in Pictures are presently stored in:

[user]/pictures/iCam source motion events/[gigantic hash sequence]/[date-time stamp].

If you make an alias of the [gigantic hash sequence] folder you can drop it in the Dropbox, which might be on your computer desktop.  Do not rename the alias! Any images that appear in the [gigantic hash sequence] folder are immediately reflected in the Dropbox Cloud server, as well as anyplace else you have a synchronized Dropbox.  This updating is continuous and does not wait for the motion trigger event to be completed!

The mirrored Dropboxes will show the JPEGs in the Dropbox files, just as they do on your computer.  However, if you throw away the file from the alias in Dropbox, the file is gone for the Mac as well – so be careful.

This seems to be an ideal solution to remote backup of the MJPEG stream.   I've tried it and it works!  Best of all, Dropbox is free for up to 2GB storage.

And, thanks to Stefan for doing a sanity check on my ideas!

It is a great solution. This is something I've thought for a long time and could not find solution.I recently install the Dropbox and this program is very useful to complement the ICAM but I have a problem with dropbox on th ipod.
If you try to access the alias floder  from the dropbox app or from safari using the ipod, you can not see the photos.in fact, if the alias folder has pictures inside this folder on the iPod stops being a folder. its strange...Please, can you try to access to your Dropbox account using your ipod or iphone and tell me if you have the same problem as me? thanks, and once again, great idea!

It's me again. I try to access my Dropbox account from another computer and is similar to that from the ipod. if the alias folder has pictures inside this folder changes to a file and I can not log in to view images

Hi again! I have been researching and found that a alias folder does not work with dropbox. To operate the dropbox with the ICAM is to create a symbolic link between the two programs. This is done using the terminal and a simple way. Try the following:
Use the ln command, for example:

ln -s /path/to/desired-folder ~/Dropbox/desired-folder

This works with files too:

ln -s /path/to/desired-file ~/Dropbox/desired-file

Another easy way to do this with Terminal is type the ln -s part, then from Finder drag the folder/file that you want into the Terminal window then drag the Dropbox folder and hit return.

Note that an Alias file or folder does not work.

Now, icam and dropbox works very well togheter. Now im absolutely satisfied.

[Darlene]

I managed to make find the icam motion detect etc file and make an alias and drag it into the dropbox folder. But when I access it from away I see the alias folder but nothing happens when I click on it. I'm so close to getting this right:)

[aen333]

You can't use an alias. You have to change the destination of the actual motion events folder to your Dropbox folder.

[Gary645]

I have followed the instructions for saving the iCam photos to my iPhone using DropBox and the folder shows up on my iPhone. But, I receive the message, "Unable to view file." The iCam photos are .jpg which the iPhone can read. It is almost like the iPhone is seeing the folder, but not the photos inside the folder. Any help you can offer will be most appreciated.