If you took the time to read my “Must have University Software” post, you probably have a good idea of what Dropbox does. For those who haven’t read the article, Dropbox is a program that automatically backs up your files to a secure online server. In case of a hardware failure, restoring your documents, music and other content is as easy as downloading the client and logging into your Dropbox account. The program also allows invitational folder sharing which is quite useful when working on collaborative projects. Revisions of documents are automatically saved and can be restored with a click of a button. Additionally, Dropbox will also perform file syncing to ensure each member has the latest revision of a particular file.

So what’s the catch to this great service? Free users are restricted to an initial online storage space of 2GB. However, up to 8Gb of space can be earned through referrals (250Mb per referral). Need more space? Besides paying a few dollars per month for the 50gb or 100gb account, you can alternatively sign up as a student. Students attending a verified institution can can use their university email (usually ends in .edu) address to boost the maximum storage to a whopping 16Gb, earning 500Mb additional space per referral.

New and Existing members can enroll as a student at anytime. Additionally, the program is retroactive. This means that any referrals obtained under your account prior to enrolling as a student will automatically be converted into 500mb instead of the regular 250mb. For me, the available storage jumped from 6.0GB to 11.2GB (quite a significant jump!).

To sign up as a student go to this url: https://www.dropbox.com/edu

New Dropbox users, feel free to sign up using my referral link: http://db.tt/elpMQtm

*Please Note: The offer is only valid for individuals attending a Post-secondary institution or have a .edu address. Additionally, Canadian Universities do not provide a .edu address. Fear not, the email provided by your institution will work regardless of whether it’s a .edu or not. I was able to enroll into the program successfully using a XXX@mcmaster.ca email address.

Still unsure about what Dropbox is and whether it is useful to you?