replication - Using Dropbox to Sync File GeoDatabases?

I've been able to accumulate a large free dropbox account and use it to Sync my GIS databases across several different PC's. I've just started doing this and havent had any problems thus far. But I am getting some red flags of warning that are scaring me.

There seems to be several duplicate files in the GeoDatabases. Usually something like:

a00000017.gdbtable (GIS-HP duplicate Copy)

I can manually delete these files with no problem, but I have no idea why they are popping up.

Also, instead of removing file locks, Dropbox keeps saying it is renaming them. So when I release one lock and gain another, it renames the file instead of deleting it and creating a new one. Although it still does delete the lock file when I have fully disconnected from the GeoDatabase.

Like I said, I haven't had any issues so far, but I am worried about long term data corruption while using Dropbox.

Has anyone used Dropbox and found problems using it to sync GIS data?

Answer

ESRI intentionally obfuscated the FileGDB file structure so people wouldn't try and mess with it internally:

A file geodatabase is stored as a folder of files. When you view the folder with Windows Explorer, apart from the .gdb extension, it looks like any other folder and you can view its contents. The folder contains cryptically named files that hold geographic data, attribute data, index files, .lock files, and a signature file, as well as other files. Each feature class or table in the geodatabase is stored in two or more files. By design, it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell which files make up any given dataset.

ESRI recommends that you copy FileGDB's with their tools and not your OS tools. However, it is possible to copy the whole database or rename it:

Although not recommended, it is possible to copy a file geodatabase to another location by copying the folder to another location (if you are using a Windows Vista operating system, you also need to change the extension of the new folder to .gdb; otherwise, ArcGIS cannot recognize it as a file geodatabase). Only copy a file geodatabase with Windows Explorer when you are certain there are no other processes accessing the data. The problem is that it can be difficult to tell whether other processes are accessing the data. You might think there are no other processes; however, a process on your computer or another one could be accessing it. If you happen to copy the folder when another process is accessing the data, the data may not copy properly. An improper copy operation is often not apparent—you might not notice any problems until you access a certain part of the new copy a few days later.

I would be wary of using dropbox to sync the files individually. The database structure just isn't built to be manipulated in that way. If you dataset is small enough, it may be a good application for a personal geodatabase or a sqlite database (though I haven't seen it confirmed that ArcGIS can write sqlite) if you have simple geometry.

There is a tool that will recover corrupted geodatabase in the event they are damaged: