NomaDesk Review: Access Your Digital Workstation Anywhere
I am a big fan of the digital nomad lifestyle. Being able to take your laptop and do your work from anywhere has a lot of appeal for me. But living the nomad life is rarely as simple as just picking up your notebook bag and heading out the door. There are a lot of factors to consider. My biggest fear is leaving important files behind sitting on my desktop while I’m a thousand miles away with a client deadline looming large.
For that reason I was excited when FreelanceSwitch gave me the assignment to review NomaDesk, a virtual workplace for digital nomads.
What’s the skinny?
NomaDesk, in its most basic form, stores your files publicly or privately. You can then retrieve them by simply installing the software on a second computer. Think of it as adding a couple new hard drives to your computer that you can share over the internet.
Install
The NomaDesk software is tiny coming in at only 15.7 MB, and the install could not be easier. Once you install the software you will be asked to create an account and then you will be instantly whisked away to their online Getting Started page.
Your personal and private file servers will now appear automatically in My Computer by showing up as two new virtual hard drives.
Using the Software
Just last week I had scheduled a ski chalet vacation in British Columbia. In preparation for my trip I made sure that I tossed all the files I thought I was going to need into NomaDesk. Since I had a few jobs I needed to finish at month’s end, this was going to be a great test for the software.
But there was no way I was going to hit the road with untried software so I fired up my laptop to test it out.
The software installed fine on my laptop. I logged in as an existing user, and NomaDesk went out and starting syncing my files. It said it should only take 200 hours.
200 hours!
I knew then that something must be wrong and I immediately thought of my wonky satellite internet connection. So I emailed NomaDesk support to see if they had any ideas and they got back to me very quickly with suggestions. In the end it was my satellite connection because it downloaded very quickly over a standard high-speed connection. All-in-all though, it was a good opportunity to see firsthand the bang up job NomaDesk support did.
Nice features
NomaDesk is not feature rich but it does come with a few handy additions for enhancing your workflow.
- Access to Email Contacts – If you want to share a file with a client you can allow NomaDesk to access your email contact list so you can quickly add the addresses you need. As a security measure NomaDesk will only access your contact info locally so you do not have to worry about your address book being stored on NomaDesk’s servers.
- Inbox File Server – If you set up an inbox file server on NomaDesk you can email files directly to the server and they will be stored there under a separate folder.
- Download timeouts – Only want to make your public file available for a limited time? You can set NomaDesk to control how many days the file is available for download, and even be notified when someone downloads the file.
- Team File Server – If you are working collaboratively on a project it would be a good idea to set up a Team File Server that will allow team members to access and edit files on a shared server.
- Theft Guard – When you take your laptop on the road there is an inherent security risk. Not only does NomaDesk encrypt your files but it uses a unique serial number which is tracked and reconfirmed every time the NomaDesk software starts up. So, if your laptop is ever reported lost or stolen, access to its data will be denied and the files can instantly be deleted.
Conclusion
What impressed me most about NomaDesk was their commitment to security. At first I was disappointed that the software did not allow me to share my files in place. That means that you have to copy and paste your files into your file server manually rather than just right click and choose share, for example. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the potential security issues this would create. It’s comforting to know that anything I put in my private server is unavailable. If you can’t log in to the NomaDesk account *POOF* No files for you.
NomaDesk is great little program that will go a long way in keeping you mobile. Right now the program is in beta so there is no pricing structure in place, so you may as well give it a spin and see how it works for you.
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Wow, as long as you can remember the password, you have all the files you ll ever need anywhere. Really useful for freelancers who travel a lot.
Great product and review, Thanks Travis!
I don’t see the real benefit over just a e.g. FREE logmein account…..all you need is a (Secure) connection to your server back home…in the office…or wherever.
@Travis – I am curious if you have tried or can compare Noma Desk to any of the services that allow a remote desktop connection via VPN. My concern is that if I forget the important files on the trip I am just as likely to forgot to sync them over. Plus I may not have the software I need on my laptop to edit or run the file.
I get that they are different products but there is a lot of cross over.
I agree with Graeme, it seems just as likely to me that I would forget to sync all the files.
What ever happened to just using good ol’ VNC? I mean, it’s so incredibly simple, and it’s way more secure than any other option, and you have complete remote access to your computer! Syncing files, no offense, just seems so 20th century to me!
It sounds similar to Dropbox, have you used that, and if so how do you think it compares?
@Graeme – A VPN is something I have certainly thought about trying out. I always worry about what happens if my computer is off
Another great product very similar and actually easier to understand is dropbox and you can find it at GetDropbox.com. It’s an awesome free service that I highly recommend.
I prefer DropBox but this looks nice.
Syncplicity is good too.
nicely written article Travis… i MUST start synching my files too ! will you review dropbox next time ?
I’ve been using DropBox for a few months now. That’s a good idea for a review
Hi Travis,
Thanks for the review – it’s great to get user feedback on our product.
@ remco: to answer your question on the real advantage of NomaDesk on a remote connection to a server back home… there are several:
- For starters, by using NomaDesk, you don’t need a server at all. NomaDesk installs a virtual fileserver on your computer and you can take this server anywhere.
- This leads immediately to the next advantage: you can access and edit your files even when you are offline. Any changes to the files on your fileserver will be synced automatically when you make a connection to the internet.
- And of course, there is the security issue. Your files are encrypted and theft protected. In short, this means that nobody can access your files without having your password. And even if somebody steals your laptop AND knows your password, you can remove the fileserver documents on that particular computer by reporting it as stolen on the NomaDesk website – don’t worry about the content of your fileserver: we keep a backup on our local servers.
@ Graeme Mac
You don’t have to do anything to sync your documents – the syncing happens immediately after saving the file to your local computer and it runs in the background.
Don’t hesitate to contact me for additional information on tom(dot)dupon(at)aventiv(dot)com
Tom Dupon
Online marketing manager NomaDesk
Hi, I work for NomaDesk and I wanted to clarify some aspects of our software.
Firstly, we hope to convince our customers to try the Team Fileserver, to get them to collaborate on their files with their colleagues and clients in a highly secured environment. It should be as easy as inviting your co-workers on your Team Fileservers.
Remco, Graeme Mac; we see NomaDesk’s offline availability as a big plus. Digital Nomads can access their files on the plane, or any other location where there’s no internet connection. That’s something which is impossible with solutions as LogMeIn or VPN.
NomaDesk also offers a secure web interface to your files, for the case where you don’t have your PC with you.
Finally, compared to Dropbox, what we may lack in user friendliness, we hope to make up through security. We target you, the (mobile) business professional.
Hope this helps you!
VNC is excellent when you’re leaving your house to travel for several weeks or months and you leave the electricity on and your computers running and come home to a cosy warm house fire.
Thanks for the review!
I have been playing around with NomaDesk and like it as well. I have been using Mozy for the longest time. It runs without me thinking twice about it. Will also have to check out dropbox. I see no reason why you could not use more than one service for redundancy.