Run R from Dropbox

Often in situations of "limited security" when programs cannot be installed on a computer, I run R from a flash drive. It works like a charm. I recently started using dropbox and thought it could be used like a flash drive. For those who have tried this, does it work?

I can check it myself, but I don’t want to go about it if this is a dead end.

Thanks in advance.

PS This has the advantage of storing .Rprofile, which the people you share the Dropbox folder with can then run your R code. This is especially nice for people unfamiliar with R.

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2 answers

It should just work.

R is configured in such a way that all its files belong to this top-level directory. Whether it is a F: \ or Z: \ file from your flash drive or a Dropbox folder does not matter.

In the same way, R can successfully work with a shared folder, whether through Samba, NFS, or another mechanism.

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This is fine if you want to share .Rprofile or .Rhistory. However, I see a problem with .Rdata, because it can be large (e.g. 4Gb). For me, to save a 100 Mb file on Dropbox takes minutes, and .RData can be much larger.

An alternative could be a remote server, where you can connect via ssh.

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