Image via CrunchBase
As
a full fledged Cloud user, I always want to mount a Cloud Storage
service on my local computer much like another hard drive. Whether it
is Gnome/KDE file explorer or Windows explorer or Finder, I want the
Cloud Storage to be integrated in them. I feel more comfortable this
way than accessing it using the software offered by many of the storage
vendors. Mounting it like a local drive gives me a feel of a seamless
integration between the Cloud and my desktop.
I have been a long term user of
Jungledisk
(since its early days). It helps me mount the Cloud Storage like a
local drive and the experience is seamless. It works on Windows, Linux
and Mac. However, it supports only S3 and, now, Cloud Files. Since
Rackspace has acquired Jungledisk, I am worried about their continued
support for S3. I also want to mount Google Docs and other Cloud
Storage services on my machines. In fact, mounting Google Docs will
help me use it as my document repository. However, Jungledisk doesn't
give me these features.
Recently, I came across a software called Gladinet
which is still in beta. This offers exactly the kind of features I
want. I can mount the Cloud Storage services like a local drive. It
offers the usual features expected from such software like automatic
incremental backup, task scheduling, integration with file explorer,
encryption, etc.. However, it goes beyond that and offers some exciting
features which could push mainstream users to use Cloud Storage and
SaaS. Some of these features are
- It
is integrated with large number of Cloud providers including Google
Docs, Picasa Web, ADrive, Skydrive, etc.. In fact, it's integration
with Microsoft Skydrive is very interesting to me. They offer a
whopping 25 GB for free but it is not possible for us to mount it like
a local drive. I have no patience to upload one file at a time (Before
any Microsoft fanboy jumps over me, I want to categorically state that
I have no inclination to use Internet Explorer on a Windows machine. In
the absence of IE on Windows, there is no way we can do bulk upload on
to Skydrive). With Gladinet software, we can take full advantage of the
25 GB offered by Microsoft to all Live users.
- It is
possible to associate file types with various SaaS applications. It is
possible to open files stored with a Cloud Storage provider into SaaS
applications offered by companies like Google, Thinkfree, Zoho
(disclaimer: Zoho is a sole sponsor of this blog but this is my
personal opinion and has nothing to do with them), Picnik, etc.. It is
also possible to open the local files using SaaS application (ie.
through browser).
- In addition to the above two features,
other features like roaming profiles, Cloud LAN, etc.. makes this
software even more interesting. Another notable feature is the support
for anonymous WebDAV Server
If not for anything else, I
will definitely use this software to tap into Microsoft's Skydrive. The
installation and other initial setup was snap. My only grievance is the
lack of support for Mac and Linux.
On a
related note, if you have any plans to dump all your data to Amazon S3,
it is time for you to do now. As a part of their 3rd anniversary, AWS
is offering the bandwidth for a very low price of 3 cents per GB
instead of the standard rate of 10 cents per GB. This offer runs from
April 2009 to June 2009. Plus, Gladinet may offer free license with one year free upgrade
for beta testers of their professional version. Combine this offer with
the low cost bandwidth from Amazon S3, it is time for spring cleaning
even if it is a bit late.
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