A Combo Cloud Drive

Grabbing freebies for cloud storage?!  I have a  Sky drive of 7 GB , Google Drive of 5 GB , Drop Box of 2 GB ,  Box.net of 5 GB. That’s enough of  drive space  to carry files on the “drive” and equally cumbersome to manage. Almost all these storage solutions comes up with a mini app, so as to drag and drop your files.  Otixo is  a solution to combine all your clouds together and make an easy living.

A single umbrella  to the clouds , Otixo  has a desktop solution. I would not call it an App , as the site claims , but a solution which you should be able to swear by in the future. Its  nothing but a WebDAV feature.Microsoft introduced WebDAV client support in Microsoft Windows 98 with a feature called "Web folders". How many of us have effectively used it?  I am surprised that  many of these old features and commands are now coming so handy.[Refer to my previous blog on the DOS Command – SUBST]

To work with Otixo , just prepare a new sign-in and start enumerating the cloud storages you would like to get linked. If you have a FTP or WebDAV space , Otixo will allow you to integrate.

Once done, map a network drive to https://dav.otixo.com.  Enter the Username and password which you supplied while signing-up. You would love to use it when perplexed with so many storages.

But, every unit has a scope for improvement. Otixo does not come with a Mobile App!!! And, if you have a baggage full of data to be accessed, it allows only 250 MB bandwidth per month.
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Have you ever used the DOS command : SUBST ?

Some DOS commands were so important , that it created a base to evolve the future versions of the Windows cult. SUBST – I never used in my 21 years of fiddling with the computer till the time I started using the Storage Services on the cloud. In fact SUBST , is a key behind mapping of network drives. Let’s check what was so special and then make use of it for our daily needs.
SUBST was basically used to substitute paths on physical and logical drives with drive names [virtual drives]. A Microsoft Windows Command prompt displays the following help screen.
C:\>subst /?
Associates a path with a drive letter.
SUBST [drive1: [drive2:]path]
SUBST drive1: /D
  drive1:        Specifies a virtual drive to which you want to assign a path.
  [drive2:]path  Specifies a physical drive and path you want to assign to
                 a virtual drive.
  /D             Deletes a substituted (virtual) drive.
Type SUBST with no parameters to display a list of current virtual drives.

Now, let’s move on to the Visual Dynamics of the same command. Visual SUBST can be downloaded from :
http://www.ntwind.com/software/utilities/visual-subst.html or http://visual-subst.en.softonic.com/.

The installer is of 112 KB and a click is sufficient to make it alive. After installation : Select a drive letter for the path and click the green button.Here the virtual drive T: has been mapped to C:\Users\Kausik\Google Drive\ . Click the Red Button to delete the Virtual Drive. DOS had an undocumented command “TRUENAME” to reveal the true identity of virtual drives.Relevance of SUBST or its Visual Substitute makes a base for mapping network drives by OS derived out of  DOS

So, why an old horse which was rarely ridden becomes a hero at the outset of cloud storage?

Today , all cloud storage solutions sync data from pre-defined folders.

It could be a default or a user defined path. Making virtual drives of such paths helps us to drag and drop files which needs to be a part of the cloud.So, if Google Drive Syncs data stored in C:\Users\Username\Google Drive or Drop Box syncs every bit of C:\Users\Username\Dropbox, show some respect to these paths with a Drive Letter.

I’m sure your work becomes easier and faster.

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War of the Clouds!!!

Recently google came up with Google Drive. So, what was new that made google to create a launch pad so late when others are established as a name. Skydrive, Opendrive , Justcloud , Dropbox , Mimedia, icloud are leaders in their own right signifying SaaS[Storage –as – a- Service] to be something which can be traded.

Comparisons aren’t much. Apple has been the first mover to provide us with ipod,iphone or ipad. With limited attachments, glossy finish and a hyped marketing they have been able to secure a commendable market place. I have never been a proponent of the Apple saga and do not expect much from the Icloud, which only allows a device with iOS 5 or OS X Lion 10.7.2 to be backed up. Everything here is a paid service without knowing its worth.

Justcloud or mimedia are paid services. Although they allow some free space, you never know when they would ask for your credit card details. When I uninstalled justcloud, it offered 10GB @ $1 per month. The plan was not there in the pricelist. Apps are easy to install and syncs folders at ease.

Opendrive allows 5GB of free storage with a file size limitation of 100 MB. It does not belong to the open source syndicate, as the name suggests.

Dropbox which gives you 2GB of free space, easy interface and a soothing sync. Short and Smart indeed! 2GB is however too small to taste the goods. It provides you with a link to every file stored. Henceforth you prepare a web page, do not waste money on hosting sites, unless otherwise required.

I am always biased towards the open source market which nourishes and flourishes with a business model beyond comparison. Moreover, in case of the Microsofts and Apples, price paid for a product is not always proportional to your requirements. Technology products are not like toothpastes which needs to be used for the same purpose, with equal importance by every individual.

Microsoft launched its skydrive way back in 2007 and provides 7GB of free space. The desktop App was launched on 22^nd April, 2012.It supports files size upto 2GB. Truly Charitable on the part of Microsoft, which has built its reputation known to all. This might be one of the best moves by them in the recent years.

Google Docs, was already there. Then what’s new with Google Drive? It provides an additional 2.5 GB of data and is a reply to Skydrive Apps. Google drive Helps you to store files of any format , which was not possible with Docs. Soon the gmail attachments can be made a part of google drive. Being the best in “search technology” , it scans through stored images for texts which could help in searching. It has added support to 30 file types. So, now on if you need to check a Photoshop file and the Application is not in your machine, use google to open it. But, it has to evolve and mature.

So, the next time a cloud vendor says that you can access your files from anywhere and everywhere, check twice on the “any-ware” and “every-ware”… Cheers!!!

 

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