EkosDeux

Welcome back!!!
As you all know, I am working on building a home network from a Mac Mini and ubuntu 8.04LTS server PPC. One of the things I would like to do is remotely access files while on the road. While reading some blogs, I ran into ExpanDrive. This great piece of software does just what I need it to do, and it is very good at it.

“ExpanDrive acts just like a USB drive plugged into your Mac or PC. It lets you open, edit, and save files on remote computers from within your favorite programs. ExpanDrive enhances every single application on your computer by transparently connecting it to remote data.” [Source:www.expandrive.com/mac]

The user interface is relatively simple, and very well done. The purpose of the application is to mount a server drive onto your computer as if it where just an USB thumb drive. It has support for SFTP/SSH, FTP?FTPS, and with the new update added support for Amazon S3.

You have, as you can see above, a list of drives you create as you go. This makes it very easy to log on, and add files on the go. The user interface list the drives name, and under it the server location. When the drive is connected, you will see a green dot to the left of the name. If the drive is not connected, you will simply see the name.

Creating a new drive is simple as well. You simply enter you server location, user name, password, and have the option to give it a nick name, specify a folder path, or change the access port. Simple. When finished, you simply cancel, save and close, or connect.

When the application is installed, it simply runs in the background waiting to be used. You have the option of selecting a key stroke to call your user interface up, or right-click the icon at the top. When the menu is right clicked, it shows a straight forward list. The list contains the drives, and once again red means offline, and green connected. The development team is very helpful, and they have a facebook fan page, where they give their fans an opportunity to get a $5 discount (Which I used), and answer questions or concern. They also post on Twitter, and answer concerns. I am very happy with this software, and look forward to future updates. Highly Recommended.