ExpanDrive acquires Strongspace and BingoDisk
August 13th, 2009One of the most common questions we get at ExpanDrive headquarters is “How much space do I get when I buy ExpanDrive?” This is an awkward question for us for a couple reasons. First, it shows that we haven’t done a great job at getting people to understand what ExpanDrive actually does (take files from your own server and puts them on your desktop).
Second, that question told us that there were a lot of users out there that want something that ExpanDrive can almost give to them. They want to use ExpanDrive, and we want them to use it, but we didn’t have a server for them to us. We think that ExpanDrive is the best file transfer client in the world, but if you don’t have access to an SFTP server of your own then it doesn’t do you a whole lot of good.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce today that ExpanDrive has acquired Strongspace and BingoDisk from Joyent. With this acquisition ExpanDrive will provide an online storage service with unsurpassed quality of service and user experience.
Strongspace was originally launched by Joyent in 2005 as an online storage service which allows users to securely store and access data using industry standard protocols such as SFTP and rsync. We are taking StrongSpace to the next level. While still built on the same Solaris and ZFS technology that Joyent pioneered, Strongspace has been completely re-written and re-architected to be faster, more reliable, and more powerful.
In addition, the Strongspace service has been designed from the ground up to be the perfect companion to the ExpanDrive client. We’ve been working hard to couple the two with great extensions built into both the client and the server.
Strongspace is currently invitation only while we transition existing customers and will be available to everyone shortly.
August 13th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
As a lifetime Strongspace customer and a user of ExpanDrive since before 1.0 I am very pleased with this. Now, come out with an easy utility to allow me to backup to my Strongspace drive automatically and seamlessly and I will love you forever.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Sweet! I can’t wait to see what you guys cook up :)
August 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
This is awesome news! I’m a huge fan of Expandrive, which has made my online work flow much, much smoother.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Looking forward to this as a lifetime StrongSpace and Connector user as well! Can you say whether or not the lifetime access for StrongSpace users is for standalone StrongSpace users only, or also for the StrongSpace built-in to Connector as well? Really excited to see improvements in StrongSpace. Love it! Congrats. I couldn’t imagine a better group to take over StrongSpace and BingoDisk!
August 13th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I have been a Joyent customer for years, and my account came with complimentary Strongspace / Connector which I have never used. I have also been using ExpanDrive on the Mac, but never botherered to update to 2.0. Do I now get a complimentary copy of 2.0 and all version updates as long as I remain a Joyent customer or ?
How will this effect my web hosting ? Is that now with you instead of Joyent ?
August 13th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Great news and congrats as a company for getting this far! I only ever tried out your first Mac product, never purchased but might do so now as part of the Joyent lifetime deal.
@Nick – read the Joyent press release, they’re paying the ‘cost’ of our lifetime deals, and the web hosting has nothing to do with it.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
@David I don’t have a lifetime account. I pay yearly. Joyents email to customers was VERY sketch on details, and said that ExpanDrive would provide details.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Strongspace’s web interface is the feature vital to me. It lets me share large files with non-technically-oriented clients, with no software downloads or installs. I hope that doesn’t go away.
That said, ExpanDrive for the Finder looks great to me, and I’ll gladly shell out the forty bucks for that if it the other capability doesn’t go away.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Nick we’ll be email out details tomorrow. Feel free to send questions to support@expandrive.com
August 13th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Great to hear, guys! A lifetime Strongspace customer and an ExpanDrive 2.0 customer as well – I like using them together currently and look forward to a clean integration. I also ++ on David’s suggestion for a seamless backup that only syncs diffs, etc. – I would be overjoyed.
August 14th, 2009 at 5:50 am
As a long-term user of Joyent stuff and SFTPDrive, we’re pleased to send congratulations to ExpanDrive and Joyent both! +1 for Strongspace web interface – that really keeps non-technical clients happy when they need to share files with us; We also need to continue to be able to mount the filesystem in Nautilus or Dolphin (on Linux platforms).
August 14th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Great news. Really excited and looking forward to the transition. Are there any plans to provide an easy sync interface similar to what Dropbox [1] does? That would be perfect: joining 3 great ideas in one.
August 14th, 2009 at 7:21 am
As a longtime Joyent and ExpanDrive (starting with SftpDrive) customer I’m excited about this development. Will the web interface and rsync functionality remain intact? I hope so!
August 14th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Just to save Jeff some time, I’ll answer my own questions with answers he has posted elsewhere… “we’ll still support rsync/sftp like old strongspace” (twitter @strongspace) “The site will work as it does not – except better. Consider it Strongspace v2.0. You will not need to use the ExpanDrive client to access Strongspace, but we encourage it.” (comment on the Joyent blog)
August 14th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Good news! Our beloved Strongspace will not languish any longer.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
So tomorrow has come and gone…
August 15th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Ebbie we’re gonna get an email out on Monday
August 16th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Thanks for the follow up Jeff. Lots to love about Joyent but follow-through on communications wasn’t one of them. Sorry to bring my baggage over here.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
As a longtime/lifetime Joyent customer from its earliest Textdrive days, I ditto everything Ebbie said and look forward to seeing what happens with Strongspace. Especially Monday’s upcoming e-mail. Thanks!
August 18th, 2009 at 9:35 am
So, tomorrow has come and gone, Monday has come and gone… Please, do not continue Joyent’s practice of public relations, pretty please!
August 18th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I’m with Nick and Bijan on this — when will we get clarity on how this affects our future service?
August 20th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Looks like the same support as from Dean Allen, Textdrive, et als.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:40 am
@Phil – Graham, Not sure what you guys mean. We’ve emailed out, we’ll be emailing soon enough again. Please contact us with any additional questions.
The service is continuing on – consider it as “Version 2 is coming” from an experience standpoint
August 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
As a Bingodisk user for several years I was rather surprised not to have received ANY notification that you had bought them from Joyent. I too will appreciate the public URL service if it is offered on Strongspace….though the radio silence about the end of the Bingodisk service is a little alarming.
Have you checked that ALL Bingodisk users have been contacted? Thanks Dillon
August 28th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
@Dillon – sorry about that. Both Joyent and ExpanDrive emailed everyone on file with Strongspace and Bingodisk accounts. E-mail support@expandrive.com and let us know your account name and current email address!
September 8th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Thank you Jeff, I’ve done that. Looking forward (and hoping) to a continued service with you guys!
With best wishes
Dillon