ExpanDrive

ExpanDrive v2.2 brings a bunch of small new features plus one important bug fix.

ExpanDrive for Windows v2.2 – Released October 18th, 2011

• FIXEDFixed issue leading some editors to incorrectly detect new file changes
• NEWBasic command line interface for connect and eject
• NEWUpdated Filesystem driver [reboot required to finish install]
• NEWSecure HTTP [HTTPS] is now the default transport mechanism for Amazon S3
• NEWUsername prompting when not saved with the drive
• NEWFull support for multi-stage keyboard interactive and multi-factor authentication
• NEWSupport directory listing masks [*.txt;*.pdf etc]

To connect a drive via the commandline:

expandrive.exe connect drive_nickname
expandrive.exe connect drive_servername

To eject a drive via the commandline:

expandrive.exe eject drive_nickname
expandrive.exe eject drive_servername

Download ExpanDrive v2.2 here or via the auto updater.

Old versions and full release notes here. Please send all support questions to support@expandrive.com

ExpanDrive is now fully compatible with OS X Lion. Grab v2.3 via our auto-updater or right here.

Some important fixes for users whose text editors had been complaining of a file changed when it wasn’t – also a bunch of browsing and caching improvements that should really help speed up a few cases that have slowed down in our 2.0 release.

Download ExpanDrive v2.0.9 here or via the auto updater.

Old versions and full release notes here.

Please send all support questions to support@expandrive.com

ExpanDrive for Windows v2.0.9 – Released July 8th, 2011

• NEWBig speed improvements in browsing and in editing of large projects under SFTP
• FIXEDFixed Pageant and keyboard-interactive auth failures in SFTP
• FIXEDFixed a number of FTPS compatibility issues
• CHANGEDLocal data cache now lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ExpanDrive instead of the roaming profile.

Another bump to our Windows client, fixing a number of bugs that have been reported since release. Grab it on the auto-updater, or below.

Download ExpanDrive v2.0.7 here or via the auto updater.

Old versions and full release notes here.

ExpanDrive for Windows v2.0.7 – Released June 27th, 2011

• NEWFiles that begin with “.” are now tagged as hidden
• FIXEDCorrect installation from limited user accounts, no raises to elevated
• FIXEDInstaller allows specification of installation location
• FIXEDFixes for FTP servers which require TLS data connection
• FIXEDCompatibility fixes for WinSSHD 5.2+
• FIXEDTray icon could disappear
• FIXEDIssue causing users to have blank preferences Window
• FIXEDDelete drive menu option now disabled while drive is being edited

Hot on the heals of yesterday’s of yesterday’s big release comes v2.0.5 with a number of important bug fixes

Download ExpanDrive v2.0.5 here or via the auto updater.

Also, for your reference – you can find old versions and full release notes here.

ExpanDrive for Windows v2.0.5 – Released June 22nd, 2011

• FIXEDSome FTPS servers would fail to connect with a message about the server not permitting cleartext control channel
• FIXEDSome users couldn’t connect to Amazon S3 due to a SignatureDoesNotMatch error
• FIXEDHorizontal scrollbar no longer shows with lots of drives
• CHANGEDWhitespace trimmed off of UI fields

Nearly 5 years in the making – we are EXTREMELY excited to finally release ExpanDrive 2 for Windows. This is a major update in almost every way. ExpanDrive 2 adds support for plain FTP, FTP and Amazon S3 and our own Strongspace Online Storage service. It boasts an all-new SFTP engine that should dramatically improve speed in both transfer and browsing. Along with the new drive types, the UI has been completely re-written to be much sexier, more intuitive and less complicated. We think you’ll really enjoy it.

Download ExpanDrive v2.0.4 now! Free 30-day Trial

A quick rundown of the major features:

• Sexy new interface. Simple and intuitive, even more than before.
• Blazing fast new SFTP layer.
• FTP and FTPS drives!
• Amazon S3 drives!
• Massively increased speed and throughout
• Dynamic reconnect support – always stay connected
• Pagaent Support for SSH keys
• On-disk data-cache for frequently accessed files.
• All new metadata-cache – faster browsing around.
• New filesystem driver
• Innumerable fixes and enhancements for MS Office sharing/locking
• Frequent updates – and a working auto updater

ExpanDrive 2 finally unifies our Mac and Windows products into one, in no small part through the magic of python. We can finally develop simultaneously on both platforms, with ease.

If you’ve already purchased a ExpanDrive 2 license for your Mac – that license is good for this Windows client. As of V2, our licenses are cross-platform. An upgrade license is $19.95 until the end of this week, and $24.95 thereafter.

A couple screenshots of the new UI in action.

Please send any feedback to support@expandrive.com and we’ll help out as fast as we can.

We’re excited to release ExpanDrive v2.2.2 for the Mac! This version should feel much faster for the average user – many improvements have been made to how we handle caching of metadata so that working with larger projects should feel a lot more like working on a local disk. ExpanDrive v2.2 also now fully supports the 64-bit kernel on Snow Leopard and Lion.

This release no longer supports OS 10.4 [Tiger] or users running on the PowerPC architecture. With 10.7 [Lion] around the corner and the last PowerPC mac shipping more than 5 years ago, we need to focus on the future and start to take advantage of features only available in newer versions of OS X.

ExpanDrive for Mac 2.2.2 – Released Apri 14th, 2011

• NEWMajor speed increase due to enhanced caching of metadata
• NEWFull 64-bit support. ExpanDrive.app is now a full 64 bit application.
• NEWPreliminary support for OS 10.7 Lion
• NEWNo longer depends on MacFUSE
• NEWIn-app purchasing
• CHANGEDNo longer supports 10.4 [Tiger] or PPC machines

And a note for our ExpanDrive for Windows users. Development on ExpanDrive 2 for Windows continues to progress rapidly and it is being tested and developed side by side with our Mac client. Thanks for your patience!

Yesterday Apple announced that the App Store was coming to the Mac. Exciting news for app developers, but much more exciting for the 3.89 million new Mac owners every quarter trying to discover, install and keep software up to date. Not unsurprisingly, there is a laundry list of restrictions and requirements for apps trying to make it into the App Store. That list, while not yet formally published, has been leaked. It looks as if section 2.18 will keep apps that rely on kernel extensions, like ExpanDrive, which relies on MacFUSE, out of the App Store or require developers to create watered down App Store Only forks of their product.

Section 2.18:

Apps that install kexts will be rejected

We hope this means “Apps that install kernel extensions globally into /System will be rejected” (which we currently do) and not “Apps that load non-Apple kernel extensions will be rejected” If this is an issue about packaging, then namespacing a kernel extension to an app and keeping it inside the bundle is a reasonable request and and something we’ll likely do anyways. It would be a real disappointment if Apple starts to lock down the Mac as it continues to progress towards iOS/OS X unity. Perhaps this is much ado about nothing and it’ll merely require us not to install anything globally, but it’s hard to imagine that will be the case.

Windows users – we haven’t forgotten about you! The 2.0 client is coming along nicely. Mac users, we have another small update to ExpanDrive that fixes a few bugs and makes Strongspace auto-licensing work more easily. As always, the release notes are here and the update can grabbed via the auto-updater in the preferences pane.

• NEWStrongspace licensing works for SFTP drives connected directly to Strongspace
• FIXED Certain FTP servers would not connect with the message ‘Data connection failed’”.

… re-blogged from our Strongspace Blog

Strongspace has top level folders called Spaces. You’ll see your spaces listed in the sidebar on left-hand side of the files browser. Think of them as regular folders that you can set special permissions so that you can collaborate on your data both via the web or SFTP. You can even set up a shared network drive using ExpanDrive. Create a new space by clicking the plus button ‘‘ to the right of “Your Spaces” and picking a name.

Adding a collaborator to a space

Giving a friend, family member or co-worker access to a space is simple. Click the gear icon ‘‘ next to person you want to share your data with and hit “Add.” An invitation will be sent to the email address you typed, prompting the user to set a new password. They now have their own [free] Strongspace account along with access to the data you shared with them.

Connecting via SFTP/rsync to a shared space

Let’s say that the user “expandrive” shared their home space with you. To get at that data via SFTP you’d connect to the server expandrive.strongspace.com and the data would be at the path /strongspace/expandrive/home

The Future of Spaces

Right now spaces are just folders in the top level of your filesystem. Going forward we’ll be introducing fancy spaces that have a variety of cool features attached to them. The first of these fancy spaces is actually your Public space – it has the property that all the contents are automatically shared/hosted to the world by default. Our plan is to introduce fancy spaces for photo galleries, music, source code repositories and more.