![]() On top of that, there are plenty of free services available as alternatives, several of which are also open source.ExpanDrive alternatives are mainly FTP Clients but may also be Cloud Storage Services or File Sync Tools. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives available for Linux-based operating systems, iOS devices, and Android. With that said, there are a few limitations to consider.ĮxpanDrive is paid software only available for Windows and macOS. Not many other apps can boast ExpanDrive's integration with Windows Explorer and Finder, as well as support for major cloud drive services such as Google Drive. They appropriate waits and expectations are in there nowĤ.ExpanDrive Alternatives: 25+ FTP Clients and similar apps | AlternativeTo (function()() Skip to main contentSkip to site searchPlatformsCategoriesOnlineWindowsAndroidMaciPhoneLinuxiPadAndroid TabletProductivitySocialDevelopmentBackupRemote Work & StudyLoginSign up HomeFile SharingExpanDriveAlternativesWhat are the best ExpanDrive alternatives?As a virtual filesystem, ExpanDrive gives you a wide range of storage options. Integrated with all the higher level APIs so that applications that open a file with swift/objective C don’t beachball while waiting for a download (for an open) to complete. You could bring down a 10GB file from the cloud and your free space remains the sameģ. But what I think is extra interesting is that when you mark the content as evictable it doesn’t even register as being used against free space. Providers can mark their content as “evictable” which lets APFS know it can toss out the data if space gets low. It’s more like network filesystems in this regardĢ. “regular” sync downloads contents ahead of time, this is not the case with file providers. You give the file provider framework lists of directories, help it monitor changes, provide item info and then it will in turn issue callbacks into your extension to initiate downloads to a temporary location.ġ. Whereas FUSE is a really low level API exported into a safer user-space process, this is a little higher level. Provides data directly to spotlight indexes, etc. The whole macOS File Provider project is an off-shoot of the iCloud drive and iOS file provider projects, but with one key component they’ve added called the replicated extension that has an apple-blessed extension to APFS called “FPFS” (presumably file provider FS) that can intercept read/writes/etc to these on-disk placeholder files and download content (and thumbnails!) on demand. It’s a pretty cool framework, but pretty new (and a little raw).īox/Google/Dropbox/Microsoft will all eventually be using it, but the rollout has been slow. File Provider apps are userspace extensions that work with with placeholder files and on-demand hydration of remote files by the system via APFS. It’s a pretty big departure from the macFUSE style interfaces we've been using for years now. It’s basically a technology that enables something like Dropbox Smart Sync (project infinite) built directly into macOS fully managed by APFS. The replacement for apps like Google & Box Drive (and everyone else) is their new File Provider framework ( ), which they quietly launched but didn’t publicize at all. Just keeping it a little quiet right now since it’s not 100% done. This is the primary reason these Google/Box/etc aren’t shipping M1 versions of their software.īut that’s okay, they’ve got something better they’re working on. ![]() This is a terrible and unfriendly model for users (by design). On M1 machines any third party kernel extension requires a reboot into recovery mode, lowering the security settings, and then finishing the install. Third party kernel extensions on macOS are on the way out. ![]() I run ExpanDrive (We use a derivative of macFUSE ( ) on macOS. It's the future of native cloud storage on macOS. Hey all! This is something we've been working on for a while now.
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