Traditionally, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) has been the standard for transferring and sharing files. However, it is not without its problems. These include concerns about security, cost, efficiency, reliability and simplicity. For these and other reasons, many businesses are looking to replace FTP with a cloud storage solution.

Gladinet Cloud for Teams offers a great FTP replacement. The service allows you to attach a local folder to the cloud, which immediately makes any of its files accessible anywhere, and synchronizes access to the folder by maintaining version control of files that are written simultaneously. Once the local folder is attached to the cloud, it can be exposed to other team members using access controls provided in the service’s management interface. So you end up with several members of your team sharing access to the same set of files in a centrally controlled environment.

The instant accesibility of attached folders deserves some emphasis as it mitigates one of the pain points of cloud migration. That pain is usually experienced when a large data set needs to be moved to the cloud over a relatively slow connection. For example, even a reasonable 10Mbps upstream connection can’t upload more than 5GB in an hour. Just imagine how long it would take to upload 10TB of data! Fortunately, with attached folders, the time it takes to complete the initial upload will not determine how long the cloud migration will take. Instead, everything is immediately accessible even as the data in the attached folder is synchronized with the cloud in the background.

There are several advantages of using the cloud to share files. For instance, FTP servers require that an additional communication channel (port 21) be opened through your firewall, increasing your attack surface. Cloud communication, on the other hand requires no additional channels since it uses http on port 80 which is already allowed through most firewalls. Security is further enhanced since we use a secure version of http called https on port 443.

In addition to being more secure, a cloud FTP solution tends to be more cost effective, efficient and reliable. There is no need to maintain FTP servers onsite and there are efficiencies of scale that can be leveraged when the infrastructure required for reliability is centralized and managed by cloud storage service providers.

What’s more, Gladinet Cloud can be configured to use Amazon S3, or any of these providers (Google Cloud Storage, Openstack, Rackspace, and any S3 compatible service) as its internal storage, yielding a file sharing solution that is completely under your control while leveraging the benefits of cloud storage to provide a secure, easily managed file sharing solution that should prove a welcome FTP replacement for many small and medium sized organizations.

To see an example, please take a look at this file sharing video.

For more information about our solutions, please visit our website.

Use Case 1 – Connect to Your Online Storage Accounts

You have online storage accounts such as Google Docs, Box.net and etc. You want to connect to them from Windows Explorer and transfer documents using drag and drop.

You need Gladinet Cloud Desktop for its Cloud Drive feature.

It is $40 per user. Perpetual License for the current version. Click here to purchase.

Use Case 2 – PC-2-PC Synchronization

You have a local folder that you want to be able to sync to a local folder on your other PC. You plan to use Cloud storage service as a repository and conduit to take snapshots of the local folder to record files that are changed.

Use Case 3 – Simple Backup of Music, Pictures, Files and Video

You just want the ability to store these media files on cloud storage. It is a simple local to cloud storage copying and mirroring feature.

For all the above 3 use cases, you need Gladinet Cloud Desktop for its Cloud Drive feature.

It is $40 per user. Perpetual License for the current version. Click here to purchase.

Use Case 4 – Snapshot Backup

You need a more sophisticated backup solution, with the ability to take snapshot of your files and folders.

You need Gladinet Cloud Backup. If you are already a Gladinet Cloud Desktop user, you don’t need to download the cloud backup stand-alone package. You can simply purchase the license here and apply the license to the Gladinet Cloud Desktop add-on in the Gladinet Cloud Desktop.

It is $5/month/PC. It is a monthly subscription model. Click here to purchase.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop

Gladinet CloudAFS™

Gladinet Cloud Backup

Quick Start Videos

AT&T Synaptic Storage

Gladinet Product Quick Start Video w/ AT&T Synaptic Storage

Purchase Gladinet Enablers for AT&T Synaptic Storage

	Add 5 Connection License Pack	Purchase Additional Backup Licenses
	Add 10 Connection License Pack
	Add 50 Connection License Pack

Version 3.0.569 (Feb 5, 2011)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 3.0.569.11801 [14.3MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 3.0.569.11801 [17.9MB]

• New Cloud Sync Folder
  Cloud Sync Folder is a new feature in the release. It syncs a location folder across different computers, using the corresponding cloud storage to manage version history. Check here for details.
• New Management Console
  Management Console is completely rewritten. It makes task management easier.
• Performance Enhancement and Bug Fixes

Version 2.5.551 (Jan 23, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.5.551.11424 [12.4MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.5.551.11424 [16.0MB]

• Enhance Google Docs, Azure and Amazon S3 support

  • Google Docs: Fix the issue that in certain accounts, only shared folder can be viewed.
  • Azure: Support Azure when access in certain 3G networks
  • Amazon S3: Keep file ACL during rename

• Performance Enhancement and Bug Fixes

Version 2.5.529 (Dec 24, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.5.529.11003 [12.5MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.5.529.11003 [15.9MB]

• Subfolder Support for Mirrored Cloud Folder
  Mirrored Cloud Folder used to only support files directly under the folder. There is no subfolder support. From the release, mirrored cloud folder will traverse all the subfolders to sync with local. Moreover, the sync target folder is moved to your desktop, instead of Gladinet Cache. It makes offline access easier.

• Enhance Google Premier Support

• Performance Enhancement and Bug Fixes

Version 2.4.514 (Nov 19, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.4.514.10590 [12.3MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.4.514.10590 [15.9MB]

• Support Google Docs New Interface
  Google Docs has upgraded its interface. The new release supports the new interface to upload to Google Docs.

• Skydrive Bug Fixes
  Will not get session time out when access Skydrive

• Support Deletion in Cloud Explorer
• File deletion in Google Docs for Google Apps now follow the setting to decide whether to keep the file to trash folder.

Version 2.4.502 (Oct 31, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.4.502.10366 [12.3MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.4.502.10366 [15.9MB]

• Terminology Change: Mirrored and Snapshot Backup
  We rename the old Backup function in Cloud Desktop 2.3 release to Mirrored Backup. We integrate Gladinet Cloud Backup to Cloud Desktop in the release, as Snapshot Backup.

  • Mirrored Backup: This was the ‘Backup’ function of 2.3 and before, in Gladinet Cloud Desktop. It creates a mirrored copy of your source file, in the target cloud. When the source files change, Gladinet Cloud Desktop will overwrite the file in target cloud, to create a mirrored copy. The old ‘Backup’ task will keep working, as mirrored backup, in the new release.
    Read here for details.

  • Snapshot Backup: The new Backup function works the same way as Gladinet Cloud Backup. Snapshot Backup backs up the source folders/files to cloud as snapshots. It supports incremental upload of the updated file, to avoid a full upload when the file is modified. It supports backing up of open/locked files, and Windows State, SQL Servers and Exchange Servers.
    User can restore from any snapshot, to the original source folder or to a new location.
    Please notice that a separate license is required for the Mirrored Backup function.
    Read here for details.

  Here is a detailed comparison of Mirrored Backup and Snapshot Backup.

• Add ACL control when mount S3 bucket

  When mount a S3 bucket, you can define the default permission. Files uploaded to the bucket will always have the default ACL. The value supported are:

  • private
  • public-read
  • public-read-write
  • authenticated-read
  • bucket-owner-read
  • bucket-owner-full-control

• Auto Disable Performance Impact Internet Explorer setting
  In certain systems, especially Vista and Windows 7, one default Internet Explorer setting can slow down Windows access to mapped network drive. Gladinet will auto disable the setting from this release. You can disable it manually. Check here for details.

• Skydrive Bug Fixes
  Fix Skydrive download issues in certain cases

• Various performance enhancement and bug fixes

Version 2.4.494 (Oct 24, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.4.494.10286 [12.3MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.4.494.10286 [15.9MB]

• The Gladinet Cloud Backup product is available as a separate add-on to Gladinet Cloud Desktop in the release. For existing users, please notice the old Backup feature was renamed to Sync because sync better describes the old feature set. The local folders can be monitored and sync to the cloud storage as a second copy.

  • Sync: This was the ‘Backup’ function of previous Cloud Desktop release. Cloud Desktop monitors the local source folders/files and uploads the source files with the same folder structure to the cloud storage. There is only one copy of the source file synchronized to the cloud. If there is any file change locally, Cloud Desktop will overwrite the copy in the target. You can use this feature to create a second copy of the local files and folders for backup purpose. See here for details.

  • Backup: The new Backup function works the same way as Gladinet Cloud Backup. Cloud Backup backs up the source folders/files to cloud as snapshots. Admin can define how often to create a full snapshot. After a full snapshot, when the source file is modified, if OS supports, Cloud Backup will only do an incremental upload of the changes. No full upload is required. Backup also supports uploading open/locked files. User can restore from any snapshot. Please notice that a separate license is required for the Backup function.
    See here for details.

• Support Rackspace CloudFiles

• Support CAStor Storage
• Support Google Apps Premier

• Support Skip Initial Upload in Sync task

• Various performance enhancement and bug fixes

Version 2.3.432 (Aug 30, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.3.432.9299 [11.2MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.3.432.9299 [14.8MB]

• Support Amazon S3 bucket mount
  In the release, user can mount a bucket in Amazon S3 storage in Gladinet directly.
  The advantages to mount a bucket, instead of the whole S3:

  • Support all Amazon regions, including US, US West, Europe and Asia Pacific.
  • Can add files in the mounted virtual directory root, while Amazon S3 doesn’t support files under root level.
  • Less buckets to manage in Amazon S3
• Support Dunkel Cloud Storage

• Support Converted Google Apps account for Google Docs
  A new mount called Converted Google Apps Account is added. It can be used for those Google Apps accounts which have been converted to Google Docs.

• Various bug fixes

Version 2.3.392 (July 4, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.3.392.8674 [11.2MB]
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.3.392.8674 [14.7MB]

• Support Storage Package
  From the release, the cloud services Gladinet supports is split in to different Storage Packages. Starter Edition (the free edition) will only support one Storage Package. During the initial settings, you need to select the package fits you best. Right now we have the following packages.

  • Default

    Includes Amazon S3, Box.net, FTP, Google Docs, Google Apps, Google Picasa, Local File system, Skydrive, Google Apps, WebDav, etc

  • AT&T Synaptic Storage

  • EMC Atmos
  • Mezeo Personal Cloud
  • Nirvanix Storage
  • Windows Azure Blob Storage
  • Generic Google Storage for Developer

  • Peer1 CloudOne

  After you select a package, you can mount the storage included in the package free. However, if you want to mount any storage not included in the package, you’ll need a Professional license.

• New Gladinet Cloud Space Service
  Gladinet Cloud Space service is a brand new service. It provides browser access to all the cloud storage you have mounted in Gladinet Cloud Desktop instance. You can configure the Cloud Space service in Gladinet Cloud Desktop. After that, if you are away from the machine, as long as Cloud Desktop is running, you can login to mycloud.gladinet.com from browser and access all your virtual directories.

  • - Please notice that to access your virtual directories in Gladinet Cloud Space service, Gladinet Cloud Desktop has to be running on your machine.
• Performance enhancement
• Enhance Google Docs support.

• New Local Disk support.
  You can mount your local folder in Gladinet Cloud Desktop directly. Just select ‘Local Disk’ in the storage list and type in your full path for the folder to be shared. Together with the Cloud Space service, you can access your local files anywhere from a browser.

• Various bug fixes

Version 2.1.357 (May 10, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.1.357.8065 [11.2MB] May 10, 2010
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.1.357.8065 [12.4MB] May 10, 2010

• Fix login problems in
  • Google Docs
  • Google Docs for Google Apps
  • Skydrive
• Performance Fix
• Memory Usage Enhancement

Version 2.0.350 (Mar 22, 2010)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 2.0.350.7438 [11.2MB] Mar 22, 2010
Starter Edition 64-bit version 2.0.350.7438 [12.4MB] Mar 22, 2010

• Gladinet Management Console
  • The new Management Console integrates the old virtual directory manager, task manager, settings manager, backup manager and audit trace into one single UI. It is much easier to navigate here, than in 1.x release. Task Manager is re-worked to make task management simpler.
  • Gladinet Cache Manager
    • Cache Manager makes cache management easier. User can choose between 3 pre-defined cache modes. User can also customize cache settings and check all cached files.
  • Support encryption, compression in folder level.
    • Can define which folder in Gladinet to encrypt and compress files during uploaded.
  • Support chunk per virtual directory, instead of global.
    • Can define which storage to support chunk. And each storage has its own split size.
  • Support Mirrored folder
    • Mirrored folder is a new feature in Gladinet. Mirrored folder keeps syncing with cloud storage.
  • Smart Bandwidth Control
    • Gladinet can slow down network activities when user starts to browse web. When the browser stays idle, Gladinet can resume the regular network speed.
  • New Gladinet Cloud Explorer
    • Gladinet Cloud Explorer is a new tool to access the mounted storage in Gladinet. It can be useful when Gladinet can’t mount the drive. It supports some advanced features. For example, access control in Azure and Amazon S3.

      For existing XP/2003 users, with Gladinet Cloud Explorer, Gladinet decommissioned Gladinet Virtual Adapter. If you are using Gladinet Virtual Adapter to solve the port 80 conflict, Gladinet will not mount My Gladinet Drive in 2.0. You can use Gladinet Cloud Explorer to access your virtual directory. You can also follow Gladinet Trouble Shooting Guide to solve the port 80 conflict with Gladinet.

• Better support for Google Docs and Google Docs for Google Apps
  • Support Google Docs any file upload

  • User can disable Google Docs conversion when upload files to Google Docs. See our How-to guide here.

  • User can enable SSL connection to Google Docs. See our How-to guide here.

• Enhance WebDav https support

• Amazon S3 and Azure ACL support in Gladinet Cloud Explorer

• New Wiki Guide

  • We update our Wiki for 2.0 release.

    Please check here for details about 2.0 features.

Version 1.4.232 (Dec 23, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.4.232.6355 [8.9MB] Dec 23, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.4.232.6355 [10.0MB] Dec 23, 2009

• Support Windows Azure Blob Storage
• Support Network Resource
  • Mount network share

• Various bug fixes

Hotfix 6356 (Jan 25, 2010)

• Support All File Type upload in Google Docs
  When upload files to Google Docs, Gladinet will convert the following files to Google Docs format: .doc, .xls, .odt, .ods and .ppt files. For the rest type of files, Gladinet will upload them with the new All File Type support. Please notice that it will use the 1G limit in Google Docs.
  For 1.4.232 user, please start Gladinet and verify Auto Update in Tools->Settings. If Auto Update is enabled, Gladinet will download the hotfix automatically.

Version 1.4.225 (Nov 30, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.4.225.6058 [9.0MB] Nov 30, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.4.225.6058 [10.0MB] Nov 30, 2009

• Support Nirvanix Storage
• New Initial Mounting to enhance first time experience
  • First time user can select which storage to mount when start Gladinet
• Backup task configurable to delete files during backup
  • It used to be that when source file was deleted, backup task won’t delete the corresponding target file. Now it is configurable in Professional Edition.
  • The configuration only applies to regular folder backups, not file type backups.
• Performance tuning for file type backup
  • File type backup (the task to backup all your Documents, Pictures, Musics or Videos) will start faster.

• Various bug fixes

Known issue:

• When change any parameter in backup task, have to restart Gladinet Cloud Desktop to make the new configuration in effect.

Version 1.4.218 (Nov 16, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.4.218.5865 [8.8MB] Nov 16, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.4.218.5865 [10.0MB] Nov 16, 2009

• New File Type Backup
  • Backup documents, pictures, musics and videos on your local disks
• Support new interface to Google Docs for Google Apps
• Mount Skydrive shared folders from friends
• Various bug fixes

Version 1.3.208 (Oct 27, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.3.208.5638 (8.7MB) Oct 27, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.3.208.5638 [9.9MB] Oct 27, 2009

• Online Service (Beta)
  • Share profile among all your computers
• Cloud Gateway Support
  • Access central Gladinet Cloud Gateway
• Support new Google Docs interface

• Support AT&T Synaptic Storage

• New Settings Window
• New Context Menu to Clear Folder Cache and Refresh File
• Various bug fixes

Version 1.2.191 (Sept 28, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.2.191.5060 [12.3MB] Sept 28, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.2.191.5060 [12.3MB] Sept 28, 2009

• Support Proxy
  • Setup Proxy in Gladinet Initial Settings.
• New Gladinet Task Center
• Optional User Register in Starter Edition
• Enhanced EMC Atmos Support
• Various bug fixes

Version 1.2.178 (Sept 7, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.2.178.4761 [12.4MB] Sept 7, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.2.178.4761 [12.4MB] Sept 7, 2009

• New Audit Trace Viewer
• On-demand chunk enabling if hit storage single file size limitation
• Edit title for My Gladinet Drive in Initial Settings
• Enable/Disable Verification in task process
• New Plugin Upgrader
• Various bug fixes

Version 1.2.168 (Aug 31, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.2.168.4679 [12.3MB] Aug 31, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.2.168.4679 [12.3MB] Aug 31, 2009

• New Backup Manager
  • Add more source folders
  • Add more target folders
  • Edit backup name
  • Reschedule backup task
  • Individual include/exclude settings for each backup task
• Support SSL in Google Docs for Google Apps
• Google Docs bug fixes

Version 1.2.160 (Aug 18, 2009)

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.2.160.4507 [12.2MB] Aug 18, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.2.160.4507 [12.2MB] Aug 18, 2009

• Google Docs Backup
• New Virtual Directory Manager
• Simplified systray menu for first time users
• Task Manager is now available in Starter Edition
• New license enforement
  • Starter Edition is now limited to 1000 subtasks per task
  • Google Docs for Google Apps only available in Professional Edition
• Ability to Pause/Resume all tasks in the Systray Menu
• More Gladinet Applications in the “All Programs” menu
• Backup monitoring task optimizations

Version 1.1.151

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.1.151.4267 [11.8MB] July 24, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.1.151.4265 [11.8MB] July 24, 2009

• Support Google Docs new interface

• New Task Manager

• Upload Performance Optimization
• Faster download. Support parallel download
• Usability Improvement

Version 1.1.139

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.1.139.4045 [11.8MB] July 13, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.1.139.4045 [11.8MB] July 13, 2009

• Multiple threads in upload task
• Faster upload. GCD won’t cache file(s) during upload anymore
• Various bug fixs on FTP, Atmos, Google Docs and Amazon S3

Version 1.1.134

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.1.134.3922 [11.7MB] Jun 30, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.1.134.3922 [11.7MB] Jun 30, 2009

New Storage

• FTP Server

• Regular WebDav

• Amazon S3 EU buckets
• Box.Net
• EMC Atmos onLine

• Google Apps
  Cannot download xls files from Google Apps yet.

New Functions

• Support multiple sessions in Terminal server/Citrix server environment

• ‘Force Start Now’ in Gladinet Task Manager
  When a scheduled task is pending in Task Manager, you can right click it and select ‘Force to Start Now’, to start the task even when the schedued time is not reached yet

• New mounting page
• New Initial Setting page

• Gladient Side Panel is not displayed by default
  If you need to access Gladient Side Panel, in windows explorer, select ‘View’->’Explorer Bar’->’Gladinet Side Panel’. On Vista, you need to check ‘Origanize’->’Layout’->’Menu Bar’ to display the explorer main menu first.

Version 1.0

Starter Edition 32-bit version 1.0.121.3511 [11.7MB] May 18, 2009
Starter Edition 64-bit version 1.0.121.3511 [11.7MB] May 18, 2009

• Support Many-to-many backup

• Gladinet Side Panel is moved to explorer bar menu

• Add more settings

• Easy bandwidth control in Task Manager

• Easy exclude list configuration in Backup Manager

SkyDrive is cool with 25G free online storage. It is like a virtual key drive to keep files handy without worrying where you have put the key chains. As long as you have your hotmail or MSN messenger credentials ready, you can get in and get out of SkyDrive easily.

It is practical to store daily documents on SkyDrive for backup purpose. This article talks about a way to backup daily from local PC to SkyDrive.

(more…)

Cloud Storage is a hot topic this year. Google I/O is talking about it with the introduction of Google Storage for Developers. EMC World is talking about the journey to the private cloud. HostingCon this year is almost completely dedicated to “the cloud”.

You are fully aware of what it is by now. Have you tried it yourself? If you haven’t, here are several steps to jump in. If you have, jump in in the middle.

(more…)

What is the easiest way to access Amazon S3, Windows Azure Storage, EMC Atmos, Google Storage, or just the cloud storage as the inclusive term?

As a home user, perhaps the easiest is a desktop client tool. Install the desktop client tool, putting in Amazon S3 access key and secret key, you can access Amazon S3 from Windows Explorer directly. For example, Gladinet Cloud Desktop is one such desktop application, connecting directly to the cloud storage.

However, for an SMB with a small IT staff, the desktop client may not be the easiest, since it still require some installation and configuration work. The easiest could be a cloud storage solution that allows the end user access the cloud transparently, meaning they don’t even need to know that they are using cloud storage.

This is when a Cloud Gateway comes in.

(more…)

In this article earlier, we talked about Amazon S3 usage is picking up exponentially. This is a very good indicator of how people like and trust Amazon S3 for their online storage.

This article will describe a practical method to access Amazon S3, securely from your local PC.

Gladinet has 3 products, Cloud Desktop, CloudAFS and Cloud Backup. The 3 products are all capable of encrypt file content before sending them off to Amazon S3. Today we will focus on the Gladinet Cloud Desktop. The User Interface is consistent through out the 3 products. Once you know one, you can use all of them.

(more…)

Google Docs is an online application, with web-based word processor, spreadsheet editor and presentation tools.

Google Docs is also an online storage. One of the unique differentiator is that it is very cheap at 25 cents per GB per year. It also supports all-file-type so you can store many different kind of documents to it. It also support non-conversion for documents so you can use it as a binary storage. You can also choose to convert documents to Google format, so you can enjoy the online features to edit and share documents.

This is all good. Today’s article will talk about how to use Google Docs as a backup destination to keep a second copy of important local documents.

(more…)

Hard drive is a commodity. Whether it is IDE, EIDE or SATA, you buy the right one and you can plug it directly into your computer.

A commodity is a good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. Commodities are substances that come out of the earth and maintain roughly a universal price

Quote – Wikipedia

Cloud Storage is becoming a commodity. The pricing is becoming similar with the interface becoming similar too across cloud storage vendors.

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