cloudmounter vs expandrive vs mountain duck

That’s because Apple is taking the work it did to supporting its own cloud-storage system, including support for on-demand files right within the APFS filesystem, and allowing other apps to tie into it. Once you log in to a cloud service via StrongSync, you get a view into that service that’s very much like the view you get when you look at iCloud Drive. ExpanDrive says that StrongSync is the first macOS File Provider app to ship. This framework basically allows third-party apps to provide a bridge between the Mac’s filesystem and their cloud-storage providers of choice.

Right now, cloud storage providers such as those services I mentioned above, and others such as Dropbox, work on the Mac via kernel extensions, a method of modifying the Mac system software that is not going to stick around much longer because of Apple’s increased focus on macOS security.įor storage providers the alternative to using kernel extensions is macOS Big Sur’s File Provider framework. But it’s perhaps most interesting as a sign of how Apple sees the future of cloud storage on the Mac. StrongSync currently just works with Box, OneDrive for Business, Google Drive, and Sharepoint, with other services on the way.

Long-time Mac storage utility maker ExpanDrive has launched StrongSync, a $50 utility that… sort of does what ExpanDrive already does? Like its big brother, StrongSync allows you to view cloud storage services as if they were hard drives mounted on your Mac. This is Google Drive, but it looks just like iCloud Drive. StrongSync: A peek at the future of cloud files on the Mac

Cloudmounter vs expandrive vs mountain duck