How to Use Gmail as a 1Gb Hard Drive
Online hard drive services (like Xdrive -- 5Gb storage for $9.95/mo) have been around for a long time, and can really come in handy as a backup drive, or as a way to access files from more than one computer. But if you don't need all the features of a service like Xdrive, there's another option. Gmail.
Google gives Gmail members 1Gb worth of storage. For free. One way to use that space for files is to email them to yourself as attachments. A cooler and slightly geekier way to do it is to use GmailDrive. This little program adds a GmailDrive folder on your computer. Then whenever you want to send a file to your Gmail account, you just drag and drop it in.
If you've got GmailDrive installed on another computer, you just open it and drag the files from Gmail to your desktop. And if you don't have GmailDrive installed, you can still access the files by logging into Gmail the normal way and downloading the files.
I think Gmail membership is still invitation-only at this point, but invitations aren't hard to come by. You can get one at iSnoop.net or from just about any current Gmail member.
GmailDrive only works on WindowsXP, but Mac OSX users might try looking at the MacOSHints forum for some possible Mac options. Linux users can use GmailFS -- read about it at Richard Jones' Google Hacks blog.
Also, there's another program for WinXP called RoamDrive that does the same sort of thing, but works with HotMail and MSN accounts as well as Gmail. I haven't tried it since GmailDrive is doing the trick for me, but anybody considering it should know its free (ad supported) and requires version 1.1 of the .NET framework (if you don't have .NET installed, RoamDrive will automatically download and install it for you -- that's a 23Mb download).
Thanks to Barb Dybwad for her post at Engadget -- HOW-TO: Use your Gmail account as a personal file server -- for bringing GmailDrive to our attention. You can read her post for step-by-step instructions for setting up GmailDrive -- with screenshots and everything!
Categories: Gmail, software, freestuff
Google gives Gmail members 1Gb worth of storage. For free. One way to use that space for files is to email them to yourself as attachments. A cooler and slightly geekier way to do it is to use GmailDrive. This little program adds a GmailDrive folder on your computer. Then whenever you want to send a file to your Gmail account, you just drag and drop it in.
If you've got GmailDrive installed on another computer, you just open it and drag the files from Gmail to your desktop. And if you don't have GmailDrive installed, you can still access the files by logging into Gmail the normal way and downloading the files.
I think Gmail membership is still invitation-only at this point, but invitations aren't hard to come by. You can get one at iSnoop.net or from just about any current Gmail member.
GmailDrive only works on WindowsXP, but Mac OSX users might try looking at the MacOSHints forum for some possible Mac options. Linux users can use GmailFS -- read about it at Richard Jones' Google Hacks blog.
Also, there's another program for WinXP called RoamDrive that does the same sort of thing, but works with HotMail and MSN accounts as well as Gmail. I haven't tried it since GmailDrive is doing the trick for me, but anybody considering it should know its free (ad supported) and requires version 1.1 of the .NET framework (if you don't have .NET installed, RoamDrive will automatically download and install it for you -- that's a 23Mb download).
Thanks to Barb Dybwad for her post at Engadget -- HOW-TO: Use your Gmail account as a personal file server -- for bringing GmailDrive to our attention. You can read her post for step-by-step instructions for setting up GmailDrive -- with screenshots and everything!
Categories: Gmail, software, freestuff
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