How to use Gmail space as Hard Disk Space

As we all know, Gmail offers free 2+ GB space (and its still growing) for its users. This free offering of this huge online space has tempted many to use it as their Online Data Storage Disk. There are many tools available to accomplish it. Lets us analyse two best utilities around:

GMail Drive shell extension and GSpace Firefox extension.

GMail Drive shell extension

GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Gmail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium. It creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.

When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer. You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag'n'drop like you're used to with the normal Explorer folders.

Because the Gmail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.

Fig 1: GMail Drive in My Computer. Click to Enlarge.

An Important note from the Creator:

"Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There's still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters). Since the tool hooks up with the free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool's ability to function. I cannot guarantee that files stored in this manner will be accessible in the future. "

Download URL: http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

GSpace Firefox extension

This extension allows you to use your Gmail Space (2.5 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system. The interface will make your Gmail account look like a FTP host. After the installation, you'll get an option called "GSpace" in your "Tools" menu, which opens the GSpace window. It's great for storing/sharing files with your friends. Also very good to backup photos and music files (as you can view/listen to them from Gspace).

Fig 2: GSpace Interface. Click to enlarge.

Download Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1593/