Xdrive releases AIR-based file manager

Now that AIR 1.0 has officially shipped, it's time to start experimenting with applications based on the shiny new platform, like the AIR-based file management application for AOL's Xdrive, Xdrive Desktop Light. I got a quick demo of this new application at CES in January, but now that it's out we can take a look at how well an AIR-based application can compare with a mature desktop application.

Xdrive gets AIR.

I like AIR applications, but it's very early days for this platform, and it shows in Xdrive Desktop Light. The application is pretty, and it does a few things very well, but in other areas it's very different from standard applications--enough to be frustrating.

My frustration with Xdrive Desktop Light centers on how it works with files on a local PC. To AOL's credit, it's cool that you can browse files on your PC and just drag them to your Xdrive folders. But the way Xdrive displays your local files is nonstandard: There's no tree view, which makes finding buried directories a chore. Also, you can't drag files that are displayed in list view; you have to switch to the slower icon view before you can grab them.

However, once have the files identified, transferring them between local and network drives is very easy and fast. More importantly, sharing your online files is extremely easy. From with Desktop Light you can send e-mail links to files or to folders, you can define the sharing permissions for them, and you can easily delete the shares. Xdrive will also host image and media files for you (users get 5GB of storage free; no word on bandwidth caps), and there's a viewer provided if you want to embed photos.

Of course, since Desktop Light is an AIR application, it will run on both Windows PCs and Macs.

Sharing and embedding is extremely easy.

Missing are the full backup functions from the older desktop application, its capability to automatically sync media files from PC to network, as well as the older application's native Windows speed. Also missing is the Windows application's painfully slow installation process, which requires a reboot.

AOL has announced its plan to eventually retire its PC-only desktop application in favor of an AIR-based front-end, but the company is smart to not do that today. Xdrive Desktop Light looks good and is easy to use for many purposes, but it's no replacement for a rich desktop application.

By the way, stay tuned for Webware coverage of Adobe's big day-long event, Engage, which is taking place Monday in San Francisco.

[goorsha]

For all online backup and storage related info, I recommend this website:

http://www.BackupReview.info

[jglassenberg]

Hopefully this new interface makes XDrive a more reliable service. I haven't used it in over a year and a half, but ran into too many complications to use this as a reliable means of backup.

I'm a bigger fan of Box.net (http://www.box.net). It's not as geared towards file backup as XDrive, but the features are much better for internet storage purposes.

[jcoughlan]

Rafe -- Thanks for the write-up and interest on our new Xdrive application using Adobe's AIR technology. We're really excited about the product and hope our users enjoy it. The product is currently in beta, and we welcome everyone's comments and suggestions on how we can improve our features and functionality.

We wanted to give you and your readers the heads-up that we have come across some issues related to the file sharing function, and we have a fix which we are currently testing and planning to deploy in the next few days. In the meantime, users can still share files via the folder share function, as the issues we've discovered only impact individual file sharing.

Sincerely,

The Xdrive Team

[XDMOlson]

Hello Xdrive Team,

Thanks for taking the time to post here in regards to the issues that Xdrive consumers are currently encountering when using the Send a file feature in the Web Interface (legacy) application and yes even in the New release of the Xdrive Desktop Lite - Beta application.

I've yet to test the Send a file feature using the Xdrive Desktop (legacy) application V161 but I do know that consumers are still reporting issues with the CompleteLog.txt file running continuously and Error Code 1638 during backups which states that an upgrade to V161 is required yet consumers are already running the new release V161.

The new Xdrive Desktop (legacy) application V162 has just been released tonight. I do not know what issues they addressed and resolved in this release of the Xdrive Desktop (legacy) application but let's hope that it addresses the backup issues and the CompleteLog.txt files that runs continuously.

Get the new Xdrive Desktop (legacy) application V162 at http://www.xdrive.com/downloads

I'll point posters from dev.aol.com to these comments.

-XDMOlson

[shankar_ramani]

Folks,
Of what use are new interfaces when basic reliability of Xdrive is a question? I have been an Xdrive user for more than 2 years and continued to face several bugs during this period as well as inconsistencies in billing and customer support. They got taken over by AOL and this created another big confusion and mess. I had trouble with them recognizing that I was a premium user.

The latest and final incident for me was that my entire folder of 10 GB of data was missing one morning. I've complained to Xdrive support and haven't heard back for a month. Xdrive is a buggy service and extremely unreliable - in the first few months, I gave it the benefit of doubt and decided to live with these in return for the features it offered. As time went by things have only gotten worse. I share files across the globe - users in Australia, Europe and India complain that the performance is terrible.

Unless basic management, support levels and infrastructure for XDrive is rectified, I don't see how creating new and jazzy interfaces and additional features is going to help. I am one of these users who has tested virtually every feature of Xdrive as it evolved - I can tell you exactly which feature won't work when. I've also tested it heavily during the course of my team's usage on large volume of data.

In all, I am happy to move away from Xdrive and thank heavens for my data backup I had outside if Xdrive. Box.net is what I am using now and wow what a huge difference! Box.net is heavenly when compared to Xdrive.

[gsmall--2008]

I'd love to use XDrive but like many others found logging on by default -- no mattrer which way the checkbox was set for logging. My completeLog.TXT grew to 8 gig and filled my C: drive. I will have to de-install it as there is absolutely no support available other than "browse a webpage and hope yuor question is there".

AOL continues to amaze me with their apparent lack of customer service.