Today I’d like to introduce you to the best, to my opinion, tool for managing files in your Amazon S3 account.
What is Amazon S3?
Amazon S3 is a cloud based online storage and hosting service provided by Amazon. Initially it was created as an interface for developers to build their services on top of it. But its reliability combined with really moderate cost made it a perfect solution for offsite backup file storage, image hosting and streaming video publishing.
You can read more about Amazon S3 in FLV Mate FAQ.
1. JungleDisk ($30)
JungleDisk allows you to mount a bucket as a local disk drive. You can drag and drop files to this drive and they are uploaded to Amazon S3 in the background. You can automate backups using built in scheduler. JungleDisk works on Mac and PC and you can run it from a portable USB drive.
One of the cons is JungleDisk uses special proprietary way to store your files, so they don’t appear as normal files in other Amazo S3 clients. They provide open source library to retrieve your data from Amazon S3 and support so-called compatibility buckets that you can use with other clients though.
2. Gladinet Cloud Desktop (Free or $60)
Windows only tool to mount Amazon S3 as a local drive. It also supports mounting Google application like Google Docs and Picasa as local drives so you can manage your pictures and document from Windows Explorer.
The paid version is a bit pricy but they offer a discount for home users.
3. Cyberduck (Free)
Cyberduck is the ultimate Mac FTP client. It supports FTP, SFTP, WebDav and Amazon S3. It has slick interface with quickly accessible bookmarks and allows you to easy browse a deep folder structure. Best of all, it’s free.
4. Bucket Explorer ($40)
Two killer features of Bucket Explorer is a proxy with NTLM authentication support and file versioning. Apart from that it supports everything you can imagine and more. Runs on Windows and Mac.
5. S3Fox Organiser (Free)
S3Fox is not exactly an application but a Firefox browser add-on. You can use it to upload and download multiple files, set access permissions and manage Amazon CoundFront distributions. It supports drag’n’drop and folder synchronisation and runs on all platforms that Firefox runs on.
6. Cross FTP ($25)
Cross FTP is another multiprotocol, multiplatform file transfer client with Amazon S3 support. It lacks features comparing to competitors but you might like it if you prefer two panels, FileZila like interface. Can run off the USB drive.
7. S3 Browser (Free or $30)
S3 Browser is Windows only free S3 tool. It supports multiple Amazon S3 accounts, S3 metadata editing and bucket sharing on top of other features. You need to register if you use it for commercial purposes. It can run off the USB drive but you have to pay extra $10 for it.
8. Cloud Berry S3 Explorer (Free)
Free Windows tool with two panel interface. The killer feature of this program is tabs support, something I miss in Cyberduck. You can have several different sessions to different Amazon S3 accounts, or even S3 to S3 sessions open in the same window. Best free tool for Windows.
Conclusion
If you’d like to use Amazon S3 as an online backup solution, JungleDisk is a best tool that can mount Amazon S3 bucket as a local disk drive. It works on both Mac and PC. If you use Windows and want a free solution, check out Gladinet Cloud Desktop Starter.
If you use Mac, Cyberduck is the best remote file management program you can get. You can manage FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3 using one easy to use interface. On Windows free Cloud Berry S3 Explorer does the trick.
Bucker Explorer is fantastic multiplatform tool if you prepared to pay premium.
I personally use JungleDisk on my Mac and PC laptops to store documents, photos and backups and manage my videos using Cyberduck.
Tell me about your favourite Amazon S3 tool by leaving a comment.
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