Spacedrive developers introduce the concept of VDFS (Virtual Distributed Filesystem), a mechanism that allows you to benefit from a single large storage space on the cloud by combining the storage available on Google Drive, Dropbox, Apple iCloud and so on. With Spacedrivewhich is proposed as a universal file manager, you can manage data locally, on other devices and on cloud storage platforms.
What is VDFS
VDFS is a file system designed to support different levels of data storage. With a single API that allows you to manipulate and access content across many devices, VDFS generates, manages and maintains a virtual index of all locations used for data storage. The database is synchronized between the user’s various clients in real time.
The implementation also uses the approach CAS (Content-addressable storage) to uniquely identify files and maintain a record of logical file paths with reference to their respective storage locations.
The file system underlying the operation of Spacedrive is the result of work carried out in 2018 by Haoyuan Li at the University of California (Berkeley).
The reasons for the birth of Spacedrive
Most users own account cloud multiple, activated at the same provider or on different providers. Not to mention the information not subjected to backupwith data at risk of loss.
Spacedrive combines the storage capabilities of different sources creating one platform distributed cloud e personal. The goal is to make personal data independent of the operating system and permanent, as well as ensuring that it always remains under your exclusive control.
Entirely developed in Rust languageSpacedrive presents itself as a versatile, flexible and above all safe file manager, avoiding the memory security vulnerabilities that are common to the vast majority of “old-fashioned” applications.
Open architecture: source code available on GitHub
Spacedrive’s interface closely resembles that of File Explorer in Windows 11, with the difference that in addition to allowing the management of items stored locally, the application allows you to click on Add location in the left column to set up your cloud accounts.
Il source code of Spacedrive is publicly available on repository GitHub of the project: the software has in factopen architecture and is distributed under the AGPL license. Anyone can therefore check how it works “behind the scenes”, reporting any problems and actively participating in the development phase.
A development that is by no means concluded: the creators of Spacedrive, in fact, specify that the program will be released in its definitive version by the end of 2023. roadmap summarizes the features that will enrich Spacedrive over the next few months.