Filed under: Software
JetS3t offers another option for Amazon S3 access
At 15¢ per gig, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) is rapidly becoming an online storage standard, with companies like 37Signals and SmugMug storing information adding up to terabytes. On a slightly smaller scale, I transfer a few gigs on S3 every month, both to and from my Mac and server-to-server, and my bill is usually under $10. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to take advantage of this inexpensive yet massive storage system.
Several Mac applications have already added S3 support, including Transmit, Interarchy and Forklift. That's a cool step for such applications because it integrates your various file transferring tools (FTP, SFTP, S3, etc.) into one app, which I would love... if it worked reliably. But the only application I've consistently had luck with – as in not constantly crashing – is JungleDisk, which uses a webDAV system for filestorage that allows an S3 bucket (a subsection, or folder, in your S3 account) to be mounted as a local filesystem, but makes the filesystem on the web inaccessible to other programs. And you can't make files public outside of your local network. I've generally resorted to S3Fox - a very capable Firefox addon - and a command-line ruby script called s3sync.
However, I also discovered the JetS3t Java toolkit today. In addition to the toolkit, the JetS3t download also includes an application suite. Of primary interest to me was the Cockpit application, which provides an S3 browser with upload and download capabilities, as well as ACL control. There are also apps for setting up gateways and providing a secure, distributable client.
I'd like to begin by saying that I loathe Java applications on a Mac, not least because they're ugly. But Cockpit is one of the fastest S3 browsers I've ever used. Looking past the fact that you have to launch it from the command line (yes, you can fix that), it has no integration with other Mac apps, and its underwhelming aesthetics, I have to admit that it really does get the job done. It even has little extras, like the ability to generate Torrent URLs or a temporary URL that which allows people to download a file for a specified period of time. It probably won't replace my current tools, but it was worth a trip to the dark (Java) side. I hope it inspires some Cocoa browsers that are faster, more flexible and more stable than what we've got.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RobK said 10:21AM on 2-12-2008
JetS3t is awesome. I was surprised that it was not listed on MacUpdate (until yesterday). Even though it is a Java app, it is very fast. It also allows you to encrypt the data first before it is sent via SSL to the Amazon S3 servers. (You can choose the type of crypto (e.g. AES 256 bit etc)). If you can't see the strong crypto options, you may need to install the Java Crypto Extensions (JCE) available for free from Sun. I believe the JCE is already preinstalled on all Macs sold in USA and Canada).
S3Sync is also great! It allows you to easily write a small scripts (of only a couple of lines) and have the script run at certain times to automatically back up your data. You may also want to look at this MacOSX Hint - http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2008020123070799
JungleDisk is also great for those who like to drag and drop but it is NOT free. I also hate the fact that you cannot use any third party products to access your data on the S3 servers. You must use Jungledisk. I also don't think you can make any public folders etc.
S3Sync and JetS3 run on any OS that supports ruby and java respectively. (such as Windows and Linux). Best of all they work great and are FREE!
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stone said 10:26AM on 2-12-2008
What about bucket explorer! Thats the one I use as I was not happy with all the other programs. They are even working on a multi threaded version to speed up the upload. They also check the hash value when finished uploading a file. I am not sure al the other scrips do that.
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Atariboy said 10:27AM on 2-12-2008
Don't forget about s3browser (http://people.no-distance.net/ol/software/s3/)
Tuaw has even blogged about it before:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/03/s3-browser/
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akatsuki said 10:32AM on 2-12-2008
So what is the advantage of any of these over s3fs with MacFUSE? I can't really say that I find any of these apps very compelling anymore versus integrated access in the Finder.
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Rich said 11:08AM on 2-12-2008
You might also want to look at AnyClient http://www.anyclient.com ... it is a free platform-independent client for FTP/S, SFTP and WebDAV protocols. Installers for Windows/Mac OS X and Linux are available.
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RobK said 11:09AM on 2-12-2008
From what I can see s3fs via MacFuse does NOT work yet.
See http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/thread.jspa?messageID=53839
When it does work, s3fs via MacFuse will be a really great choice for users who want to drag and drop files via the Finder and NOT pay for a proprietary solution like JungleDisk.
Rob
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James said 12:32PM on 2-12-2008
Is there anything besides JungleDisk that integrates with the file system or Finder and has client-side encryption?
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Rob said 2:24PM on 2-12-2008
The problem with on-line backup services is you must pay a fee for the service. (Granted Amazon S3 is not that expensive).
If you have a friend or a remote office which has a computer (PC or Mac) always running all the time (or at least at certain regular times), you might want to look at program like CrashPlan which lets you securely backup your data to your friends computer or remote office. There is no monthly fee with this approach. See http://www.crashplan.com/
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James said 3:15PM on 2-12-2008
Somebody should make a program to do time machine-style backups to S3.
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goorsha said 12:41AM on 2-15-2008
For all online backup and storage related info, I recommend this website:
http://www.BackupReview.info
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