Filed under: Software
Jungle Disk 2.0 learns to share
Jungle Disk, one of the slickest ways to access your Amazon S3 account, has officially updated to version 2.0. I have two words to say: compatibility and bucket. Compatibility buckets are by far my biggest cause for celebration. You see, I have a disorder that doesn't allow me to do things with just one utility or application, I have to make use of every tool available. I guess it's similar to more mechanically inclined folks who fetishize power tools. I digress. The long and short of it is that compatibility buckets no longer store my files in a flat, proprietary file system. Not only does this mean other tools can access my Jungle Disk buckets, I now have the ability to move and rename files, which I didn't previously. Upgrading your buckets to the new format is optional, and in my experience can ruffle a few feathers if you use it in a shared environment. For reasons noted previously, I was willing to take the flak.
I've only toyed with -- but never used seriously -- the offsite backup features of Jungle Disk. I would say from my brief forays, though, that they rival CrashPlan's abilities. As noted by our friends at the Download Squad, the interface is much nicer now on every platform (Jungle Disk is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux -- there's even a USB version). There are also new command-line tools included, which is great for scripting and automation. If you use Amazon S3, or if you're looking for cheap and massive storage options, Jungle Disk has officially become worth looking at, in my book. The release notes shed light on quite a few improvements I've neglected to mention.
The program is $20 and is a one-time purchase with free upgrades for life. You get licensed versions for Windows, Mac and Linux, and free reign to install on as many machines as you like with a single license. For $1/month more, you can get Web-based file access, block-level file updates and upload resume features. The storage pricing itself is direct from Amazon and runs about 15 cents per gig with additional charges for transfers ($0.10/gig upload, $0.17/gig download). Jungle Disk is free to try.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
saketini99 said 7:54PM on 6-24-2008
I tried Jungle Disk, but damn... slow and dumb. And the UI was crap. What the hell is a "bucket" anyway, can't we just say drive or folder?
Went with Mozy and never looked back.
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Jeffrey said 8:08PM on 6-24-2008
The UI might not be great. But "bucket" is a term from Amazon S3, not Jungle Disk.
mrsteveman1 said 8:34PM on 6-24-2008
Now, you know you need a bucket to pour all that data into the series of tubes. C'mon, silly question :D
kleinias said 3:49AM on 6-25-2008
Comparing Jungledisk to Mozy is ok, as long as you realize that Jungledisk has important features that Mozy does not. Primary among them is the ability to backup something with Jungledisk that you later on want to erase from your computer. Jungledisk will keep your data for as long as you like, whereas Mozy will (at some point) delete your data as soon as you remove it from your computer. Jungledisk is more flexible in that it can be setup either way to suit your needs.
David Fischer said 10:13PM on 6-24-2008
What's a Jungle Disk? What's its bucket, how is it compatible, and how do tools now access them?
What was all that about, again?
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Jamus said 11:15PM on 6-24-2008
My only complaint so far is with the speed of the 1.x version. I will be trying 2.0 and see how it goes. With the previous client, no matter if I tried from work, home, friends house, etc..., the top speed of backup going to S3 was around 32KB a sec. Waaaaay slower than I had hoped. I don't know if this is a JungleDisk issue or an S3 issue.
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Dave said 2:59AM on 6-25-2008
I always got confused on this... but if I use Jungle Disk do I pay them monthly and Amazon, or do I just pay Jungle Disk?
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Neil said 4:35AM on 6-25-2008
The Jungle Disk software cost $20, but that's a one time cost. The service that Jungle Disk uses ( S3 ) is provided by Amazon, so you would be paying Amazon to use the S3 service.
Matthew Dornquast said 10:50AM on 6-25-2008
re>"Rival CrashPlan's Abilities?"
You're joking right?
Here are just a few features we have over Jungle Disk -
1)Multiple storage locations - backup your data on-site, near off-site, and far off-site.
2)No monthly fees - when you use your own destination.
3)CrashPlan Central - Want to use us? We're less than 50% the cost of Amazon S3! We're 0.10/GB (they're 0.15) We don't charge for bandwidth, they do.
4)Data de-duplication - we remove duplicate data at the source, saving bandwidth and disk.
5)No file size limits - Backup a 10GB file? No problem. Jungle Disk? 5GB
6)Incremental backups - change a tiny bit of data, only send the tiny bit of data. No huge chunks.
7)QOS - This means your backup traffic wont cause your voice over IP conversation to stutter. It
8)True Background operation - Log out of your windows/mac box,
9)Disk I/O, CPU, Bandwidth throttling - make sure backup doesn't slow down your computer by limiting resources that backup is allowed to us.
10)Guaranteed Restore - CrashPlan verifies files at the destination every day, week, (configurable). This is huge point - it means that if there are any underlying issues with the computer, ram, disk, etc, CrashPlan detects those and notifies you. (It also attempts to heal around bad portions of an archive.. i..e bad disk block) You can't do this with S3 unless you read your files again once a day / week over the internet.. you'd go broke with bandwidth charges from Amazon and it would take too long.
11)Greater uptime - Wasn't all of Amazon down a few weeks ago? Or did S3 survive somehow?
12)Performance - We use less bandwidth, less disk space leading to faster backup and restore times.
... You get the idea.
Now to be fair to the guys at Jungle Disk, a great many of these features are limitations of S3. They're doing the best with what they have. A general storage API / Solution will always loose in a battle with a dedicated API / Solution for backup and archival.
It's the specialized vs. generalized argument..
~Mtathew
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kurt said 5:02PM on 6-25-2008
Re: #6. JD has the ability to send deltas now as well, with JD+ (which is $12/year add'l).
kleinias said 5:52PM on 6-25-2008
Actually Jungle Disk seems to have a number of those features, among them:
*Multiple storage locations - Jungle Disk does have a form of this.
*No monthly fees - when you use your own destination.
*Incremental backups - Jungle Disk has this.
*Bandwidth throttling - Again Jungle Disk has this.
I actually see them providing the ability for us to use Amazon's S3 as an advantage. There are a number of other items that you list as crashplan advantages, that Jungle Disk appears to now have at its disposal so perhaps you should give it a second look.
Jeff said 4:14PM on 6-25-2008
Matthew-
I just signed up for S3 and purchased JD.
I appreciate your passion, but can you REALLY compete with a giant such as Amazon?
No disrespect.
Jeff
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