CloudBerry Explorer PRO for Amazon S3

About two weeks ago CloudBerry Lab started the first beta of CloudBerry Explorer PRO for Amazon S3. In the PRO version of CloudBerry Explorer we are going to offer some advanced functionality on top of basic functionality offered in our freeware version. 

Among pro features are Compression, Encryption, Chucking and FTP support. In this post we will talk about the first three and we will explain how FTP support works in our follow-up post.

Compression and encryption

Compression when used properly can significantly lower your storage and transfer bills.  We use industry standard ZIP compression format. To enable compression just go to Tools| Options| Advanced and click appropriate check box.

For encryption we offer a number of industry standard algorithm and it can further protect your data stored on your S3 account from unauthorized access.

Chunking

Chunking is a configuration option that breaks down your large files into the smaller pieces to speed up transfer and make it more reliable. This is helpful when you upload large files such as virtual machine images that can weigh up to 20 GB or even more.  With chunking you will break it down into several smaller files and upload each separately. In this case if for some reason transfer fails you will only have to re-upload several failed pieces and not the entire file.

By default the chunk is ~10MB and you can configure this option as you see fit.  You can also use chunk transparency option. When the option is “on” the file broken down into chunks will look like a single file on Amazon S3 storage.

 

Note: if you use chunking you need CloudBerry Explorer to download them back and combine them again to a single file.  Chunked file is not combined back on S3 storage and resides there as a number of small files.

Note 2: currently there is a bug in the beta version that doesn’t allow you to use chunking when MD5 checksum is on.

I turned Use chunks on, intentionally set Chunk size to 100KB and copied 1 MB Picture 005.jpg file to S3.  Then I turned Chunk transparency off. This is how the file looks like on S3 bucket.

If I turn Chunk transparency on you will see only one file even though physically there are 13 files stored.

Other benefits

Among other benefits of CloudBerry Explorer PRO are extended support and no expiration date.

Conclusion

With compression, encryption and chunking CloudBerry Explorer is becoming even more compelling product for professional Amazon S3 users.  Please visit our website and try out the product http://www.cloudberrylab.com/default.aspx?page=s3-explorer-pro

Note: Beta 1 will expire on July, 1 2009. Please don’t use beta version for production purposes. Prices for PRO version will be announced later when we release the product to the market.