Need more storage for your tiny netbook hard drive? Not enough space on your iPhone for all your music? ZumoDrive promises to solve conundrums like these by keeping your files in the cloud but making them accessible in real-time, just as though they were local. In other words, it's a virtual hard drive that lives online.
When you install the Windows client, ZumoDrive adds this virtual drive to your system, complete with prefab folders for music, photos, and documents. Just drag and drop your stuff to one of these folders (or create new ones--remember, the virtual drive works just like a regular drive) to copy it to the ZumoDrive cloud.
From there, you can access those files in any Web browser or on any PC that has the ZumoDrive client installed. There's also a free iPhone app that lets you retrieve documents, photos, and music (which you can stream over 3G, EDGE, or Wi-Fi--a great workaround for memory-crunched devices). An Android version is coming soon.
You can get a free ZumoDrive account that includes 1GB of storage--enough for a smattering of files, but insufficient for most photo and MP3 collections. Plans start at $3 per month for 10GB of storage and range up to $80 monthly for 500GB.
I'm still test-driving ZumoDrive, but so far I really like the service. It's a snap to set up and use, and it does solve the problem of storage-challenged PCs and iPhones.
Of course, if all you want is online storage, you can get 25GB absolutely free from Windows Live SkyDrive. But it doesn't work as a virtual drive, which is the core of ZumoDrive's appeal.
Note: The client software is free; the service comes in different plans. The 1GB plan is free, and others range from $3 to $80 per month. The price reflected here is for the 1GB plan.
--Rick Broida
Ad Choices