SFTP as a folder on Vista

Question

Is there a program available for Vista, that allows me to set up a folder as an SFTP connection to a remote server?

The use case is to have a folder on my desktop, where I can drag/drop/edit files and have my remote location be updated automatically.

I've googled this to no avail. Thanks!

Solution 1

ExpanDrive will let you do this. It has a 30-day trial, but requires a purchase ($39.95) after the 30 days.

Solution 2

NetDrive is free for home use and fulfills all your requirements. See its review in lifehacker.
Features:

• Mounts remote storage as a local hard disk on your PC
• Data transfer by drag and drop files in windows explorer
• Able to run files (video, audio and any other .exe files)
• Mounts drive automatically when Windows starts.
• Operating System : Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 2003/2008 (32/64bit)

Open Source alternative:

win-sshfs is a new open-source project that mounts SSHFS/SFTP as a network drive :

SSH(SFTP) filesystem made using Dokan and SSH.NET library. It allows you to mount remote computers via SFTP protocol like windows network drives.

Commercial alternatives:

For example, WebDrive ($59.95), reviewed here:

WebDrive integrates FTP, WebDAV, SFTP or FrontPage servers into the Windows desktop by making your web server appear as a network drive.

Another option is ExpanDrive ($39.95) :

With ExpanDrive, you can securely access any remote file server directly from Explorer, or even the command line. No need to open a separate SFTP client just for file transfer. ExpanDrive extends the way all applications on your PC can access data.

Solution 3

JFYI: we have made SFTP Net Drive free application available. It lets you mount the remote SFTP folder as a local disk with a drive letter.

Solution 4

I thought FUSE would be helpful, but the Windows section claims:

Is it really true that there are no FUSE port for Windows? If anyone knows of one add it to this list, please.

So, if anyone here knows about it: edit that page!

However, that very same Windows section does list other options, some of which apparently "fall back to implementing a FUSE compatibility layer on top of FIFS which implements a SMB server to provide access to other filesystems". I doubt it's useful, but if all else fails then looking at that list might help. It seems that Dokan might be a good FUSE-like alternative for Windows, especially for SSH/SFTP.

(And, when really taking things to extremes, one could even use DeleGate as a FTP-to-SFTP gateway, just in case one finds something that only supports FTP...)

Solution 5

DirectNet Drive is free for home use.

http://directnet-drive.net/index.php

View more solutions

Comments

[Arjan]

See also "Keep ftp folder sync’d with windows folder" at superuser.com/questions/48782/…

[endolith]

win-sshfs is decent, but doesn't automatically reconnect when the connection is broken.

[Joel Coehoorn]

"except for sftp" I think SFTP was kinda the whole point.

[Snark]

According to LifeHacker, NetDrive does SFTP: lifehacker.com/300997/mount-remote-file-systems-with-netdriv‌​e

[harrymc]

Excellent news for the OP (but isn't mentioned on the netdrive website). I've therefore edited my answer.

[bigmattyh]

This is just what I was looking for. Thanks.

[bigmattyh]

I'm going to check this out after my trial of ExpanDrive expires. Thanks!

[endolith]

NetDrive is not compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows.

[Arjan]

Haven't used it (I'm not on Windows), but looks nice.

[Kaii]

There is a new open source project named "win-sshfs" that uses Dokan as backend. works pretty well for me: code.google.com/p/win-sshfs .. cannot add this as an answer yet.

[Kaii]

I added one open source solution

[russellpierce]

I have been using this solution for several weeks now... it is exactly what I think a lot of people are looking for.

[endolith]

Unfortunately Windows 7 does not remember my thumbnails for these drives, so it spends lots of time and bandwidth generating them every time I visit any folder. Is there a way to fix this? What effect do the "fixed" and "removable" options have?

[Eugene Mayevski 'Callback]

There's no way to "fix" it because this is not a bug. Explorer reads thumbnails by design and so far nobody knows how to stop it from doing so. Network drive type should reduce the number of reads.

[EpicVoyage]

SFTP Net Drive has moved here: nsoftware.com/netdrive/sftp

[Eugene Mayevski 'Callback]

@EpicVoyage Thank you, I've updated the link.

[jww]

I don't this this meets the Drag-and-Drop requirement.