CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-drive-apiftpsftp
Mattia Merlini
Mattia Merlini

Reputation: 663

Google Drive as FTP Server

Is there a way to use Google Drive as an FTP Server? I mean I have host, username and password and using Filezilla I can access GDrive folders, upload and download data and automate backups with many softwares. It isn't important if the protocol is FTP or SFTP.

Does GDrive allow this feature? In positive answer, how can I obtain my credentials?

Does also DropBox allow this features?

Upvotes: 30

Views: 157112

Answers (4)

dlostonbread
dlostonbread

Reputation: 151

Google Drive doesn’t support FTP or SFTP natively, so you can’t connect to it directly using FileZilla with a host, username, and password like you would with a traditional FTP server. The same goes for Dropbox—neither offers built-in FTP access.

However, there are workarounds. You can use tools like Commander One to mount Google Drive as a local drive, which allows you to interact with it similarly to an FTP server. Some backup software can recognize these mounted drives, letting you automate uploads and downloads without dealing with FTP directly. It’s not exactly the same as having an actual FTP server, but it’s a solid alternative if you just need remote file access with familiar tools.

It really depends on what you need. If it's just about moving files around easily, mounting Google Drive as a local disk should work fine. But if you specifically need FTP for software compatibility, then a proper FTP-based storage service might be a better fit.

Upvotes: 0

notsofast
notsofast

Reputation: 381

With google-drive-ftp-adapter I have been able to access the My Drive area of Google Drive with the FileZilla FTP client. However, I have not been able to access the Shared with me area.

You can configure which Google account credentials it uses by changing the account property in the configuration.properties file from default to the desired Google account name. See the instructions at http://www.andresoviedo.org/google-drive-ftp-adapter/

Upvotes: 4

Andrés Oviedo
Andrés Oviedo

Reputation: 1428

What about running the google-drive-ftp-adapter application in your local pc and then connect your filezilla client to that application? The google-drive-ftp-adapter application is not an online service, but its an alternative solution to connect to google drive through ftp.

The google-drive-ftp-adapter is an open source application hosted in github and it is a kind of standalone ftp-server java application that connects to your google drive in behalf of you, acting as a bridge (or adapter) between your ftp client and the google drive service. Once you have running the google-drive-ftp adapter, you can connect your preferred FTP client to the google-drive-ftp-adapter ftp server in your localhost (or wherever the app is running, like in a remote machine) to manage your files.

I use it in conjunction with beyond compare to synchronize my local files against the ones I have in the google drive and it serves well for the purpose.

This is the current github link hosting the google-drive-ftp-adapter repository: https://github.com/andresoviedo/google-drive-ftp-adapter

Upvotes: 20

jonincanada
jonincanada

Reputation: 417

I couldn't find a direct GDrive/DropBox solution. I'm also surprised there's no lazy solution for a free ftp host. Windows azure offers a ftp server "FTP connector" that's fairly easy to turn on at: https://portal.azure.com

You can get a free 1 GB account by selecting "View All" machine types during your deployment.

Upvotes: 5

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