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GeoDrive enables Windows administrators to create a relationship between Windows and cloud storage systems. GeoDrive associates Windows local NTFS or ReFS storage with ECS storage. GeoDrive does not create a file system or volume in Windows. It piggybacks on an existing NTFS or ReFS volume and uses a portion of it as a cache area for data sent to, or retrieved from, ECS. Multiple associations between Windows and ECS can exist.
The basic construct of GeoDrive is a cloud drive. A cloud drive is the term GeoDrive uses to define a virtual drive created by the application. Cloud drives are the link between storage on Windows and ECS. In Windows, a single volume can be common to multiple cloud drives, or a cloud drive can use a volume independently of other cloud drives. In ECS, a bucket is configured for each cloud drive. More than one cloud drive can use the same underlying Windows storage volume. Similarly, more than one cloud drive can reference the same ECS bucket, however, if multiple cloud drives refer to the same bucket there is a real possibility that the data will not always be in sync, or a possibility that one user’s data can overwrite another user’s data. For example, if two users create a file with the same path at about the same time in two cloud drives with a common bucket, one of the files will be lost since one will be uploaded first, and then the other will be uploaded and overwrite the first. It is important, when sharing buckets, to have strong conventions as to which files can be modified by which server.
A cloud drive is generally created in GeoDrive by first selecting a Windows drive letter not currently in use. Having a drive letter associated with the data is optional however. Using drive letters for configuration is available as a convenience for users to be able to find the data easier. A cloud drive associates a directory with a bucket. If no drive letter is configured during cloud drive creation, files are accessed through the configured local Windows cache directory. All file data existing locally in Windows is considered cached by GeoDrive.
A common term used by GeoDrive is ‘stub.’ A stub file is a shortcut file which contains only the information required by GeoDrive to determine where to retrieve file data from the cloud. A file can be stubbed only after it has been uploaded to ECS. If after being uploaded, the file is not accessed for a period (the “Access Wait Time”), the file will be stubbed. You can identify a stub file by the “X” overlay on the file’s icon and because the OFFLINE attribute is set.
Stubbing increases the amount of free storage available on the Windows local disk while maintaining user access to the data. Upon a data access request to a stubbed file, GeoDrive restores the data from ECS. After retrieval from ECS, the data is stubbed again per the configured time interval.
For each cloud drive, a local storage option is selected that determines how files are stored in the cloud drive. The two options are:
Optionally two additional options for cloud drive configuration are available. They are:
Note: Windows administrators can share GeoDrive data with users just like they do with any other data. If a drive letter is assigned to a cloud drive, administrators should not use the drive letter configured with the cloud drive when creating the Windows share. A Windows share of GeoDrive data should be created using its filesystem path, not the configured GeoDrive letter.