Frequently Asked Questions

What is it?

Spacedrive is a decentralized cross platform app that allows you to manage files across all devices, drives and clouds at once.

Can I download it yet?

Only if you compile it yourself, but it is not stable yet. Follow @spacedriveapp for updates!

How does it work?

Using a "Virtual Distributed Filesystem" (VDFS), in other words; a decentralized database that emulates a filesystem. It indexes hardware filesystems to create a master database that is synchronized in realtime between your devices running Spacedrive.

Who is this for?

This software is aimed at independent creatives such as filmmakers, streamers, musicians and designers. But, it can provide value to those that care about privacy, ownership and design.

Why do I need this?

In the same way we use finance apps to consolidate our books, Spacedrive consolidates files and the metadata associated with them. If you have external hard drives, cloud accounts and more than one device—you'll get a birds eye view of every file you own. With the ability to create folders, tags and albums that contain files from all different locations.

Where are my files stored?

Exactly where they already are, Spacedrive simply indexes your existing storage locations, extracting metadata and fingerprinting the byte data. Though it can move files around under your command.

What makes this different to Dropbox or Google Drive?

It is not a storage provider, Spacedrive is simply a database that exists on top of existing storage layers, from cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud to physical devices and external drives you already own. It doesn't provide you more storage, rather a supercharged view of your existing storage.

What makes this different to OwnCloud or NextCloud?

These products offer a full suite of self hosted cloud apps; email, chat, file sharing etc. They're typically aimed at enterprise and tech savvy users who want total privacy and control. Spacedrive not only exclusively focuses on files, but it is designed specifically for creatives.

How is this different to any other file explorer?

File explorers are one of the most fundamental parts of any operating system, but they are tied directly to that operating system.

Spacedrive is a cross-platform file explorer powered by a database that keeps track of your files, allowing you to virtually organize them, even when they're not online at the time.

Is this a niche product?

The users that gain the most value will be creative people whose work produces obscene amounts of media—streamers who keep their VODs, photographers that shoot in RAW, every filmmaker ever.

How will this make money?

We will offer a range of optional services related to hosting, sharing and backing up Spacedrive data, this is slightly down the line, for now we are VC funded. Spacedrive itself will always remain open source and free.

What is the stack?

We call it "PRRTT"; Prisma, Rust, React, TypeScript and Tauri.

Why Rust?

Rust is a powerful, fast, memory safe, cross-platform, low-level language and thanks to Tauri—its the perfect tool to power a desktop application.