The latest release of CloudFS (0.35) seems like an excellent reason to revisit this really useful RISC OS application....

CloudFS allows you to have a RISC OS drive which is actually on a remote server. It is noticeably slower than a local drive (especially obviously on my superfast FAST system). So what I use it for is backups and sharing. It runs on all systems (including RPCemu which does not support ShareFS).

In my screenshot you can see my PCloud drive and my drive which contains a set of files I use every day in daily. PinBoard 2.0 works without any issues and you can see shortcuts to two of these files (current and OrgData).  I also have a little BBC BASIC application I wrote (!MyTimer) which stores its data on the cloud.

CloudFS is supplied as a small zip (cloudfs/zip) containing !Installer which you run to install or update the software. You will also need an account with PCloud (the free 10 Gig account is all I have ever needed). This also works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

PCloud also has a really useful feature to create shares of local drives on the Cloud. So the personal, downloads and desktop folders are actually on my local Mac Book Pro. CloudFS resolves all the file mappings correctly (no default text type) and I can access the cached copy even if my Mac is switched (PCloud sorts it all out and synchronises everything).

So CloudFS performs 3 critical functions for me:-

• allowing a common set of data files I can access from whichever RISC OS box I am using (or RPCemu if on the road),
• offsite data backups
• integrating my RISC OS systems with my laptop.

I have used it for 8 years (so far) and it is in daily use.

If you are already a CloudFS user, you should run !Installer to get the latest copy. Otherwise, I recommend you pop along to Elesar's website and have a look (a new version costs 28 pounds).