[Owncloud] Mounting External Storage

[Michael Grosser]

On Feb 20, 2012 11:06 PM, "Michael Gapczynski" <mtgap at owncloud.com> wrote:
>
> On Monday, February 20, 2012 10:48:03 PM Michael Grosser wrote:
>
> On Feb 20, 2012 10:42 PM, "Frank Karlitschek" <karlitschek at kde.org> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 20.02.2012, at 22:11, Michael Gapczynski <mtgap at owncloud.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I've been thinking about mounting external storage to ownCloud and
I've had a
> > > few discussions with Robin about it. Now I'm looking for some
feedback from
> > > the community.
> >
> > Cool :-)
> >
> >
> > > The general idea is to add support for mounting FTP and SMB to use as
storage.
> > > Writing a backend with PHP is possible for these, but they won't
perform as
> > > well as the native OS implementations. I think the best solution
would be to
> > > recommend to sys admins to mount natively and provide a fallback to a
PHP
> > > backend if this isn't possible.
> >
> > Yes. Protocols that are better supported by the OS should be handled by
the OS.
> > We could still try to do a mount command and see what happens :-)
> >
> >
> > > The other thing I need feedback on is deciding if normal users can
mount
> > > external storage. I see the need for enabling users to link ownCloud
to
> > > services such as Dropbox, and Google Docs (Google Drive),
> i think mounting gdocs, dropbox etc. we should use mounting them as
unhosted/remote storage so unhosted and owncloud won't solve the proxy
problem in two projects.
> but I'm not sure if
> > > FTP and SMB should fit in with these. I'm also debating what is the
best way
> > > to integrate these into the filesystem. The simple way would be to
mount it as
> > > a directory and each service would be self contained. However, I can
also
> > > invision having the files from Dropbox and Google Docs showing up in
the root
> > > of the filesystem with an indicator of their respective external
locations.
> > > During the upload or file creation process the user would be
presented with a
> > > choice of where to store the file. This feels more natural to me than
a
> > > directory system and could prevent problems with locating files.
> >
> > Hmm. I would use the OS tool for protocols like FTP, S3 or SMB
> >
> > Stuff like Dropbox. Google Docs/Drive, and other user services should
be handled on a user level.
> > So every user can mount their Google Docs and move their files around.
> >
> > I don´t really know what you mean regarding the location of the files.
Let´s say a user is using ownCloud and has already some files and folder
uploaded. Than the users connect the ownCloud with an existing dropbox or
Google Drive. Where do all the files show up that are already in dropbox or
on Google? I think it is confusing if they all appear in the root
directory. And what happens when a user has the same file or folder in
ownCloud and dropbox?
> >
> > For me it makes more sense to mount a dropbox account into a folder,
for example /dropbox.  But perhaps thats only me :-)
> >
> >
> >
> > > My main concern is creating a confusing environment for users with so
many
> > > options for adding storage and a cluttered filesystem. Any thoughts?
> >
> > Thats a good point. Mounting external filesystems is definitely an
advanced option that shouldn´t be the first option on the settings page. :-)
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Frank
> >
> >
> >
> > Frank Karlitschek
> > karlitschek at kde.org
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Owncloud at kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael - I was under the impression that Unhosted could use any of the
storage providers with ownCloud.

I thought unhosted is the provider of the remotestorage protocol which can
use owncloud as storage and with some unhosted proxies use gdocs and other
storage providers.
>
>
>
> Frank - I understand that it may be confusing when a bunch of files
appear in your root directory and it may just add to the clutter I'm trying
to avoid. My main reasoning for this is that it lets the user organize the
files based on their own preference. Mounting it in one directory locks
those files to that location and I feel that we aren't using ownCloud's
potential in terms of filesystem abstraction. This also applies to sharing.
I actually don't like the folder 'Shared' (the name choice isn't the best
either) and would like to get rid of it in favor of putting files shared
with you in the root directory. Of course, I think we should add a setting
for the default location that these files end up, but allow some freedom
for where they can be moved.
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael
>
>
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