Is there a program available for Vista, that allows me to set up a folder as an SFTP connection to a remote server?
The use case is to have a folder on my desktop, where I can drag/drop/edit files and have my remote location be updated automatically.
I've googled this to no avail. Thanks!
NetDrive is free for home use and fulfills all your requirements. See its review in lifehacker.
Features:
Open Source alternative:
win-sshfs is a new open-source project that mounts SSHFS/SFTP as a network drive :
SSH(SFTP) filesystem made using Dokan and SSH.NET library. It allows you to mount remote computers via SFTP protocol like windows network drives.
Commercial alternatives:
For example, WebDrive ($59.95), reviewed here:
WebDrive integrates FTP, WebDAV, SFTP or FrontPage servers into the Windows desktop by making your web server appear as a network drive.
Another option is ExpanDrive ($39.95) :
With ExpanDrive, you can securely access any remote file server directly from Explorer, or even the command line. No need to open a separate SFTP client just for file transfer. ExpanDrive extends the way all applications on your PC can access data.
JFYI: we have made SFTP Net Drive free application available. It lets you mount the remote SFTP folder as a local disk with a drive letter.
ExpanDrive will let you do this. It has a 30-day trial, but requires a purchase ($39.95) after the 30 days.
I thought FUSE would be helpful, but the Windows section claims:
Is it really true that there are no FUSE port for Windows? If anyone knows of one add it to this list, please.
So, if anyone here knows about it: edit that page!
However, that very same Windows section does list other options, some of which apparently "fall back to implementing a FUSE compatibility layer on top of FIFS which implements a SMB server to provide access to other filesystems". I doubt it's useful, but if all else fails then looking at that list might help. It seems that Dokan might be a good FUSE-like alternative for Windows, especially for SSH/SFTP.
(And, when really taking things to extremes, one could even use DeleGate as a FTP-to-SFTP gateway, just in case one finds something that only supports FTP...)
I might be mistaking it for FTPS (I always confuse the two), but I believe this capability is built into windows explorer. Just open a folder window and type an ftp url (including secure items) into an address bar. Something like this:
sftp://user:pass@ftpsite.example.com/
You should be able to make a normal windows folder shortcut to that location as well. If you leave off the username and password it should prompt you.
