GMail Drive shell extension Editor's Review

Simple and efficient. These words best describe this shell extension. The publisher had a great ideea in using the GMail e-mail account as storage space. I used GMail myself sometimes to store a certain file, which I wanted to retrieve later. Up until now I always had to log in, attach the file to an e-mail, wait for the attachment process to complete, and then send the message to myself.

Ok, but how is it done? Well it's rather simple: the GMail drive that shows up in "My Computer" when you install the program contains, in fact, a list of all files from your mail account that have the word GMAILFS in their subject. The downside is that whenever you upload a file to your GMail drive, an e-mail with the file you uploaded will appear in your "Inbox" folder. However, you can resolve this issue by creating a filter, which will automatically move from your Inbox the files with GMAILFS in their subject. This filter can be defined inside your GMail mailbox.

Pluses: You can save your username and password, so you can access your GMail drive anytime, without having to re-enter any information. Once you are connected, you can also see how much space you are using, and how much free space you still have.

Drawbacks / flaws: Although the program works great, it is not supported in any way by Google. So there is no guarantee for the integrity of your files. However, I myself wouldn't worry too much, because I think it's highly unlikely that Google will start deleting your e-mails. Even if you won't be able to access your files with GMail Drive Shell Extension, they will still be available from your Archive folder of your account.

In conclusion: This is a nice way of saving and retrieving your files to and from the Internet.

version reviewed: 1.0.10