WebDrive is a

drive mapping Drive mapping is how Microsoft Windows associates a local drive letter (A through Z) with a shared storage area to another computer (often referred as a File Server) over a network. After a drive has been mapped, a software application on a clie ...

utility that supports accessing remote file servers using open

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

FTPS FTPS (also known as FTP-SSL and FTP Secure) is an extension to the commonly used File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that adds support for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and, formerly, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL, which is now prohibited by RFC75 ...

, SFTP, and

WebDAV WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which allows user agents to collaboratively author contents ''directly'' in an HTTP web server by providing facilities for concu ...

protocols, and proprietary or vendor-specific protocols. It can be run as a

Windows service In Windows NT operating systems, a Windows service is a computer program that operates in the background. It is similar in concept to a Unix daemon. A Windows service must conform to the interface rules and protocols of the Service Control Manager ...

and supports automatic mounting on system startup.

History and use

Though associated with traditional FTP protocols, WebDrive has had a long history of being considered a unique type of FTP client because it made remote folders look like part of the native operating system's file manager rather than display a "two pane" view (a.k.a. an "

orthodox file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or print ...

") used by most FTP clients. As of 2014, its publisher claimed over 5 million installations and it remains a popular utility on college campuses and similar organizations with "casual" file transfer needs, but competing file transfer software with similar drive mapping capabilities has appeared in recent years. A Mac edition was introduced in September 2009 and mobile editions for the iOS and Android were introduced in November 2013 and March 2014 respectively. Through at least 2002

Novell Novell, Inc. was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi- platform network operating system known as Novell NetWare. Under the l ...

rebranded an earlier version of WebDrive as NetDrive and also added iFolder transfer support to its rebranded edition.

References

{{reflist FTP clients SSH File Transfer Protocol clients File managers 1997 software

History and use

See also

References