AeroFS (YC S10): It’s Like Dropbox, But It Runs Inside Your Firewall

I have an account and try it every once in a while. It has a nice interface and I could really see myself using it. My current problems:

- It doesn't support symbolic links but requires you to put all the directories inside the special "AeroFS" directory

- There is only an option to add a 1 GB "cloud" storage. While it is not the primary use case, I'd love to be able to buy some more

- Last time I checked there was no way to install aerofs on a headless linux system (e.g. a NAS device with a JVM)

AeroFS is YC S10? Why are they coming out as a YC company only now?

I've been using AeroFS for a while now, and it is great. AeroFS lacks the polish that Dropbox has, but for me AeroFS fills the need of folder synchronization and redundancy much better than Dropbox. Your available storage space is only limited by your disk space on the computers you sync with.

I've been watching AeroFS for a few months now, and it is a fascinating product that almost meets my needs. Just a few things keep me from using it, some of which I can't quite put my finger on enough to turn in to real feature requests on UserVoice.

- It crashes sometimes. I think it does this less frequently now, but its favorite time to crash is when I suspend & resume my laptop.

- Synchronization is a difficult problem to solve, and users need to have confidence that the software Does It Right. Somehow Dropbox achieves this, and I can't put my finger on how; I think part of it is the fact that conflicting files are duplicated and clearly marked. I haven't had conflicting syncs yet with AeroFS, so I'm not sure how it handles them, but I also haven't seen documentation on what happens. It's a combination of an algorithmic problem, which you presumably have solved, and a UI problem to demonstrate to the user that their data is safe and correct.

- It doesn't yet support ignores. There's a feature request for this, and I've upvoted it, so hopefully it's just a matter of time. When I'm syncing a source directory, I don't want the built files synced. Yes, there's version control, but it's really convenient to sync portions of my Eclipse workspace so I can transparently work on the same changes on both my laptop and workstation.

- I don't know how it works. There are two pieces of this that are interesting to me: the network topology and the crypto design. One of AeroFS's selling points is that your data is never shipped to the centralized cloud unless you explicitly use AeroFS cloud storage. However, as a privacy-conscious user, I would like to know exactly where my data is going, when, and how it is protected. Some data seems to be going to AeroFS's servers for coordination; what all data is? File lists, or just peer locations & names of libraries? A diagram what network connections are used and where data is shipped would help users such as myself understand where our data go and what the risk points are. Hopefully this can be documented without jeopardizing your special sauce/value-add. For the crypto side, it would be useful to know exactly what crypto algorithms are in use, where, and in what configurations. Some providers claim Great Crypto, and then they're using Blowfish. You've got some of this - your Features page discusses the use of the 2048-bit RSA keys. But how is the "secure channel" established? How are the RSA keys secured against theft (e.g. the Dropbox steal-the-auth-DB hack)? The crypto documentation could be overlaid on the network infrastructure documentation. In short - why should I believe the security claims? With things like this, I think extensive transparency is the best way to engender trust with your users, particularly when your competition is criticized for transparency-related issues (e.g. the encryption "misunderstanding" with Dropbox).

I think AeroFS has a lot of promise, and I want you guys to succeed. We need some good, secure, strongly-privacy-preserving competition in the cloud file sync space.

Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=2877037

One should note that Dropbox also transfer your files without the cloud if you happens to have those devices within the same private network.

Also, as much as I think, having some Java programs running at the background is the best idea. I have already got a Java background service running (Crashplan) and it holds up to 500MB after running a longer time. I have yet to receive an invite (msg me if you've got one!), however a native client/background service/daemon would always be welcomed.

I've often wondered why dropbox doesn't sell a product just like this.

I signed up for an invite a month or so ago, any idea when you are going to open it up for more people?

I assume it runs on your computers behind your firewall and not actually 'inside' the firewall.

Also don't quite understand why TC would compare it to Dropbox. Seems like a solid service on it's on merit.

AeroFS isn't merely useful for security reasons (inside firewall), but for moving huge files around a LAN. Dropbox does do some LAN syncing on individual accounts, but being able to share big media files during the capture/edit/publishing process would be a great use case. In a lot of those cases, on location, you have Gig-E or better locally, but a 3G/4G hotspot for publishing a final stream (and general Internet use), so something cloud based isn't viable.

I tried this once a year or so ago, but for whatever reason it wasn't able to get through my corporate firewall, while Dropbox was. I am curious if that has been resolved?

This looks pretty cool. I am curious to see how they will compete with Dropbox in time, though.

It does seem like FolderShare all over again - which Microsoft acquired, sat on, and subsequently re-released no less than three times with different a different name and different level of stability. It seems to be the role of the startup to re-implement correctly what large organisations screw up.

The equivalent open source product: SparkleShare. Except it doesn't do Windows yet (but supposedly will soon)

My only comment: AeroFS is an objectively horrible name if you ever want wider consumer adoption. Even if you want to cater to the techie slice of the market it's still not ideal. Pretty important to get the name right.

It sounds like a great idea, but I'm curious how it will perform along side a traditional file sharing system. I'm not sure users will find the benefit. Windows allows cacheing of shared drives already.

Does anyone has an invite, pretty pretty please? :)

Or better yet, when can we expect the public beta? I am waiting for this over a year now!

I know DropBox has had security fallacies in the past.

Inside Firewall or not Inside Firewall, how is the security designed here?

This sounds very interesting. Would it be possible to install the linux client on a cheap VPS to get your own "cloud" storage?

does this work between 2 computers not behind the same firewall. i.e. can i sync with a computer in la while im in ny?

I used it with my friend to share media. But It always kept requesting. Our computers are on all the time.

I believe this happened because on my laptop I started a folder called media. It was shared with my friend and my desktop. After a while I removed the folder tracking from the laptop. The syncing looked like it was working but all I ended up getting were empty folders and requesting or nothing at all.

Bugs maybe?

I wish it allowed you add an external HD to sync with.

I'm always suspicious of great new infrastructure that is free. Exactly how are you going to make money?

Presumably by waiting until i rely on this and have invested time and effort into moving all my data into the system - and then you will impose some pricing model.

I prefer to know upfront how much you are going to charge for what.

This sounds like a problem only techies have, and already have solutions for, like centralized file servers. I don't sync files, I keep one copy of my files, and access them over the network.

Where is the source code?