Hi,

is it possible to use cloud storage such as Google Drive like an external drive?

I would like to have my sample library (my personal sample collection, as well as Kontakt libraries and such) stored in the cloud, but at the same time I would like to be able to access them from within my DAW (eg I would love to drag and drop audio from my personal sample collection into my DAW).

Ideally the samples are only stored in the cloud, since I don't want to use extra space on my limited SSD drive. Only when I use them in the DAW the particular samples used will be stored in the project (Ableton).

Is this possible with any of the freely available cloud storage servies like Google Drive?

 

You can mount WebDAV like a regular drive in Windows (and other OSs too).

https://community.cryptomator.org/t/webdav-urls-of-common-cloud-storage-services/
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/webdav_services

https://servicecenter.fsu.edu/s/article/How-do-I-use-WebDAV-with-Windows-11-Individual

You can mount more cloud providers with rclone. But be aware that rclone is "the tinkerer's solution" - at least for Windows.

https://rclone.org/overview/
https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_mount/

 

I do not use cloud services for samples, but for less technical reasons. If you use an external drive, you can take whatever you want with you, or use it at home just as productively. Anywhere you go and produce, you will have to bring a device anyway. (laptop, etc), or they will have a machine there you can use it with. So it's not exactly some additional burden to also have a drive with you.

With the exception If you produce with a tablet, maybe that could be nice. You are also possibly adding another set of credentials between you and your own stuff, (lost password?) and possibly adding another service or application running on your system.

 

on a local network? then think about NAS like Synology or Qnap ?

 

Mega.nz still offers some free storage? At least service-wise they're all right.

I personally have some recordings stashed on my iCloud drive since it's easily shared between my mobile devices and computers, so it works. But apart from quick sharing of rehersal recordings or some drum sounds I wouldn't go there.

 

Mega nz is fine, but they limit daily download quota, so it's not usable for data streaming like sound libraries and samples,
but it's very nice for sending mixes and stems to clients and such

 

I think it's nonsense. Not possible. All files in a cloud storage will be downloaded and then stored on your SSD or HDD. Samplers and DAWs cannot read files from clouds. And if they could they stored them on SSD/HDD or in memory, that is somewhere on your PC. It's unavoidable.

But it's a good option for backup. All your projects, libraries, samples, stems etc. are stored on your PC and in cloud service. I use this.

EDIT: Downloading a big Kontakt library takes time. Minutes, even hours. It is significally slower than loading it from SSD/HDD.

 

Have you checked to make sure this is not due to a vpn you use? I've seen this before without even downloading anything from them that day. I definitely wouldn't use it either, as cloud storage. For temporary storage, it is great.

 

My download/upload speed to/from my own mega.nz account seems completely random, ranging from less than 100 kib/s to multiple mib/s. I don't use a VPN. It doesn't seem to depend on how much I've downloaded/uploaded in the past 24h/48h either.

 

nothing to do with VPN, even paid Pro plans have limited transfers
https://mega.io/pricing

 

It definitely can. If you and other users are on the same vpn server; you could get "debited" for the others used bandwidth. I won't download anything from Mega for days or weeks at a time, and I will get the limit message from the very first file I try to download. If you switch ip addresses/servers, it no longer gives you the message about your transfer amount for the day; and you can keep downloading stuff from them.
I notice it every time I run into it, because it's not correct.

Or are you referring to things you either copy from another user to your drive and other stuff you download from your own drive?