You can even use shortcuts, search, and other tools you have available for your desktop to find and manage files on B2.

If you keep archived documents or media in B2 and often need to browse to find a file, this makes that much faster. You can load the application when you need to transfer files, or have it start with your computer so your B2 files and buckets are always just a click away. When would dragging and dropping files on the desktop be useful? If you just need to move one or a few files, this could be the fastest way to do that. We previously wrote about using restic with B2 in our Knowledge Base. See their docs for how to use restic, Rclone, or HashBackup. These tools do not provide the range of capabilities of the full-featured apps, but if you just need to mount your saved backup for easy access, they might suit your needs. If you are a more advanced user, and comfortable working with the command-line in your OS’s terminal, there are a number of free command-line tools for mounting B2 backups as a drive, including restic, Rclone, and HashBackup. Most of these apps are simple for anyone to set up. Some of the applications are free and some require purchase. The files on B2 are available for you from (depending on platform) File Explorer on Windows, the Finder on Mac, or the File Manager on Linux (as well as the command-line). Our first group of applications let you use B2 as if it were a local drive on your computer.

Let’s take a look at the applications that make working with B2 a piece of cake! (Or, as easy as pie.) Use B2 As a Drive on the Desktop There’s something for every platform, too, whether you’re on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. In other cases, you can drag files from a file manager to the application, or between panes inside the application. The applications we’ll be covering in this post make working with B2 as easy as dragging and dropping files from a file manager on your computer directly to B2, or from B2 to your computer. Sometimes, though, being able to use B2 as if it were just another drive on your desktop is the easiest way to go. People have lots of different ways that they work with files in B2 Cloud Storage, and there’s a wide range of integrations for different platforms and different uses.

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