An updated version of the Jungle Disk 2.0 beta is now available for download. This version includes the fix for OSX 10.5.3 mentioned yesterday, as well as a number of additional fixes detailed in the release notes. We recommend all beta users update to this version. The software itself is getting very near to release quality, so any users who have been interested in checking it out but concerned about the beta status may want to give this version a try.

The recent Mac OSX 10.5.3 update includes changes to WebDAV support that causes issues with Jungle Disk. Specifically, you may see errors when trying to upload files via the mounted Jungle Disk volume after the update is installed. Downloading files and automatic backup are not affected.

We’ve determined the cause of the issue and created a fix, which is now available in Jungle Disk 1.50d for Mac. The Windows and Linux versions are not affected and have not been updated.

The Jungle Disk 2.0 beta is also affected by this issue and we will be including the fix in the next 2.0 beta release.

We’re in the process of rolling out an update for Jungle Disk Plus Web Access to support Jungle Disk 2.0, including the new Jungle Disk 2.0 buckets as well as compatibility buckets. The new site also supports the iPhone web browser. Note that you can’t upload files from the iPhone as the iPhone web browser does not support web uploads.

If you are a Jungle Disk Plus subscriber with web access enabled you can help us test a beta of the new site by going to:
https://<yourname>.beta.myjungledisk.com
Please post any feedback or issues to our Jungle Disk 2.0 forum.

We’re going to be conducting a private beta test of the Jungle Disk Workgroup Edition in the next few weeks. If you’d like to participate, you can sign-up on our interest list. Resellers who have already signed up on the interest list for the reseller edition will be invited to join the beta as well, you do not need to sign up again.

An updated version of the Jungle Disk 2.0 beta is now available for download. A number of fixes are included as well as some minor features. You can see all the changes in the release notes.

This version also includes the command line Linux client for the first time, which now supports the same automatic backup features as the GUI version. We’re still working on documentation for the XML configuration file, so for the time being we recommend creating your configurations using the GUI client.

As if we weren’t busy enough releasing the Jungle Disk Desktop 2.0 beta last week, we also moved into our swank new offices in Suwanee Georgia (about 25 minutes north of downtown Atlanta). There was a massive Ikea run for new furniture, followed by several hours of turning 2D packages into 3D furniture. We’re now fully up and running and have plenty of room for growth. The fun never stops around here though - next week we’ll be releasing another update for the Jungle Disk 2.0 beta and posting the first news about our beta plans for the upcoming Workgroup Edition as well.

We’ve gotten lots of great feedback and a few bug reports from users testing the first Jungle Disk 2.0 beta released last Friday. We’re happy to announce an updated version of the beta is now available that fixes a number of these issues and adds a few new features as well. We highly recommend all beta users update to this new release. You can download the new version from our beta downloads page, and see the full list of features and fixes in the release notes. Of note in the “new features” - we’ve added support for the official Amazon S3 fast file copy feature which is now in beta. This feature removes the need to use our own EC2 servers for copying and renaming files. Jungle Disk now uses this feature when upgrading buckets as well, which should make the bucket upgrade process faster and smoother. Finally, it also allows European S3 users to copy and rename files quickly rather than re-uploading as had previously been required.

There are several important bugs that were fixed in this release that we want to call attention to, in case current beta users have run into them:

• If you create a new Jungle Disk 2.0 bucket and enable High Security and Encrypted Filenames, but do not set a bucket password, then later go into the configuration and set a bucket password, your existing filenames may display incorrectly. This issue may not become apparent until you delete you directory cache.
• Similarly, if you create a new Jungle Disk 2.0 bucket, or upgrade a Jungle Disk 1.0 bucket and enable High Security and Encrypted Filenames with a bucket password, then later disable the bucket password, your existing filenames may display incorrectly. Setting a new bucket password again will correct the issue (as will upgrading to this beta release).
• If you upgrade a Jungle Disk 1.0 bucket with a custom encryption key but do not enable High Security on the Jungle Disk 2.0 bucket your previous custom encryption key may not be imported properly into the new bucket configuration. You can fix this by using the “Manage decryption keys for upgraded Jungle Disk 1.0 buckets” link in the Encryption settings (note: you must set a bucket password for this link to appear). In 1.99b these keys are imported correctly when upgrading a 1.0 bucket.
• If you open the Advanced Options in the Backup Selection dialog on Windows it may set your Backup Path for the current directory to an illegal value (ending in a backslash). The new version will correct this automatically, but if you backed up with the incorrect path you may see a directory name on your Jungle Disk with a backslash in the name. You can use the local web interface to delete the incorrect directory.

I’ve posted recently about both Microsoft and Google dipping their toes into the cloud services business. Yesterday, Rackspace announced CloudFS, a new cloud storage service from their cloud computing division Mosso. While Rackspace isn’t quite a household name like Google or Amazon, they have a great reputation for running reliable data centers and have 8 located around the US and Europe. Unlike the Microsoft and Google cloud offerings, CloudFS looks to be competing directly with Amazon S3 by offering unlimited storage with no minimum and no maximum. It’s not yet clear how competitive they will be price or feature-wise, but more competition will be great for the market in the long run.

How about you? Would you consider using a cloud storage provider other than Amazon? Is there a particular price level or some piece of functionality that might make you consider switching? Let us know in the comments.

Today we’re very pleased to announce the first beta release of the highly anticipated Jungle Disk 2.0. This beta, as well as the final release, are a free upgrade for all paid Jungle Disk users. The Jungle Disk 1.0 beta was released two years ago this week and Jungle Disk 2.0 is the biggest update since then. We have completely reworked both the internal engine and user interface for Jungle Disk. We now support multiple bucket types, there is an entirely new user interface including a brand new backup selection interface, and a whole host of new features including support for multiple buckets and backup jobs, support for European S3 data centers, and greatly improved performance in a number of areas. This release also lays the groundwork for our upcoming Workgroup and Reseller editions which were announced recently. More details on the beta test for those editions will be coming soon.

Many of you have been anxiously awaiting this release and I encourage you to check it out, however, please note that this is our first public beta of 2.0. We have done extensive internal testing, but it is likely that some issues won’t show up until tested under a wider range of systems and network conditions. We would caution against using this release for any buckets that contain data that you do not have a copy of elsewhere (e.g. on your local machine). While we have never had a major loss or corruption issue in a public release, it would be safer to wait for a later beta before testing on any irreplaceable data.

Before downloading the release, please read through the release notes completely. Of particular interest, you should read the section on upgrading your buckets to the new Jungle Disk 2.0 format (which is optional). The release notes also contain a list of the new features to look for. You may also want to take a review our new Online Manual and Knowledge Base (both of which are also in “beta” and incomplete).

When you’re ready to take the plunge you can download the Jungle Disk 2.0 beta and install over your current version (just exit Jungle Disk first). If you need to go back to 1.50c you can install it directly over 2.0. Note that the About dialog for this beta reports its version as “1.99a” - the first non-beta release will be 2.00a.

Please post any questions or issues with the beta to our special Jungle Disk 2.0 beta forum.