ExpanDrive vs ImDisk

ExpanDrive mounts cloud storage and protocol endpoints as desktop drives, letting you access files through Finder, Explorer, and other applications. Files stream on demand rather than syncing folders, with local caching and an option to pin files for offline access. Listed connections include Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Nextcloud, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and others. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Server Edition can operate as a headless service on Windows Server and Linux, expose mounted storage as a Windows SMB share, and includes a command line for managing mounts and connections. ExpanDrive says connections use TLS and credentials are kept in the local operating system credential store. Plain FTP sends credentials and file contents in the clear; FTPS or SFTP is recommended for sensitive connections. The Free plan is free, billed forever. Business is $29 a month, billed monthly; Enterprise pricing is custom.

ImDisk is a free Windows virtual disk driver for creating disk volumes from image files or system memory. It can present virtual hard disk partitions, floppy drives, and CD/DVD drives, with support for raw images, VHD, VDI, VMDK, NRG, SDI, and BIN formats. The installer provides the imdisk.exe console tool, a Control Panel applet, and an Explorer command for mounting files. I/O requests can be passed to third-party image handlers or services on other computers over a network. API functions are available to C/C++, COM, and .NET applications, with wrapper libraries on NuGet. The current installer supports 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and lists x86, ia64, x64, arm32, and arm64 architectures. ImDisk is free to download and use; a voluntary usage fee is welcome. The maker says it receives maintenance fixes, but no new features are planned and its legacy design is not recommended for recent Windows versions.