SpeedShare Review

Preface

For many Mac users, the first brush with standard internet file transfers is scary. For your entire Mac-using existance, life has been straightforward: see file, select file, drag file, copy file. The internet idea of file transfer, however, is comparatively chaotic; sometimes FTP, sometimes from a web page, sometimes by email, and sometimes from newsgroups. It seem like the internet moves files around in any way except the easiest, drag and drop. Qdea Software's SpeedShare, however, makes internet file transfer work like moving files around your own network.

So how does SpeedShare fit in here?

To bridge the gap to Mac-like file transfer, Qdea offers SpeedShare, which does drag-and-drop file copying across the internet. SpeedShare uses the client/server method of file transfer, meaning that you set up a Mac running the "server" software and others connect to it with the "client" version. Clients can connect to the server, but not to other clients. Once a client establishes a connection with the server, the client Mac can exchange files with the server Mac.

How does it work?

SpeedShare combines the Mac OS Finder and FTP programs (such as Fetch), while discarding their primary drawbacks (FTP's interface and Finder's lack of internet access). A SpeedShare window looks almost exactly like a Finder window, set to "View by Name". It uses Finder-like copy status windows and can also Get Info on an item, just like the Finder. While you wouldn't want to use this as a substitute for the normal Finder, it's very appropriate for the task of file transfer.

While it technically competes with FTP-style file transfers, SpeedShare uses its own method of passing files around that circumvents FTP's need for outside file compression and decompression. SpeedShare utilizes its own compression transparently, so the file you receive is exactly the one you grabbed. On the net, FTP is usually faster than other types of file transfer. Fortunately, SpeedShare doesn't sacrifice much of FTP's speed while shedding FTP's interface problems.

How does SpeedShare serve files?

Setting up the SpeedShare server is very straightforward; for anyone who's used the Mac file sharing, adding new users is a snap. The server automatically uses the computer name from the File Sharing control panel, so you need to put a name there first. There are two ways to connect to a server, once it's up and running.

1. The easiest, especially with a dial-ip internet connection, is to use Qdea's SpeedShare Rendezvous, a subscription service that acts as a hub of file connection. To use the Rendezvous, just tell the server to check in at the Rendezvous when it starts up; when it checks in, the Rendezvous will store the server Mac's name, making it easy for clients to connect directly by name. The SpeedShare documentation includes all of the Rendezvous information, including pricing.
2. If you know your IP address (you can get it from the PPP control panel), you can tell the client Macs to connect directly to the IP address, rather than using the Rendezvous' name registration. When you create the new connection, just select TCP/IP and enter the IP address in the appropriate box.

So how fast are the file transfers?

When you measure relative speeds of file transfer, there are a lot of variables. It isn't enough to just transfer a couple of random files and decide that one product is faster than another. The speed varies with file type, file size, and internet usage levels. Suffice to say that your mileage will vary, based a lot on what kind of files you move around. I did testing on my own across two dial-up internet connections and my Ethernet network, with the following results (averaged over several transfers).

Transfer type	File type	# of files	File size (MB)	SS time	FTP time	KB/sec diff
Online	Application	1	1	2:33	3:27	+2
Online	Text files	many	1	2:01	1:59	even
Local	QT Movie	1	10	1:26	1:14	-19
Local	Text files	many	6.3	2:56	2:14	-11.5
Local	Mixed	many	11.8	5:55	4:22	-12

I made the tests with my two Power Macs (200Mhz 8500 and 50Mhz, PPC-upgraded Quadra 700), dial up connections with 28,800 baud USR Sportster modems, and my 10BaseT Ethernet network. My results can't reliably predict your own, because of the aforementioned variables, but they do point to SpeedShare performing within about 20% of FTP speeds on average, sometimes higher.

Summary

As you can see from the data, SpeedShare does most of the work of the others, while providing a much needed interface upgrade to normal internet file transfer. One SpeedShare client and server runs $49.95 and additional copies are $29.95; Qdea's free demo version is fully-functional, except for being limited to 100K transfers. For more info, head over to Qdea Software.