6 Ways Nuvolos Makes File Storage Easier

Recently we have given the Nuvolos high performance file system a polish, providing a new and improved UI that makes it even easier to use than before. But what is the Nuvolos file system, and how does it contribute to making Nuvolos the best cloud platform for public and private research workflows? In this article we discuss in 6 points what it is and why it is so useful.

The Nuvolos file system works just like a file system in Windows, Mac, or any Linux GUI. You have folders that you can freely create, move, delete, and navigate between, and in those folders are individual files that represent data, text, code, or whatever else you may be using for your research work. You can upload files directly from your local system or from any public URL. Just like in any commonly used OS, you can perform all operations directly within the Nuvolos UI, without needing command line tools. In short, it functions just like your own drive on your own operating system - but in the cloud.

The Nuvolos UI is deliberately designed to be interacted with like you would with any cloud-based storage system like Google Drive or Dropbox. What differentiates it from such popular solutions is that navigation in Nuvolos is easier and we solve the problem of having files scattered all over a number of different places and cloud services. Instead of having to draw files from your research team's Google Drive, and your organisation email, and the shared Dropbox folder, and your local HD, you put everything you need for your research directly into Nuvolos. Then it is all in one place and always ready to hand.

Of course, the Nuvolos file storage system does more than just keep files. It also enables two fundamental features of the Nuvolos platform: distribution (sharing) and snapshots (tracking). 

The distribution feature allows you to easily and quickly share files with others, whether colleagues, external researchers, other people in your organisation, or even class students. Instead of cumbersome email attachments back and forth that have awkward size limitations and get lost in the clutter, you can share and send files with a few clicks. This also makes it possible to continuously share updates to your work, so that you can keep everyone abreast of progress whenever needed.

The snapshot feature provides full version control on all files in the Nuvolos file storage system, allowing both easy tracking of versions and variants as well as quick and effective restoration of any given state of your work whenever needed. This encourages experimentation and rapid development, since your workflow is not impeded by having to worry about how to undo everything if a particular approach turns out not to deliver what you wanted. It also gives peace of mind, as there is no risk of data loss or sudden problems with access.

The Nuvolos file system has full integration with Dropbox, making it easy to use both flexibly as circumstances demand. But there's more. As we know, researchers frequently work with extensive codebases in combination with the tools run directly on Nuvolos. For the necessary code tracking, we therefore fully support Git as the industry standard in code and text file tracking and versioning. You can combine your Nuvolos public key with Git and clone any Github repository directly into Nuvolos without any issues.

Of course, many other kinds of common files, like files that frequently change as output of research or image files, are best tracked within the file storage system itself rather than Github (or other Git repos). This again proves the additional benefit of the fully integrated version control in the Nuvolos file storage system, which works very well together with code tracking in Git. For example, the many image files commonly used in radiology or pathology can be fully tracked and backed up with the Nuvolos file system (as described above), without worrying about any of the difficulties Git has when interacting with images. Any code used in the research process can then be tracked in Git as usual.

We continue to work on further integrations to make your workflows feel fast and natural in the cloud environment. As a preview feature, we can now enable file integration with Microsoft Sharepoint Online and Microsoft OneDrive for Business using the Microsoft 365 authentication service. Just ask Nuvolos support for activation.

The Nuvolos file system is not just an easy workflow aide, it's also fast. Our system is highly performant according to the latest industry standards. Measured in terms of real performance on throughput, the Nuvolos file system is up to 10x faster than Azure Files for working with large sets of small files. This means that even with research work that involves very large quantities of files or very frequent file operations, the Nuvolos platform UI remains a smooth experience.

Naturally, as your research projects expand in scope and direction, you may find that you need to scale the file storage available. Using the full benefits of the cloud, the Nuvolos file storage system makes full scalability possible. Each Nuvolos project space is provided with 50GB of storage right off the bat and this can expand to virtual infinity. What's more, we have recently strengthened and improved Nuvolos support for large file storage (think: entire datasets) as well, which acts as a complement to what the Nuvolos high performance file system is capable of. We are committed to the idea that storage space should never be a brake on advancing research and development.

In short, the release of the new Nuvolos file system user interface is a perfect opportunity to become fully acquainted with the platform and its capabilities. From ease of use to workflow integration to scope and scalability, Nuvolos has got you covered for all the needs of cutting-edge research work.