Storage: endless room for everything

Your CelDrive folder auto-extends into private cloud storage. Photos, downloads, AI models, archives. They live in the folder, you free local space.

What it does

After install, you get a real folder on your computer: ~/celdrive on macOS and Linux, C:\Users\you\celdrive (also drive letter Z:) on Windows. It looks and behaves like any other folder: drag files in, drag files out, edit them in place. Apps that hardcode paths keep working.

Under the hood it's a native mount (NFS on macOS, FUSE on Linux, WinFsp on Windows) backed by your private S3-compatible bucket. Files you've touched recently are cached locally for offline use and instant open; the rest stream on demand from your bucket. The folder shows the full file tree at all times; bytes only travel when you actually open something.

The result: every file is "there" the moment you click it, but only the working set actually consumes space on your machine. A 240 GB photo library can sit in a folder that uses 4 GB locally.

The reclaim wizard

The fastest way to free space on day one. celdrive reclaim wizard scans your computer for the biggest folders (Pictures, Downloads, Movies, Documents), shows you sizes, and lets you pick which ones to extend into the cloud. Each pick is moved atomically via rsync into your CelDrive folder, and the original location becomes a symlink, so any app that hardcodes ~/Pictures keeps working.

Fully reversible. celdrive reclaim restore moves everything back to its original location and removes the symlink. Nothing is destructive: the wizard never moves caches, build artifacts, virtualenvs, or dotfiles, so your CelDrive folder stays clean.

Cross-cloud: your data, your bucket

Storage is managed in the cloud you pick, not ours. CelDrive provisions an S3-compatible bucket scoped to your account on the provider you select, in the region you select, with credentials only your devices hold.

Supported backends today:

• Backblaze B2: default, lowest egress, US + EU regions
• Cloudflare R2: zero egress fees, global
• Oracle OCI Object Storage: generous free tier, EU + US + APAC
• iDrive E2: flat-rate storage, US-only
• AWS S3: standard, every region
• Wasabi: predictable flat-rate, US + EU + APAC

Region pinning is enforced: your data physically lives in the region you choose and never replicates elsewhere unless you ask. Because every backend speaks S3, you keep full portability: hand off your bucket credentials to aws s3 or rclone and your data is right there. We don't lock you to a cloud, a format, or our software.

Tier caps

Storage is hard-capped at every tier. When you hit 100% of your quota, the folder refuses new writes. Your existing files keep working, sync keeps running, but you're never billed for going over. Upgrade from the dashboard when you outgrow your current tier.

No surprise bills. No overage charges. No "we'll just charge you 2× this month." If you need more space, you upgrade, or you delete files. That's it.

What it's NOT

• Not a backup tool. CelDrive is the working location of your files, not a redundant copy. Run Time Machine (macOS) or your usual backup tool alongside it: point it at ~/celdrive and your bucket gets backed up just like any other folder.
• Not a sync app like Dropbox. Sync apps copy everything everywhere; CelDrive streams on demand. Files don't have to fit on your laptop. They don't fight your fan or your battery downloading at 3am.
• Not a network drive that breaks offline. Recently-touched files are cached locally. Open them on a plane, edit them on a train, the folder stays usable when the network doesn't.

For a side-by-side with iCloud / Dropbox / Drive / external SSDs, see the comparison on the homepage.