Tag: Google Chrome

Bitcasa Drive Link Generator

With Bitcasa now using it’s new backend, the consumer API being dead and all tools (including reallistic’s BitcasaFileLister) being unusable, one certainly has a hard time getting their data off Bitcasa.

The client seems to omit certain files (despite the fact that a download from the web works fine and the checksum for the files match) and even when a download commences, it is still painstakingly slow, clocking about 200-400kb/s.

Paying Bitcasa for their larger plan for an entire year to download my files is not a valid option for me, especially considering their current financial state. The only way to achieve acceptable download speed is to utilize the web-frontend and a download manager of my choice. For that to work I needed a way to generate lists of download links for the web-frontend, so I came up with the Bitcasa Drive Link Generator, a new Chrome extension that will do just that: Allow you to browse your Bitcasa Drive and grab all the download links as you walk through your folders.

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The extension is not beautiful but works flawlessly and has already helped me to get some of my problematic files/folders off Bitcasa.

Download:

How to install:

Download and extract the extension to a convenient place. Go to your Chrome settings, choose the “Extension” tab, tick the checkbox for “Developer Mode” and then click “Load unpacked extension”, select the previously selected directory. You should see a new icon in your Chrome toolbar.

If not already done, go to drive.bitcasa.com and log-in. Now you can use the extension.

Bitcasa Everywhere Chrome modification for infinite queue

Addendum 2014-05-21: I received a mail from Bitcasa informing me that this modification polls Bitcasa’s services so much that it has undesired side effects. Contrary to what you might believe it was not a threat or any sort of lesson in legal issues but a simple request backed by very reasonable, technical arguments. If you are not familiar with how the modification worked, here is the short version: BCE Mod created a background timer that would poll Bitcasa’s endpoint every x seconds to update it’s internal status, log you in, trigger new downloads and so on. One person using this method is not a problem. Add an undefined number of people and the trouble starts. Every user with this mod increases the stress on Bitcasa’s web interface considerably due to the unending stream of requests. Now here is where my dilemma starts: I was out to improve the user-experience and show that it does not take much to do so, not to harm the service I want to prosper for years to come. Unfortunately though, that seems to be the case now, making the life of the good folks at Bitcasa harder – not cool. So please understand that I will not offer or work on this modification anymore. I do recommend that if you still use the modification, you should uninstall it immediatly because it will not work as intended anymore; all it will do at this point is lock you out of My Bitcasa for a few minutes due to the number of requests. If you are interested in…

  • An infinite queue for your Bitcasa Everywhere downloads
  • Automatic login to My Bitcasa
  • Tighter integration with 3rd party services
  • A more up-to-date Bitcasa client update check (possibly an official announcement for each new release via Twitter?)

…please vote for these features on the official feature request section! The more votes a feature gets, the better! If a feature is not feasonable you will receive official word on why it will not make the cut. Also consider voting for the addition of some kind of file-download extension to Bitcasa’s API, giving third-party developers more freedom to interact with Bitcasa without having to play the “middle man” for file caching. Again, sorry to everyone at Bitcasa for the inconvenience caused and sorry to everyone who came here expecting a turbocharger for their Bitcasa Everywhere!