Ecamm Network's iPhoneDrive: how-to and review

People used to iPods were fairly miffed when they discovered there would be no access to the file system on the iPhone – at least for the time being – but thankfully Ecamm Netork's iPhoneDrive sorts this oversight for just $9.95. iPhoneDrive is a really basic tool, no muss, no fuss, just plug your iPhone into your Mac – no Windows version yet friends -- start iPhoneDrive and presto change-o, a gui opens for adding files to your iPhone. Read on, and we'll show you what all the fuss is about.

When the app first fires up you are presented with a clean slate, keep in mind, we are only using the iPhone for storage, this bit of wizardry doesn't get you anywhere near the actual inner workings of the handset. Menus buttons are basic, create folders, copy files to and from the handset, and delete what is no longer needed. A display on the bottom of the application pane shows connection status and how much space you have remaining for storage.

Click the left pane, use the toolbar to create a folder or two, and then add whatever you like to your new storage device. Adding files to and copying from the iPhone is straightforward and only involves hitting the appropriate button and following the prompts or dragging to and from the finder window. As an added bonus, iPhoneDrive works perfectly well with "Hacktivated" iPhones, even those originally set up on the Windows platform. We weren't sure if restoring the iPhone would blow away all of our files, and weren't too thrilled to give it a shot.

This is a fine, simple tool, and it works exactly as advertised: it converts your iPhone into a memory key, nothing more or less. It would be really sweet if we could get at our music, videos, SIM unlock, and the file system with this software, but alas, we will likely have to look elsewhere for that functionality. While we recognize that Ecamm deserves minor applause for getting this to market quickly, and there there is obviously a need for it, we just wish that Apple had included this functionality out of the box. Either way, we are happy to take what we can get but do hope to see more features in future upgrades.

[Neeko @ Jul 11th 2007 4:34PM]

this is a cool program with no use. Who really spent $600 for a 4 or 8gb thumb drive?..Bring on the music and video file management.

[Ryan G. @ Jul 11th 2007 4:45PM]

You mean iTunes?

[zach @ Jul 11th 2007 4:59PM]

iTunes isn't the friendliest of apps.

[Garrett @ Jul 11th 2007 5:46PM]

Let's see iTunes put apps on it and I'll agree :P

[Jermaine Pulliam @ Jul 11th 2007 4:52PM]

Why pay for something that will probably end up free by Apple?

[Jon @ Jul 11th 2007 4:55PM]

I think the real problem was that apple wanted to make sure you could pull your phone off the dock quickly if you got a call. It seems they went through great lengths to ensure you could do this while syncing, so perhaps enabling disc mode affected that in some way.

[Doug Arcidino @ Jul 11th 2007 6:02PM]

Apple's choice to close the phone off was probably not as evil a decision as most people think. I would like to think it was for stability. Even with how closed it is I am still happy with my overall purchase. My components to hack the phone should be here tomorrow :)

[g2_ok @ Jul 11th 2007 5:37PM]

Is the file system in iPhone also HFS+ and does anyone know if it also journaled?

[rafael @ Jul 11th 2007 8:04PM]

its possible to add ringtones with that ?

[kidapollo @ Jul 12th 2007 12:26AM]

One question, though. If I'm transferring files from home to work on my iPhone, do I have to have iPhone Drive app on both machines? If so, this really isn't all that practical, unless you transfer files often between two destinations. I'll stick with my 4GB thumb drive. There are plenty of additions and improvements I'd like to see on the iPhone before a disk mode. Give me cut and paste and arrow keys within the keyboard first.

[theBrave @ Jul 12th 2007 2:38AM]

This *look like* like an wrapper around iTunes functions, no ? I have a WiMo smartphone, and all that is available is the ActiveSync protocol, BUT someone wrote a little freeware that make my smart phone USB MSC compliant, so I can use it with linux, macos or even other windows computer for almost everything. (all except PIM sync)

[Mary @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:36AM]

To enable disk use on your iPhone for the PC, and also copy photos, music and videos from iPhone to the PC check out TouchCopy
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/