83

Maximizing the Storage Capacity of Free Cloud Storage

Providers
Marisa M. B uc tuanon, Kristine Joanne I.Tigue and R alph Jay Pepito

Abstract

Cloud storage has been a prominent solution for a secure data warehousing. However,
the users are only allowed to use limited storage space. With innumerable providers, data
and files are dispersed across multiple cloud repositories. Users try to have multiple accounts
on the same cloud storage provider or to sign up for an account from different providers.
This will somehow fill in the lacking free storage capacity of a provider. Thus, adds up in the
workload of user.
This study aims to resolve the problem on the free cloud storage services. The system
creates an illusion of a larger capacity of data volume that will be offered for public
consumption. With Fuse, files are consolidated and managed in a sophisticated manner to
ensure data preservation and performance efficiency. This centralized cloud service is made
to utilize today’s emerging cloud services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. With 1
account, users will be able to store files online and access them anywhere with larger storage
capacity than what is available today.

Keywords: Abstracted cloud storage, data warehousing, centralized cloud service, free
larger storage capacity

1.0 Introduction freebies or other promos that the service provider

Cloud storage has become 1 of the forefront gives to have additional storage capacity, it is
solutions for the need of storage in lieu of the still not enough for the users to store their data.
physical alternative which is more prone to data As a result, most users settle for having multiple
deprivation and data loss [11] [13]. It has risen accounts on the same cloud storage provider or
in popularity among users who are in need of to sign up for an account from different providers.
abundant, convenient, and secure solutions for This creates an intersperse of files or data across
online file storage. A lot of people are working multiple cloud repositories. This will somehow add
on big size of files, such as audio, video, installer, up in the workload of a user in accessing files from
large PDF or image file for the purpose of their different accounts.
work, business or personal need. This sprang the There are 19 free cloud storage services that
proliferation of plentiful cloud storage services and are accessible nowadays [15]. To name a few, there
most users avail the free cloud storage services is MEGA which offers 50 GB of free cloud storage,
[14]. Since the service is free, a constraint of cloud pCloud with 10 GB of free online storage, and
storage capacity is expected. Though, there are MediaFire where you can instantly get 10 GB of

University of San Jose-Recoletos

84 Recoletos Multidisciplinar y Research Journal D ecem ber

free online file hosting [16]. However, they are not instead of RAID.
that commonly used by the community. Google Fuse aims to give light to the problem of
Drive, Dropbox, and Box are included in the top 10 managing multiple free cloud storage services. This
services that offers great services for storing and application consolidates the 3 prominent cloud
sharing files with friends and families [16]. A Google storage providers, namely, Google Drive, Dropbox,
user gets a 15 GB of free space that is shared with and Box. This makes Fuse to have larger storage
all Google services. Dropbox users start off with 2 capacity than what is accessible today. Choosing
GB of free space and can earn up to around 18 GB which drive to store the file, is abstracted. An
with simple additional requirements. Box, which is illusion of 1 cloud service provider is offered to the
formerly Box.net, gives out a 10GB of free online users. With the use of Round-robin algorithm, the
storage space. files are equally stored in each drive in a circular
To address the problem of managing order.
multiple cloud services, cloud storage managers
have emerged. One of which is, MultCloud. This Conceptual Framework
application supports more than 20 cloud drives [16].
It is a free web based app that allows cloud users to
access all their online files from a single interface.
The users are given the option to choose which
files to transfer to another drive. This application
is the same with ODrive. ODrive is a free desktop
application created by Oxygen Cloud. It gives users
a folder interface for browsing all their online files
and syncs their chosen files, documents and photos
[7] [8]. Likewise, Otixo also lets users combine and Figure 1: Fuse Conceptual Framework
manage files on several cloud storage services
using a single dashboard [9]. Unlike these cloud Figure 1 depicts the interaction of the system with
storage managers, Fuse automatically manages the user and the APIs and SDKs that are being used
the files in the 3 drives. Additionally, Redundant by the system. The user of the application will only
Array of Cloud Storage (RACS) is another cloud have a single login credential to be able to use
storage manager that stripes data across multiple Fuse. Upon registration, the user will be asked for
cloud storage providers [1]. The supported cloud the login credentials of the 3 drives. This will allow
services of RACS are for business applications like the system to manage the files in each drive. If the
Rackspace Cloud which has 5GB storage capacity, user doesn’t have an account in each drive, the
Amazon S3 web service with 5GB storage capacity user can create 1 and associate each account to the
and GoGrid with 10 GB storage capacity. In total, system. Once the user finishes the authentication
Fuse has 25 GB storage capacity which is larger process, the user will then be redirected to the
than RACS. Unlike RACS, Fuse implements the Fuse dashboard or home page. The user can now
abstraction of file management using Round-robin manage his files.
2016 B uc tuanon, Tigue and Pepito 85

2.0 Methodology platform to resume the distribution.

Fuse is a web application that was developed
using PHP scripting language. Using the different
APIs and SDKs, the system was able to connect
to the cloud service providers. Choosing which
cloud storage services are to be included in the
system is based on the availability of APIs and
SDKs, maximum free storage capacity, and their
popularity or total number of subscribers. Before
the developer can call or use Google Drive API,
Box API, and Dropbox SDK, the developers should
create an account for each drive. Google Drive API
is organized by resource type and can be accessed Figure 2: Fuse Management of Files
on the Google Drive developers’ reference [3] [4]
[10] [12]. Although generally, Google Drive offers Figure 2 visually represents how files are
15GB of storage, it can only allow Fuse to store distributed and accessed to and from each drive.
13GB of memory storage. This is because there are Each drive requires an authentication process
other services of Google Drive that are consuming every time a new user registers to Fuse. This will
the storage capacity. Managing the request from ensure that a cloud service provider allows only
Box can be known from using Box developers’ site authorized users to access and manipulate their
[2] [5] [6]. While accessing and manipulating the files. From the perspective of the Fuse user, the
Dropbox account, the developers need to install files are just seen in 1 dashboard. In this example,
Dropbox SDK [9]. 7 files are seen in Fuse dashboard. But internally,
Fuse distributes these files to the 3 drives upon
Fuse Management of Files uploading these to the system. During the
Round-Robin Algorithm uploading of files, the system determines the
Round-robin is the scheduling algorithm number of files to be uploaded and computes the
used in distributing the files and directories total number of files to be uploaded in a drive.Table
across multiple cloud platforms. Round-robin was 1 shows the percentage of uploaded files that can
implemented so that every cloud storage would be stored in a particular drive.
equally share the same number of files stored
in Fuse. The circular queue of the algorithm will
depend on the sequence of authentication that the
user did during the registration process and the
subsequent authentications. There is a scheduler in
the system that caches the information on which
cloud service provider the last upload happens.
This will allow the system to know on which cloud
86 Recoletos Multidisciplinar y Research Journal D ecem ber

Table 1: Drive Files Allocation

Cloud Service Provider Storage Capacity Percentage of Files to be Stored

Google Drive 13 GB 52%
Box 10 GB 40%
Dropbox 2 GB 8%
Since not all cloud storage providers have Drive, 2 files to Dropbox and Box. The system stores
the same initial storage capacity, the system is the information on which drive do these files are
designed to have a ratio approach of distributing stored for future access. Once the system requests
the files. 52% of the files will go to Google Drive, for file access such as viewing, the other end, cloud
40% to Box, and 8% to Dropbox. If the user uploads storage providers, will send a JSON response. This
7 files, 3 files will go to Google Drive, 3 files will go response is parsed by the system before showing
to Box, and the 2 remaining files will go to Dropbox. the result to the user. There is no physical storage
The Round-robin algorithm is used to know the of files in Fuse server, only in the 3 drives. The way
sequence on which drive to store the files. The the files are shown to the user are just through the
order of the sequence starts with Google Drive, HTTP request and response data communication.
followed by Dropbox, then Box. Assuming that
Box was the last drive where the recently added 3.0 Results And Discussion
files are stored, the system thendirects the storage User Interfaces
to Google Drive. As a result, 3 files goes to Google Cloud Authentication

Figure 3: Google Drive Authentication

Figure 3 shows an example of Google Drive press the button “Allow” in order for the system to
authentication. After the user has logged-in to his view and manage his files. This process is the same
Google Drive account, the system redirects the with the other 2 cloud storage providers.
user to the authentication page. The user needs to
2016 B uc tuanon, Tigue and Pepito 87

the “Download” button. At the upper right corner

of the screen, the user can know the available
storage capacity of his account. Furthermore, Fuse
does not expose the synched email address of the
user for security purposes.

Features
Extended Memory
The key feature of Fuse is its larger memory
capacity provided for the users which has a total
Figure 4: Three Synced Drives
of 25 GB. This is due to the implementation of
Figure 4 displays that the 3 drives have been Fuse abstraction for file storage management. The
synced to Fuse after authentication process. This system creates a folder in each drive for the system
would mean that Fuse can now manage the user’s to know which files to manage. Since there are files
3 accounts. that are created in a certain drive, without the use
of Fuse, only those files that are part of that folder
is managed.

Auto Sync Files

Visually hidden from the user, whenever the
user performs a task in any of the Fuse file, there is
an automatic syncing of files from Fuse to a certain
drive. With the use of user’s provided credentials,
Fuse receives a short lived access token. For every
user request, a single access token will be attached.
Figure 5: Fuse Dashboard
Each drive will determine if the request and the
Figure 5 is the main view of the user once token is valid and returns a JSON response. If valid,
successfully log-ins to the system. On the left it will return a File resource, otherwise, an error
side pane, the user will see that the 3 drives are message. In case of token expiration, Fuse handles
highlighted. This indicates that the 3 drives have “refresh tokens” to acquire new access tokens.
successfully synced. The user can create a file
directory that can also contain a subdirectory. Zipped Multiple Download
Upon uploading of files, the user can traverse the The user can select multiple files to download.
directory as to which location the file should be. Requests for API downloads are sent through HTTP
The user can remove the files by just selecting the headers. Once the request is approved, the file
desired files and clicking the “Delete” icon. Once streaming will now get started. The file that has
the user decided to download the files, he just been fetched from each drive will be saved to the
needs to select the directory or the files and click cloud server of the Fuse. Fuse creates a folder for
88 Recoletos Multidisciplinar y Research Journal D ecem ber

archive to store the retrieved files. Once all files are Fuse Upload Limitation
fetched, the system prompts the user to input on To be able to upload big size of files, the
which local path to store the archived files. researcher changed the default PHP settings
to allocate a bigger upload size limit. However,
Distributed Multiple Upload there are some constraints like low bandwidth
When user uploads files to the system, the connection, which would result to HTTP timeout
files are distributed across different cloud storage error is inevitable. Unfortunately, Fuse is unable
services. The system uses Round-robin algorithm to support multiple file upload which are in music
to do the process. This makes the system bypass and video formats.
traffic and over storing of files in a single cloud
service provider. This will also prevent the user from Real time Viewing of Files
vendor lock-in and ensures the user that whenever Fuse cannot view files in real time due to the
there are failures in a certain cloud service provider, slow internet connection and the limited number
not all files will be off track. of requests per cloud storage provider per second.
This occurs when the system is bombarded with
Limitations incoming and outgoing requests, such as multiple
Manual Creation of Cloud Accounts upload, deletion and download of files. However,
Fuse is unable to support auto registration of Fuse will be providing a “Refresh” icon in order
user accounts. This is due to the fact that it is not toupdate the view of the user.
being provided by the API or SDK because this
will prevent any spam machines to generate false Performance Testing
accounts. The user needs to personally create his Table 2 displays the time spent for Fuse to
account and authenticate Fuse to manage his files. execute a certain test case. But still, internet
connection can change the result. The individual
Cloud Rate Limitation performance testing per test case of each drive
Some cloud APIs and SDKs put limits to is done by placing a script in certain functions.
the amount of calls the app can make per user. There is only file that is uploaded, deleted, and
Currently, Google Drive API has a courtesy limit of downloaded that shows the following result.
1,000,000,000 queries per day. The default user rate
limit is 1000 request per 100 seconds [3] [11] [10]
[12]. Dropbox has no limit for requests per day but
have a maximum of upload file size limit of 150MB
per day [5] [10]. While Box has a limit of 50,000
requests per day [2] [6].
2016 B uc tuanon, Tigue and Pepito 89

Table 2: Fuse Performance Testing

Test Case Google Drive Dropbox Box
Login for authentication and syncing the cloud
6.97 seconds 4.41 seconds 7.99 seconds
storage provider to user’s Fuse account
Uploading of files 7.06 seconds 6.7 seconds 6.82 seconds
Deletion of files 1.53 seconds 1.49 seconds 1.3 seconds
Downloading of files 5.67 seconds 2.28 seconds 2.6 seconds
Refreshing of dashboard 3.92 seconds 3.2 seconds 5.4 seconds
Overall, the outcome presents that Google authentic accounts and data in order to validate its
Drive has a slow response time in finishing the correctness. Initially, the authentication process of
tasks than the 2 drives. This is due to the fact that the 3 cloud storage services have minor problems.
Google Drive has more background processes The access token usually terminates once the Fuse
while performing each task. The table also reveals account is on standby for 1 hour. However, this has
that it is faster to execute the request in Dropbox. been resolved by acquiring fresh tokens from the
This is also known to the community that Dropbox drives upon expiration. Because of the integration
has a faster response time in terms of managing of multiple APIs, some functionalities were hard to
files. This is why most users who are inclined to implement but still, the developers were able to
cloud storage services would prefer Dropbox. The find ways to resolve these issues. Thus, completed
result also shows that Box has slower execution the requirements successfully. Internet connection
time upon account authentication and refreshing matters really, since API calls needs to have a fast
of dashboard. connection to have a faster result. On average,
the execution time of the system is fair enough to
4.0 Summary of Finding display the expected result.
Generally, the system was able to deliver the
certain specifications being set during the idea 5.0 Conclusion and Future Works
generation of the system. However, there were The system suits best for data storage on a
workarounds that requires to be done in order to personal scale. The user can now allow a system to
simulate the complete process. Instead of auto merge the prominent cloud storage providers that
creation of the 3 drive accounts, the user needs will suffice the need for larger storage capacity of a
to manually do it because of some constraints regular consumer in the digital era. That is why, the
placed in the APIs and SDKs. Fuse cannot support system is recommended for people who relies their
a multiple music and video file upload. This is data storage and file warehousing in the cloud. The
due to fact, that with low bandwidth connection, user will no longer memorize a lot of cloud storage
the system will have a timeout error. The system credentials just to access their files. Fuse enables
is also restricted with the number of API calls or the user to access the 3cloud storage providers’
request per user per day. That is why Fuse at some files in just 1 portal. This will also prevent the user
point, is not able to display a result in real time. to have a potential vendor lock-in.
Every functionality of the system was tested by
90 Recoletos Multidisciplinar y Research Journal D ecem ber

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