Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

sshfs VS OSXFUSE

Compare sshfs VS OSXFUSE and see what are their differences

sshfs logo sshfs

This is a filesystem client based on the SSH File Transfer Protocol.

OSXFUSE logo OSXFUSE

FUSE for OS X allows you to extend OS X's native file handling capabilities via third-party...
  • sshfs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-26
  • OSXFUSE Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-15

sshfs features and specs

  • Remote File Access
    SSHFS allows you to mount remote directories over SSH, enabling seamless access to files on a remote server as if they were on your local machine.
  • Security
    Relying on SSH for data transmission ensures encrypted and secure communication between the client and server, protecting against eavesdropping and tampering.
  • Ease of Use
    Setting up SSHFS is straightforward for those already familiar with SSH, making it a convenient solution for remote file handling without needing additional configurations.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    SSHFS can be used across various Unix-like systems and has ports for macOS and Windows, offering broad compatibility for different environments.
  • Portability
    As SSHFS builds on SSH, it can be used almost anywhere SSH is available, providing flexibility in working across different networks and setups.

Possible disadvantages of sshfs

  • Performance
    Since SSHFS relies on SSH for data transfer, it may not perform as well as traditional network file systems, particularly over high-latency connections.
  • Limited Functionality
    SSHFS might not support all functionalities of a full-fledged network file system, such as advanced file locking mechanisms or sophisticated permission management.
  • Dependency on SSH
    The effectiveness of SSHFS is contingent upon SSH configurations and permissions, which can limit usability if not properly set up.
  • Potential Security Risks
    If SSH access is compromised or not sufficiently secured, the data accessed over SSHFS is at risk, underscoring the need for robust SSH security practices.
  • Mount Stability
    In the event of network interruptions or SSH session drops, SSHFS mounts can become unstable or unresponsive, requiring remounting or manual intervention.

OSXFUSE features and specs

  • User Space File Systems
    OSXFUSE allows the creation of fully functional file systems in user space. This facilitates development by not requiring changes to kernel code, reducing the risk of affecting system stability.
  • Flexibility
    Developers can implement a wide variety of file systems with different abstractions and benefits, tailored for specific tasks or unique applications.
  • Wide Range of Use Cases
    OSXFUSE supports various applications, from cloud storage solutions and encrypted file systems to unique file abstractions, making it versatile for different needs.
  • Community Support
    Being open-source, OSXFUSE benefits from community contributions, documentation, and shared implementations that can aid development and problem-solving.
  • Cross-Platform Development
    OSXFUSE's similarity to FUSE on other Unix-like systems simplifies cross-platform development and porting of file systems.

Possible disadvantages of OSXFUSE

  • Performance Overhead
    Running file system operations in user space can introduce additional latency compared to kernel-based file systems, potentially affecting performance.
  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up and configuring OSXFUSE and its corresponding file systems might be challenging, especially for users not familiar with terminal commands or file system concepts.
  • Security Concerns
    User space file systems could introduce security vulnerabilities if not implemented carefully, as bugs can lead to data corruption or unauthorized access.
  • Limited Kernel Integration
    Since OSXFUSE operates in user space, it may not have the same deep integration and performance optimizations available to in-kernel file systems.

sshfs videos

Mounting Remote Filesystems With SSHFS

More videos:

  • Review - sshfs - Mount Network Share over SSH - Linux CLI
  • Review - Hak5 - Build Secure Online Storage - SSHFS, File Systems, Fuse and Userland, Hak5 1111 part1

OSXFUSE videos

Apple: OSXFuse & VeraCrypt on Big Sur: OSXFuse seems to be missing on your machine (2 Solutions!!)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to sshfs and OSXFUSE)
FTP Client
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Storage
53 53%
47% 47
Storage
0 0%
100% 100
Web Service Automation
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using sshfs and OSXFUSE. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

sshfs might be a bit more popular than OSXFUSE. We know about 34 links to it since March 2021 and only 31 links to OSXFUSE. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

sshfs mentions (34)

  • Sshfs for Windows
    What are you basing that on? It had a release in 2022 and last commit is 7 months old. It probably hasn't needed any new features in a while. I'm not sure how often it would need security updates. Ah, I see now there's a note in the README[0]. It sounds more like it's in maintenance mode / understaffed than completely abandoned, but I suppose it's worth being aware of. Sshfs has been a killer feature for me on my... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • How do you setup your gnome extension development environment?
    Sshfs - allows us mount a remote filesystem using SFTP. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • The Cheapest NAS
    I use sshfs. If you can login via ssh then you can mount the remote server through ssh as a local drive. https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs For added security I limit my home ssh access to a handful of trusted IPs including my cloud VM. Then I set up an ssh tunnel from my hotel through the cloud VM to home. The cloud VM never sees my password / key. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Rclone syncs your files to cloud storage
    > It's replaced sshfs for some cases. I'd been using sshfs for some years until I learned that rclone can mount remotes to the file system, and I've been using that happily since then. https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_mount/ > at present SSHFS does not have any active, regular contributors, and there are a number of known issues - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • A currently maintained fork of SSHFS
    Interesting, I alaways assumed sshfs was part of OpenSSH, learn something new every day. Also, looks like sshfs used in Slackware is abandoned. https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs A quote from the link, I wonder if this project will be the 'one': >If you would like to take over this project, you are welcome to do so. Please fork it and develop the fork for a while. Once... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

OSXFUSE mentions (31)

  • Please someone save me from file sharing hell to windows
    I didn't exactly use any 'tutorial'. Assumming you can already SSH to the target machine, you just need to install both these pkgs then reboot to 1TR Recovery Mode and choosing Reduced Security and choose to enable Kernel Extension and then reboot again goto Security & Privacy and Allow the extension, and that's it you can now use it. Source: over 1 year ago
  • How do I fix this?
    Weird. Where did you download (lat/new)est MacFuse from? https://osxfuse.github.io/ I hope! Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: What are some good resources for learning about low level disk/file IO?
    I lead a project that included shipping a filesystem driver and a virtual disk on Windows. What I did to learn the lower-level APIs, and perform initial testing on the driver, was write a "mirror" drive. The user-mode code pointed to a folder on disk, the driver made a virtual disk drive, and all reads and writes in the virtual disk drive went to the mirror folder. On Windows, you can implement something like that... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Possible to use VeraCrypt without OSXFuse
    "FUSE-T is a kext-less implementation of FUSE for macOS that uses NFS v4 local server instead of a kernel extension. The main motivation for this project is to replace macfuse (https://osxfuse.github.io/) that implements its own kext to make fuse work. With each version of macOS it's getting harder and harder to load kernel extensions. Apple strongly discourages it and, for this reason, software distributions... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • mount harddisk with different formats
    Macos doesn’t support many Linux file system formats. You’ll have to use something like macFUSE https://osxfuse.github.io/. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing sshfs and OSXFUSE, you can also consider the following products

Rclone - rsync for cloud storage.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac - Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Tuxera brings reliable read-write compatibility for all NTFS-formatted USB drives on your Mac. Try free for 15 days.

WinSCP - WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows.

Mounty for NTFS - A tiny tool to re-mount write-protected NTFS volumes under Mac OS X 10.9+ in read-write mode.

WinFsp - WinFsp, Windows File System Proxy, is a set of software components for Windows computers that...

Ceph - Ceph is a distributed object store and file system designed to provide excellent performance...