LAN drive - SAMBA Server & Cli

webrox

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Works without ROOT : Read the tutorial inside the app (works on Windows / MAC / Linux)

Transform your phone as a network drive (also known as "z drive").
Access your phone/device files with common softwares : MAC OS Finder, Windows File Explorer, Android ES Explorer, VLC, Kodi etc.
LAN drive is a powerfull and easy SMB server - also known as SAMBA server - designed for filesharing.
LAN drive is also a powerfull client to connect to SMB servers, and view/copy/paste files easily.
You could forget your usb key or your usb cable, you will never forget LAN Drive.

TRIAL version :
* Limited bandwitch to 0.5 MB/s. Buy the app and transfer up to 50 MB/s (100 times faster) - depending your max wifi speed.

Features :
* Copy/paste/rename files and folders on your device with MAC OS Finder, Windows File Explorer, Android ES Explorer, etc.
* Access the 'external' storage (Photos and Videos included) in your device as a network shared folder.
* Access the Root folder and all directories including SD Cards or external HDDs as network shared folders
* View your multimedia files with embedded mediaplayer (or external app).
* Your device name appears automatically in MAC OS Finder, Windows File Explorer, Android ES Explorer, VLC, Kodi etc.
* Manage your device name (NetBios) and Workgroup name.
* 3 authentication types : Anonymous with popup confirmation, Anonymous and Users with custom rights
* Manage users and create your own shared folders with credentials.
* View users connected and disconnect them.
* Unlimited connections (several users can access your sharings at the same time)
* 5 languages : English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.
* Launched as a service in the background : Access your SMB server while using other apps
* Protocols SMB1 (CIFS) and SMB2 protocol (enable/disable via settings)

Ratings and reviews

I am reviewing this as a server only. I am not that interested in the app as a client. As a SMB server it works. As my phone is not rooted, the app uses non-standard ports so getting a Windows machine to mount the shares it exports involves extra work. Using Linux, mounting the shares is simply a matter of writing the correct line into /etc/fstab. One issue is that LAN drive reports volume size and free space incorrectly. This can be annoying in some circumstances. Fix this and I'll pay for the full version! I am testing the demo version so cannot comment on speed as the demo is deliberately slow. One line summary: Basically functional, small bugs.

Despite my reservations about using the interface with an Android TV Box, I found a way to work with it and decided to buy the full version to take advantage of the faster transfer rate. Unfortunately, the transfer speed is significantly slower than claimed. In the app, it states that the speed will be restricted to the slowest part of the network connection and thus if one part is 2,4GHz, that will be the bottleneck - that is pretty clear. I have all devices connected at 5GHz, so the connection between all devices should be comparable. However, from my Synology to my Mac the transfer rate is around 100 Mb/s and from my Mac to my A95X Max running this app is about 20 Mb/s, i.e. a fifth of the speed and actually more like a 2.4GHz connection. As far as the WiFi connection is concerned, there is no explanation for this. It is annoying but I just have to make the pretty laboriously slow transfers when it is convenient rather than when required. On top of this, I discovered that all the video files I have transferred with this app play with glitches. I rewound whenever they occurred and they repeated so I checked the original files on my Mac at the glitch point and they are fine so I removed the HDD from my A95X Max Android Box and connected it to my Mac and the glitches occurred in exactly the same place, and videos transferred via USB on my Mac are fine, so I have to assume that the files were damaged during transfer with this app. Consequently, the only use I have for it now is to delete files remotely. If I could give the app 1.5 stars, I would - I almost hate it because of the hassle it has caused me troubleshooting the video problems I have had.

Works well and the paid version is fast, being able to copy files between my Win10 PC and phone using File Explorer is very easy, also easily mapped a drive to the phone. The only downside is having to purchase the port forwarding software for the PC to allow connections from a non rooted phone which costs many times the price of this app ! There would be many more purchasers and happy review customers if the developer could provide a custom program for PC's to carry out the port forwarding ??? Would give 5 stars then.

What's new

Fix bugs and improvements: see https://bit.ly/landrivechanges for more details.