Recommend good WebDAV client software

[Shadrack]

Hi!

I use Windows XP at work and Windows 7 RC at home. My iPhone app "Files" and my iDisk through my MobileMe account both only support the WebDAV protocol. Its a shame that FTP isn't supported.

The WebDAV support that is built into Explorer does not seem very good for major file transfers. After mounting my iDisk and copying files to it, monitoring the network activity shows that the transfer is very sporadic. I get bursts of data transfer with several seconds of "0 kb/s" in between. Same situation with the iPhone app "Files."

I tried a freeware WebDAV client that I found called "BitKinex" and have had much better transfer speeds with it. Using it about maximizes my connections out (about) and leaves me wondering why Explorer struggles so much.

I don't really like BitKinex, primarily because there is no drag-and-drop functionality to it. Also the interface seems really beta-ish. You get what you pay for. Too bad FileZilla doesn't have WebDAV support yet.

I've played around with WebDrive, which gives the same functionality as Explorer. I haven't done a good endurance test with my trial yet to see how it compares to BitKinex and Explorer. I'm really put off by the price tag, however. They want $59.99 for a glorified FTP/WebDAV client that doesn't even have an interface, it just mounts things as drive letters. I don't think that a file transfer client should cost more than $40.

Advice well appreciated. I think I'm after a simple nice looking piece of software that allows me to easily connect to my iDisk and drag-and-drop files from Explorer and vice-versa.

[ajua]

There is a free, Java-based online WebDAV client that worked fine when I test it months ago.

Its called AnyClient. It has a downloadable installer but I didn't test it.

BitKines is very good, but sadly its interface leaves a lot to be desired.

You are right about WebDrive. The price is too much. However, it works very well.

Hopefully, FileZilla may support WebDAV in the near future.

[Shadrack]

AnyClient transfers faster than Explorer but still no drag-and-drop support. I looked into CuteFTP, but it only supports WebDAV in its $60 pro version :(.

[Shadrack]

After spending the weekend evaluating the trials of a couple of WebDAV clients, I must say that WebDrive is by far the best software available for Windows. Also, it all seems to be priced at or around $60 for registered copies of these programs.

I just wish it didn't cost so much. I sent their sales department an email asking about how many computers they are comfortable installing the license on for my own personal use. I haven't heard back, but if they tolerate me installing the software on my home desktop and laptop then I may purchase it.

Examining their rigorous "Activation/Deactivation" scheme seems to indicate that they will only tolerate installation on 1 computer system per license. Which is a shame.

MapDrive also looks like a good contender, but is currently in beta and even after a few simple tests I could tell that the software was easily confused. When it came to canceling file transfers from within Explorer, I was impressed by how quickly WebDrive responded... MapDrive, on the other hand, was less graceful. MapDrive seems to be targeting the same $60 price point once it is out of beta. If they tolerate multiple computer installs per license I may go with them.

Alternatively, I'm going to spend some time trying to figure out why Windows Explorer sucks so bad at WebDav. Maybe there are some registry tweaks that can fix these issues. Its just slow and unresponsive. Transfer speeds are so terrible in comparison to WebDrive or MapDrive. I'm using this to mount an iDisk, and sadly the online upload utility is faster than connected Explorer to the iDisk via WebDav.