TyphoonDrive Help
Help and User Guide
Getting Started
Using TyphoonDrive
Windows Explorer Smart Block
Configuration Options
Upgrading Your Account
Video Tutorials
FAQ
Software Download
To begin the software installation, click the download link on the download page or click the button below to download now.
Setup Wizard
You will first be asked to watch an introductory video to the basics of TyphoonDrive and TyphoonBackup. Selecting “Yes” will start the video in a web browser and will not interfere with the Setup Wizard. The next screen displays a short reminder explaining how TyphoonDrive and TyphoonBackup work together.
You will be asked whether you plan on running TyphoonDrive on a single computer, or whether it will be installed on multiple computers. This will adjust how often your computer will ping the server based on your situation and will optimize efficiency.
The next screen asks what type of Bandwidth Schedule you would like to assign. Throttling down TyphoonDrive during certain parts of the day when your computer is most active is helpful to prevent possibly affecting other activities such as normal Internet browsing.
Activating Smart Speed will automatically throttle down bandwidth usage when it sees your mouse move. After 5 minutes of inactivity, the bandwidth goes back to normal. This will help prevent TyphoonDrive from possibly affecting other activities that require bandwidth, such as normal Internet browsing.
The last screen will ask in general what Cache Size you would like TyphoonDrive to utilize. A larger cache will improve TyphoonDrive’s responsiveness, but will place a greater overall load on your computer. This can be changed and fine-tuned later from TyphoonDrive’s main interface.
TyphoonDrive creates a virtual drive on your computer that behaves just like your C: drive. You can drag and drop, copy and paste, and save directly to your TyphoonDrive. The difference is that rather than being stored locally, your files are stored safely on our secure servers in the cloud. NOTE that the TyphoonDrive interface itself (pictured here) is, for the most part, for the advanced user and changing configuration settings. Otherwise it serves primarily as a status box. Most common interaction with TyphoonDrive will be through Windows explorer, the same way you would use your C: drive.
Current Jobs
The Current Jobs area lists all current upload, download, rename and delete operations that are in progress or are pending. You do not need to wait for any particular operation to finish. TyphoonDrive is built to accommodate the caching of data and queuing of file operations, allowing for the highest level of performance possible.
The Failures column will show the current count and type of any failures encountered. A failure code of UL is used for upload, DL is used for download, and RN is used for rename. The number following the code is the number of times the operation has failed.
If a job has failed and has been retried automatically several times, the job will be automatically removed after a period of 24 hours.
Note that some operations may occur quick enough that they will not appear on the Current Jobs list. Additionally, there is a certain amount of overhead required in displaying the Current Jobs list, especially when there are a high number of file items in memory. Performance can be increased by closing the TyphoonDrive dialog when it is not needed.
Bandwidth Schedule
The Bandwidth Schedule area is a list of the bandwidth percentages TyphoonDrive will be allocated for each half hour of the day. To change the bandwidth values for a particular time of day, click and select the time span in the Bandwidth Schedule, and then use the Upload and Download values shown below the schedule to control the percentages. You may select more than one time of day, and adjust them all at the same time. The bandwidth schedule is by default always used.
Clear Cache
The Clear Cache button performs two functions when it is used. The first is that it will stop any and all file upload or download activity, essentially canceling all jobs. The second, is that it will clear all files from the local cache, forcing TyphoonDrive to rescan any folder when accessed again. Clearing the cache can assist in speeding up the TyphoonDrive startup process, can reduce the amount of hard drive space TyphoonDrive is using locally, and will also reduce the amount of memory TyphoonDrive is currently using, which can slightly improve speed and overall PC performance.
The disadvantages of using the Clear Cache button are that jobs currently in progress will be canceled, which could cause data loss for any uploads jobs in progress. Additionally, browsing your TyphoonDrive will be initially slower, as TyphoonDrive works to build a cache of the files and folders located on your TyphoonDrive.
Retry Failures
The Retry Failures button will attempt to retry all failed jobs, additionally the failure counts for a retried job will be reset to 0.
Delete Failures
The Delete Failures button will delete all jobs that are currently in an failure state. Note that once a job is deleted, that the data behind the job will also be removed, potentially causing a loss of data related to that particular jobs action.
Browse Drive…
The Open Explorer button will open Windows Explorer and automatically navigate to the TyphoonDrive virtual drive.
Delete Folder…
Clicking this button will allow for quicker and easier deletes of large segments of data on your TyphoonDrive without having to use Windows Explorer. This is especially useful in deleting entire backup sets that are duplicates or are no longer needed. Simple click on “Delete Folder…” and use the Browse Folder window to delete the folder of your choice. After clicking OK, a window will appear showing the delete jobs as they are completed. This window can be minimized or left running in the background, so you can still use TyphoonTools applications and Windows Explorer as you normally would.
Turbo Speed
The Turbo Speed button will temporarily boost the upload and download bandwidth speeds to 110% for 30 minutes. This can be useful when you want to accelerate a particular upload or download operation. Note that folder scanning and pinging are not affected by the bandwidth settings.
Slow Speed
The Slow Speed button will temporarily throttle down the upload and download bandwidth speeds to 10% for 30 minutes. This can be useful when you want to use your computer’s bandwidth for something else and need temporarily turn down TyphoonDrive’s bandwidth usage.
Open Error Log
Clicking this link will open a running list of errors that occur in TyphoonDrive. All errors are recorded in a Notepad file.
What is Smart Block?
Smart Block is a feature that allows TyphoonDrive to work smoothly with Windows Explorer. Normally when browsing files, Windows Explorer will attempt to load whole files before it displays them. In TyphoonDrive’s case, the files must be retrieved over the internet so when Explorer tries to load entire files it can drastically slow down Explorer and may create problems for the user while trying to browse files. TyphoonDrive solves this by using Windows Explorer Smart Block technology which will block Explorer from loading certain file types, such as .jpegs, in their entirety. Instead, Explorer will only load certain meta data such as the file name, date, size, and thumbnail image. This makes browsing your TyphoonDrive in Windows Explorer much smoother.
All files, including ones that are being blocked by Smart Block, will appear the same in Windows Explorer. You won’t know that a specific file is being blocked until you try to access it, at which point you will receive a message from TyphoonDrive notifying you that the file is being blocked by Windows Explorer Smart Block. To access the file you will need to briefly disable the Smart Block feature. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to select the file and hit CTRL+C on your keyboard. This will let TyphoonDrive know that you want to do “something” with this file and it will allow Explorer to load the file in its entirety.
An Example of Smart Block at Work
For example, you have a folder of several dozen vacation photos saved to your TyphoonDrive. With the Windows Explorer Smart Block option left unchecked, the files take a rather long time to load in Explorer and could make browsing the photos clunky. So you check the Windows Explorer Smart Block option on the TyphoonDrive interface, making browsing through the thumbnails go more smoothly. When you double-click on an image though, it does not open and you receive a notification from TyphoonDrive about Windows Smart Block. No problem, with the file still selected, you hit CTRL+C on your keyboard, double-click the file again, and it opens just fine.
All of the options listed below can be selected and changed from TyphoonDrive’s main interface, pictured above. This is accessed by double clicking the TyphoonDrive tray icon or by selecting TyphoonDrive in the TyphoonDesktop tray icon right-click menu.
Disk Cache Size
The Disk Cache Size value is used to control the maximum amount of disk space TyphoonDrive will use to store cached files. When TyphoonDrive downloads or uploads a file, the file is kept in the cache to speed up any additional access. When the cache becomes full, the oldest least used files are removed from the cache. The larger the Disk Cache Size, the faster TyphoonDrive can potentially be, the trade-off being more space is taken on your local drive.
Max Cache Files
The Max Cache Files value is used to control the total number of files TyphoonDrive will keep information for in memory. The larger this number, the faster TyphoonDrive is, because more information is kept on hand when browsing and accessing files. However there is a level of overhead associated with keeping files in memory, and a large Max Cache Files number may ultimately slow down your PC and your TyphoonDrive browsing.
When you first start TyphoonDrive, you will notice it performing an initialization step. This is where it loads the most recent file information into memory. The Max Cache Files value is not a concrete capped level, more of a suggestion to TyphoonDrive. As you use TyphoonDrive, its internal cache of file information will grow, and may exceed the Max Cache Files value. However over time, TyphoonDrive will trim the total number of files held in the cache, to match the Max Cache Files value. This provides the best level of performance, making sure that under high demand situations, that file information is instantly available.
It is important to note that TyphoonDrive does not actually store data from each file in memory, rather an index is stored in memory, similar to a phone book. Cached file data is however stored on your hard drive, the amount of which is controlled by the Disk Cache Size value.
Ping for Changes
TyphoonDrive will periodically contact the server to check if the contents of a folder you are browsing have changed. Changes may occur if more than one computer is using the same TyphoonDrive at the same time, such as in an office environment. In a majority of cases, there will only be one computer at a time using a particular TyphoonDrive. The shorter the Ping For Changes time, the more often TyphoonDrive will contact the server, ensuring the folder listings are more up to date. The disadvantage of shorter ping times is the decrease in performance, in that the ping takes a moment to execute. If there will not be multiple computers using TyphoonDrive simultaneously, then performance can be increased by setting the Ping For Changes to a higher value.
Test Bandwidth
The Test Bandwidth button will automatically test your Internet connection by uploading and download a file to our servers. For best results, do not use your Internet connection while performing the test. When the test is started, you are given an option to automatically select a connection type that best fits the test results. The connection type chosen is the one that is at least the speed of your tested connection. Otherwise the raw results of the bandwidth test are put into the Upload and Download edit boxes.
Upload Percentage
The Upload value shows and controls the upload bandwidth for the currently selected time span or spans on the Bandwidth Schedule. When the Upload value is adjusted, the selected time spans in the Bandwidth Schedule are adjusted to the same percentage. The value shown to the immediate right of the Upload value percentage is the total bandwidth available (100%).
Download Percentage
The Download value shows and controls the download bandwidth for the currently selected time span or spans on the Bandwidth Schedule. When the Upload value is adjusted, the selected time spans in the Bandwidth Schedule are adjusted to the same percentage. The value shown to the immediate right of the Upload value percentage is the total bandwidth available (100%).
No Schedule on Weekends
The No Schedule On Weekends value controls whether or not the Bandwidth Schedule will be used to control the allocated bandwidth for TyphoonDrive, for the Saturday and Sunday days of the week. The bandwidth allocated will be 100% for both upload and download. This feature is useful for allowing backups to upload at full speed for the entire weekend. This could apply to an office environments in which 100% of bandwidth is available on weekends.
Smart Speed
The Smart Speed option will automatically throttle the upload speed down to 10% when mouse movement is detected. This allows a computer to perform an upload at full speed when the computer is unattended, but when the computer is used, the bandwidth is throttled down. The download speed during the Smart Speed time period is set to 100%. Smart Speed will return bandwidth to the previous levels when no mouse activity has been detected for 5 minutes.
Hide Progress Popup
The Hide Progress Popup check box allow you to prevent the popup progress box that appears when TyphoonDrive is working or interacting with the server.
If you find that your TyphoonDrive is full or you are receiving a message from TyphoonBackup stating that the backup drive is full, you may need to upgrade your TyphoonTools Account. To upgrade your account, you must first log into the manage account area of TyphoonTools.
From here, select the Pricing tab at the top of the page to view available account packages and click on a new account to subscribe to. You will then be taken to the checkout screen where you can confirm your payment options and product selection. After going through this process you will need to restart TyphoonDrive for the changes to take effect.
