When Google began (and ended) the “Email Storage Race of 2004,” the first question I got from nearly all of my non-techie friends was: “Can I use that space to store all my crap?” “Maybe, but it’s not worth the trouble” was my usual answer. Well, someone’s working, under the radar so far, to eliminate the trouble.

A very brilliant programmer by the name of Bjarke has developed a Windows Shell Extention that allows a user to access a Gmail file system from their local Windows Explorer. The shell creates a virtual drive on your machine for the Gmail file system and allows read and write access as if it were any other drive. That’s right, just click on My Computer and your Gmail storage space will show up right next to your main hard drive or digital camera or external back-up drive. Maybe it’ll be drive E:. Double click and drag and drop.

This app carries with it several caveats:
- Firstly, Google does not condone this usage of their space. Obviously, when they offered 1GB of storage to every user, they did so knowing that the average user would never fill even a 10th of that space. This could changes things, including Google’s poilcies. They could reduce storage or storage access, or find a way to block direct access entirely.
- Every time Google changes it’s login scheme, this app breaks. They’s changed it several times and that change is transparent from the front end, but this app attempts to log into the system in the same manner as Google’s own lagin interface. When that algorythm changes, Google adjusts the interface, and the shell extention is left out of phase with the new routine.
- Lastly, this storage is not encrypted and not well guarded. It would not be terribly difficult for malicious folks to read and write to your directories. This is not a safety deposit box.

With that said: Give it a whirl!