OS X::Mounting Filesystems Over SSH (and more!) 1
Though this has been known for almost a year now… its still nice to remind all these new Mac users that they have other options besides mounting Windows/SMB/DAV/AFP/FTP/Mac filesystems natively through their Finder.
Enter FUSE or Filesystem in Userspace, specifically the MacFUSE implemenation.
Small background, FUSE was developed with the idea that filesystems could be used by non-priviledged users without the need of writing kernel code. Typically this is done through the Mach kernel extensions (AKA ”.kext” modules) within OS X.
Simpy visit the Google Code link above and download MacFUSE-Core.dmg… The sshfs disk image is also handy, but not required. I like to use the free MacFusion. Dubbed, “THE MacFUSE GUI”... it has better usability features like handling broken SSH mounts and Sleep/Wake behaviors. I have found both can crash Finder in some instances using the SSHFS disk image utility alone.
Once you have a filesystem, like a home directory on your Linux box, mounted up on your Desktop… remember you can find this mount within your Terminal by changing directory to ”/Volumes/name@host”. For example mine was something like ”/Volumes/justin@deathstar_atm34”.
My brother works at a local Panera bread (yes, we get free Asiago cheese bagels) and I’ve found SSHFS also works well when sharing files over insecure wireless connections in public places like these. Simply enable SSH from within your SharingPref.prefPane, create an account for your buddy and have him MacFusion over to download that 8GB torrent pull of Lost Season 3!
and Wait! There’s more! SSHFS isn’t the only type of MacFUSE kext you can add into your system, take a look at IPodDisk as well!
