Drive and Photo Service (PDS) is an open data management platform that provides unified storage, analysis, and AI capabilities for businesses, teams, and individuals. PDS is available in two editions: Cloud Drive for Enterprise (CDE), a ready-to-use solution, and PDS Developer Edition for custom development.
CDE and PDS Developer Edition are not interchangeable.
CDE
CDE provides enterprise file management built on Alibaba Cloud high-availability storage and security. It streamlines file search, sharing, and auditing for office workflows.
Core advantages:
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Centralized management and collaboration: Works out of the box with real-time file sync.
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Flexible permissions: Configure granular access controls for teams, enterprises, and subsidiaries.
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Enterprise security: Backed by Alibaba Cloud security infrastructure with information security compliance.
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Branding: Customize the enterprise name and logo.
Typical use cases:
Centralized document management, file search, file transfer, document sharing and collaboration, file permission control, and mobile office.
For more information, see What is Alibaba Cloud Drive for Enterprise?
PDS Developer Edition
PDS Developer Edition is an open platform that supports custom development to build drive and photo applications for specific business needs.
Main features:
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File management: Full CRUD operations on files and folders, including rename, move, and copy. Supports instant upload, resumable upload, real-time sorting, and fast retrieval.
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Photo album management: Auto-detects image tags and faces, extracts metadata such as shooting time and location, clusters faces, generates thumbnails for images, documents, and videos, and sorts items on a timeline.
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Event notifications: Detect data changes to facilitate integration.
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Connection types: Authenticate as an application with AccessKey signatures or OAuth-based JWTs, or as a user with phone-based or OAuth 2.0 access tokens. Supports VPC and Internet access.
Typical use cases:
Storage leasing, drive, and photo album applications. Use cases.
For more information, see What is Drive and Photo Service (Developer Edition)?
Differences between CDE and PDS Developer Edition
|
Item |
CDE |
PDS Developer Edition |
|
Core focus |
Standardized enterprise file management with no development required. |
An open platform for custom development and deep customization. |
|
Billing method |
Subscription billing. Upgrade to scale out. Downgrades are not supported. |
Pay-as-you-go billing. Unlimited storage. |
|
API support |
Not supported. |
Supported. Use API operations to manage drives. |
|
Client |
Standard client provided. |
Customizable branding in the console. Administrators package and generate the client. |
|
Login interface |
Standard login interface provided. |
Customizable login interface, including background image and login/logout flow. |
|
Use cases |
Enterprise office file collaboration and internal knowledge base management. |
Customized drive applications. |
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Features |
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Plan options |
Fixed user and storage quotas. |
Flexible user and storage quota combinations. |