StratoHiDriveUtils

PowerShell module for controlling the STRATO HiDrive desktop application and reading the configured sync root directory from HiDrive logs. This module was primarily created for personal use.

Project Structure

StratoHiDriveUtils/
|-- .gitignore                # Git ignore rules
|-- License.md                # MIT license for this project
|-- StratoHiDriveUtils.psd1   # Module manifest
|-- StratoHiDriveUtils.psm1   # Main module with exported functions
`-- README.md                 # This documentation

Module Overview

The module is defined by StratoHiDriveUtils.psd1 and loads StratoHiDriveUtils.psm1. It exports three functions:

• Start-HiDrive
• Stop-HiDrive
• Get-HiDriveSyncRoot

Requirements

• Windows
• PowerShell 5.1+ (PowerShell 7 also works)
• Installed STRATO HiDrive desktop client
• Read access to %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Logs and %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Data

Installation

Option 1: ZIP Download (recommended for quick installation)

The latest version is available as a ZIP file on the Releases page.

After downloading, extract the ZIP into the appropriate module directory:

PowerShell Version	Target Directory
Windows PowerShell 5.1	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\StratoHiDriveUtils
PowerShell 7+	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\PowerShell\Modules\StratoHiDriveUtils

Note: The target directory must be named StratoHiDriveUtils for PowerShell to auto-discover the module.

Then load the module:

Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Get-Command -Module StratoHiDriveUtils

---

Option 2: Git Sync (recommended for easy updates)

Copy the matching block and paste it into your PowerShell.

Windows PowerShell 5.1 (Install)

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils" -Force | Out-Null
git clone https://github.com/DonGrobione/StratoHiDriveUtils.git "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils"
Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Get-Command -Module StratoHiDriveUtils

Windows PowerShell 5.1 (Update)

git -C "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils" pull
Remove-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force

PowerShell 7+ (Install)

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils" -Force | Out-Null
git clone https://github.com/DonGrobione/StratoHiDriveUtils.git "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils"
Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Get-Command -Module StratoHiDriveUtils

PowerShell 7+ (Update)

git -C "$(($env:PSModulePath -split ';')[0])\StratoHiDriveUtils" pull
Remove-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force

Usage

1) Start HiDrive

Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Start-HiDrive

Start-HiDrive checks common install paths and starts HiDrive.App.exe. If no executable is found, the function throws an error.

2) Stop HiDrive

Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Stop-HiDrive

Stop-HiDrive stops all processes whose name matches *HiDrive*. The function first sends a graceful close request and then force-stops remaining matching processes. If no process is running, it exits without error. In practice, HiDrive.App and HiDrive.Sync are both terminated reliably.

3) Read Sync Root Directory

Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
Get-HiDriveSyncRoot

This returns the sync root path directly (string), for example:

C:\Users\<User>\HiDrive

If no matching log entry is found, the function returns $null.

Optional guarded usage:

Import-Module StratoHiDriveUtils -Force
$syncRoot = Get-HiDriveSyncRoot
if ($null -ne $syncRoot) {
    "Sync root: $syncRoot"
} else {
    "No sync root entry found in HiDrive logs."
}

Log Search Behavior in Get-HiDriveSyncRoot

The sync root is actually stored by HiDrive in the SQLite database %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Data\user.db. In practice, reading that value requires additional SQLite software or editor extensions. To keep this module dependency-free, Get-HiDriveSyncRoot reads the sync root from HiDrive log entries instead.

The function searches in this order:

1. Current log path: %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Logs\log.txt
2. Legacy fallback: %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Data\<numeric folder>\syncLog.txt

It extracts entries matching:

• FileSystemSnapshot: Get file system snapshot started. Root <path> |

Troubleshooting

• Start-HiDrive fails:
  • Verify STRATO HiDrive is installed.
  • Verify one of these files exists:
    • %ProgramFiles%\STRATO\HiDrive\HiDrive.App.exe
    • %ProgramFiles(x86)%\STRATO\HiDrive\HiDrive.App.exe
    • %LOCALAPPDATA%\STRATO\HiDrive\HiDrive.App.exe
• Get-HiDriveSyncRoot returns $null:
  • HiDrive may not have completed an initial scan yet.
  • Check whether log files exist under %LOCALAPPDATA%\HiDrive\Logs.
  • Start HiDrive once and allow it to run briefly before trying again.

Versioning

• Module version source of truth: StratoHiDriveUtils.psd1 (ModuleVersion).
• Current manifest version: 1.1.3.
• The module file StratoHiDriveUtils.psm1 does not duplicate module version metadata.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See License.md for the full license text.

Disclaimer

I am in no way affiliated with STRATO or HiDrive. This project is an independent, unofficial utility module and is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or connected to STRATO/HiDrive.

AI Usage

This module was created with support from AI/KI tooling.