StretchDrive is designed so a business can trust it with sensitive files. This article explains the protections built into the product so administrators know exactly how data is isolated and access is controlled.
Organization isolation (tenancy)
Every file and folder belongs to a single organization. Drive scopes every request to the caller's organization, so one workspace's files can never appear in, or be reached by, another. Files are stored with per-organization internal keys, and those storage keys are never returned to the browser — clients only ever work with StretchDrive's own file identifiers. This means the underlying storage location of a file is not exposed, even to people who can access the file.
Who can use Drive at all
Access to Drive is gated by your workspace membership:
- Owners and admins always have access.
- Other members need the Files app enabled on their membership.
If a member without the Files app tries to use Drive, they're cleanly denied. Every request also passes an internal, trusted workspace gateway before it reaches Drive, and the organization and user identity come from that gateway rather than anything the browser can spoof.
Per-object permission checks
Beyond "can this person use Drive," every individual action re-checks permission on the specific file or folder involved — viewing, downloading, editing, sharing, uploading a version, or deleting. Your effective role is computed from ownership, workspace role, direct grants (to you, your groups, or your org), inherited folder permissions, and any valid share link. Cross-user access that isn't explicitly granted is denied.
Protected downloads
When you download a file, StretchDrive issues a short-lived signed URL that expires after a few minutes (about 5). The link works just long enough to fetch the file and then stops. Content that's streamed for preview is served with a strict security policy (sandboxed, with content-type sniffing disabled) so a file can't execute scripts in your browser. Share links can further restrict access with a password (stored only as a secure hash), an expiry date, and a download on/off toggle.
Integrity and safe uploads
Uploads are verified with checksums at both the chunk and whole-file level, so a file that arrives corrupted is rejected rather than silently stored. Upload sessions expire after 24 hours if abandoned. Because replacements are stored as new immutable versions, an accidental or malicious overwrite can always be rolled back.
Recoverability
Deleting an item moves it to Trash rather than destroying it, so accidental deletions are recoverable. Only permanently deleting (or emptying Trash) removes data for good and frees storage. This gives you a safety window against mistakes.
A realistic example
A member of your workspace leaves the company. Because Drive access depends on active workspace membership, their access ends when their membership is deactivated — they can no longer reach any file, even ones they previously downloaded links to, since download links are short-lived and expire. The team-owned files they worked on remain available to the rest of the team (especially anything kept in a shared drive), and their personal My Drive content is retained under the organization for an admin to reassign or clean up.
Tips for administrators
- Grant the Files app only to members who need Drive.
- Prefer groups for permissions so access follows membership changes automatically.
- Use passwords and expiry on any share link that leaves the organization.
- Turn download off for view-only distribution of confidential material.
- Keep critical files in a shared drive so departures never strand them.
- Empty Trash deliberately — it's the only step that permanently removes data.
FAQ
Are files encrypted? Files are stored in managed object storage with access mediated entirely by StretchDrive's permission checks and short-lived signed URLs; storage keys are never exposed to clients.
Can another organization ever see our files? No. Every request is scoped to your organization, and storage is partitioned per tenant.
What stops a shared download link from being reused forever? Direct download URLs expire within minutes. Share links you publish can be given an expiry and revoked at any time.
Who can permanently delete data? Owners (and workspace owners/admins). Regular deletes are recoverable from Trash first.
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