Transfer & Back Up Shade Drives to Any Cloud

What is Shade?

Shade (shade.inc) is a cloud storage and media asset management platform built for creative and video teams — agencies, sports media, brands and podcasters. It bundles storage with the tools those teams actually work in: natural-language AI search across footage (dialogue and visual content indexed automatically, no manual tagging), full-resolution streaming, review-and-approval workflows, and mountable drives that open directly inside Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. Team pricing runs $20 per seat/month with 500 GB of active storage per seat, unlimited drives and unlimited AI indexing (up to 15 seats); Enterprise adds 1 TB/seat, SSO/SAML and SCIM. The company raised $14M in 2026 to expand the platform, and holds SOC 2 Type II and TPN certifications with GDPR compliance. Content is organized into drives, each with its own settings and permissions.

Creative pipelines rarely start or end inside one tool: raw footage lands in S3 buckets, Dropbox folders or on a NAS, and finished projects need to leave expensive active storage for cheap archive tiers. Shade's per-seat active-storage allowance (500 GB/seat on team plans) makes that rotation a real operational task. CloudsLinker connects to a Shade drive via API and moves media server-to-server — bulk-load footage in for AI indexing, or sweep wrapped projects out to Wasabi, S3 or Google Drive — without a workstation in the loop.

Key features of Shade

Built for video teams

AI search over dialogue and visuals, review/approval, full-res streaming, and panels inside Premiere Pro and Resolve — storage plus the creative workflow layer.

$20/seat with 500 GB active storage

Team plan: unlimited drives and AI indexing, up to 15 seats and 150 guests. Enterprise raises storage to 1 TB/seat and adds SSO/SAML + SCIM.

Drive-scoped model

Content lives in drives with per-drive settings and permissions. CloudsLinker mirrors this: one connection per drive, via API key + Drive ID.

Real REST API + Python SDK

Directories, metadata, drives and permissions are all API-addressable, with an official <code>shade-python-sdk</code> — rare depth for a creative platform.

SOC 2 Type II + TPN certified

Security posture aimed at studio and broadcast work: SOC 2 Type II, TPN certification for sensitive content, GDPR compliance and encryption.

$14M funded (2026)

Shade raised $14M in April 2026 to expand its AI search and storage platform — a young company on a fast development pace.

Why connect Shade to CloudsLinker

CloudsLinker connects to Shade with an API key plus a Drive ID — each connection maps to exactly one Shade drive, matching Shade's drive-scoped permission model. Connect the drives you need, then move media directly between Shade and 140+ clouds: pull camera originals in from S3 or Dropbox for indexing, or archive completed projects out to Wasabi, keeping folder structure intact, with filters and scheduled runs.

What you can do with Shade on CloudsLinker

Bulk-load footage for AI indexing

Copy raw media from S3, Dropbox, Google Drive or a NAS into a Shade drive server-to-server, so Shade's AI search and streaming work on the full library.

No workstation needed

Transfers run on CloudsLinker's servers — no editor's machine tied up mounting drives and copying multi-hundred-GB footage sets.

Scheduled archive rotation

Sweep wrapped projects out of active Shade storage into Wasabi or S3 Glacier-class tiers on a weekly schedule, keeping seats under their 500 GB allowance.

Filter by folder, size, type

Move only <code>/04_final</code>, skip proxies under 50 MB, or copy just <code>.mp4</code> and <code>.mov</code> masters.

Common Shade transfer scenarios

Migrate a Dropbox or Google Drive media library into Shade

Teams switching to Shade for AI search can move an existing 2–5 TB Dropbox or Google Drive footage library drive-by-drive with CloudsLinker, preserving folder structure, instead of re-uploading from a workstation for days.

Archive wrapped projects to Wasabi or S3

Active storage is seat-limited (500 GB/seat on team plans). When a project ships, a scheduled CloudsLinker job moves its drive contents to Wasabi (~$7/TB/month) or S3 Glacier-class storage, freeing Shade seats for live work.

Feed camera originals from S3 straight into Shade

Production houses that ingest to S3 buckets can auto-copy new footage into the team's Shade drive nightly, so editors find AI-indexed, streamable media waiting each morning.

Deliver finals to client clouds

Push approved masters from a Shade drive into the client's SharePoint, Google Drive or Dropbox as the delivery step — server-to-server, no download-and-reupload of 50 GB masters.

Keep a second copy outside the platform

Shade is young (founded recently, $14M raised 2026). Prudent teams keep an independent mirror — a weekly CloudsLinker sync of each drive into S3 or a NAS guards against platform lock-in.

How to connect Shade to CloudsLinker

Shade connects with an API key + Drive ID. Each connection maps to exactly one drive, matching Shade’s drive-scoped permissions.

Before you start

Create an API key: in Shade, open your account settings and generate an API key. Treat it like a password.
Find the Drive ID: open the settings of the drive you want to connect and copy its Drive ID. You will need one ID per drive you connect.

Connection steps

In CloudsLinker, click Add Cloud → choose Shade.
Enter a display name (e.g. the drive’s name).
Paste the API key.
Paste the Drive ID for the drive this connection should map to.
Confirm — the Shade drive appears in your cloud list, usable as source or destination.
Repeat for additional drives, one connection each.

To revoke access later: delete or rotate the API key in Shade’s account settings, then remove the connection in CloudsLinker.

Shade limits & plan facts you should know

Shade’s practical constraints are seat- and drive-based rather than per-file.

Team plan: $20/seat/month — 500 GB active storage per seat, unlimited drives, unlimited AI indexing, up to 15 seats and 150 guests.
Enterprise: custom pricing — 1 TB/seat, unlimited seats, SSO/SAML, SCIM, dedicated account manager.
Active storage is the ceiling that matters: wrapped projects consume seat allowance until archived out.
Drive-scoped access: permissions and API connections operate per drive; one CloudsLinker connection = one drive.
API: full REST API (directories, metadata, drives, permissions) plus an official Python SDK (pip install shade-python-sdk, Python 3.8+).
Compliance: SOC 2 Type II, TPN certification, GDPR; encryption in transit and at rest.
Editor integrations: mountable drives with panels for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve; full-resolution streaming playback.

Sources: Shade — official site, TechCrunch: Shade lands $14M (Apr 2026), Capterra: Shade pricing.

Shade + CloudsLinker — Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to connect Shade to CloudsLinker?

Two things: an API key (created in your Shade account settings) and the Drive ID of the drive you want to connect (shown in that drive's settings). Each CloudsLinker connection maps to exactly one Shade drive.

Can one connection cover all my Shade drives?

No — a connection is scoped to a single drive by its Drive ID, mirroring Shade's per-drive permission model. To work with several drives, add each one as its own connection; team plans include unlimited drives, so this scales fine.

How much does Shade cost?

The team plan is $20 per seat/month with 500 GB of active storage per seat, unlimited drives, unlimited AI indexing, up to 15 seats and 150 guest collaborators. Enterprise pricing is custom, with 1 TB/seat, unlimited seats, SSO/SAML and SCIM.

Is Shade secure enough for client footage?

Shade holds SOC 2 Type II certification and TPN (Trusted Partner Network) certification — the media industry's standard for handling sensitive pre-release content — alongside GDPR compliance and encryption.

Can CloudsLinker move large video files to or from Shade?

Yes. Multi-GB camera originals and masters transfer with chunked, resumable copies, and the job runs server-side — your workstation and office bandwidth stay out of the path.

Will Shade's AI indexing work on files CloudsLinker imports?

Yes. Files landed in a drive by API are ordinary drive content — Shade indexes dialogue and visuals automatically, with unlimited AI indexing included on team plans.

Does the transfer preserve my project folder structure?

Yes. CloudsLinker recreates the directory tree at the destination — bins, dailies folders and delivery structures arrive intact rather than flattened.

Why archive out of Shade if storage is included?

Active storage is capped per seat (500 GB/seat on team plans). Wrapped projects parked in Shade consume that allowance; rotating them to Wasabi or S3 keeps seats free for live work at a fraction of the cost per TB.

How do I revoke CloudsLinker's access to Shade?

Delete or rotate the API key in your Shade account settings — access ends immediately — then remove the drive connection from your CloudsLinker dashboard.

Is this an official Shade partnership?

No. CloudsLinker uses Shade's public REST API under your authorization. You can revoke the API key at any time.

Conclusion

Shade gives creative teams AI-searchable, streamable storage where editors actually work — but its per-seat active storage makes footage logistics (bulk ingest, project archive, client delivery) a recurring chore. CloudsLinker automates that rotation drive-by-drive: load media in from S3 or Dropbox, sweep finished projects out to cheap archive tiers, and keep an independent mirror. Create an API key, grab the Drive ID, and connect in minutes.

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