Cloud storage firm Dropbox has added 75 million users since October, giving it a total of 175 million users, as it looks to flex its muscles among IT vendors and consumers alike by vowing to replace the hard drive.

The announcement of the new user numbers was made Dropbox’s first developer conference, called DBX, in California.

At the event Dropbox announced that it is expanding its API roster that is already used by developers worldwide, adding a Datastore API, which can sync documents and pictures, but also keeps track of app data such as settings in cross-platform apps, such as to-do list apps that run on multiple operating systems.

A Dropbox blog post explained: “We’ve designed the Dropbox platform to be the best foundation to connect the world’s apps, devices and services. We started with the Sync API, which let developers take advantage of the file syncing technology that took us years to get right.

“Today we’re announcing a suite of tools that fundamentally simplifies how developers can build across devices and platforms.”

Dropbox chief executive Drew Houston added that the demand for the firm’s cloud storage services was removing the need for physical hard drives.

“I don’t mean that you’re going to unscrew your MacBook and find a Dropbox inside, but the spiritual successor to the hard drive is what we’re launching,” he told Wired.

At the end of June, Dropbox also began to shake off its consumer-only reputation, allowing IT vendors to start selling Dropbox products through the Partner Network program. The company already has 150 resellers on its books as it looks to grow this list further.

Dropbox has integrated its services into several major tech brands, including Yahoo Mail, which allows users to send attachments larger than 25MB.