diff --git a/docs/hub-prod/test-cloud-sync.ipynb b/docs/hub-prod/test-cloud-sync.ipynb
index 41e7fd0e..39f72705 100644
--- a/docs/hub-prod/test-cloud-sync.ipynb
+++ b/docs/hub-prod/test-cloud-sync.ipynb
@@ -149,6 +149,37 @@
     "assert settings.paths.cloud_to_local_no_update(dir_sync.as_posix(), cache_key=\"dir_cache/key\") == settings.cache_dir / \"dir_cache/key\""
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "eda84820",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# for http urls\n",
+    "http_path = UPath(\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/laminlabs/lamindb-setup/refs/heads/main/README.md\")\n",
+    "assert http_path.protocol == \"https\"\n",
+    "\n",
+    "http_stat = http_path.stat()\n",
+    "assert http_stat.st_size != 0\n",
+    "assert http_stat.st_mtime == 0\n",
+    "assert http_stat.as_info()[\"type\"] == \"file\""
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "df6a9be4",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "http_key = \"raw.githubusercontent.com/laminlabs/lamindb-setup/refs/heads/main/README.md\"\n",
+    "\n",
+    "assert settings.paths.cloud_to_local_no_update(http_path) == settings.cache_dir / http_key\n",
+    "assert settings.paths.cloud_to_local_no_update(str(http_path)) == settings.cache_dir / http_key\n",
+    "assert settings.paths.cloud_to_local_no_update(http_path, cache_key=\"check/README.md\") == settings.cache_dir / \"check/README.md\""
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "id": "0b79f2f7",
@@ -191,6 +222,57 @@
     "dir_sync_local.rmdir()"
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "d2246f90",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Test `cloud_to_local` for http"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "bc1b7736",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "http_local = settings.paths.cloud_to_local(http_path)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "ca9f0ba8",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "assert isinstance(http_local, LocalPathClasses)\n",
+    "assert http_local.stat().st_size == http_path.stat().st_size"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "6ae7cd2b",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "http_local_mtime = http_local.stat().st_mtime\n",
+    "# no changes here because the file exists already\n",
+    "assert settings.paths.cloud_to_local(http_path).stat().st_mtime == http_local_mtime"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "9da41c21",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "http_local.unlink()"
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "id": "574c3f95",
diff --git a/lamindb_setup/core/_settings.py b/lamindb_setup/core/_settings.py
index e1a137cb..a04728e9 100644
--- a/lamindb_setup/core/_settings.py
+++ b/lamindb_setup/core/_settings.py
@@ -200,9 +200,14 @@ def cloud_to_local_no_update(
         # cache_key is ignored if filepath is a local path
         if not isinstance(filepath, LocalPathClasses):
             # settings is defined further in this file
-            local_filepath = settings.cache_dir / (
-                filepath.path if cache_key is None else cache_key  # type: ignore
-            )
+            if cache_key is None:
+                local_key = filepath.path  # type: ignore
+                protocol = filepath.protocol  # type: ignore
+                if protocol in {"http", "https"}:
+                    local_key = local_key.removeprefix(protocol + "://")
+            else:
+                local_key = cache_key
+            local_filepath = settings.cache_dir / local_key
         else:
             local_filepath = filepath
         return local_filepath
diff --git a/lamindb_setup/core/_settings_storage.py b/lamindb_setup/core/_settings_storage.py
index 125ec0b9..a68ab917 100644
--- a/lamindb_setup/core/_settings_storage.py
+++ b/lamindb_setup/core/_settings_storage.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Literal
 
+import fsspec
 from lamin_utils import logger
 
 from ._aws_credentials import HOSTED_REGIONS, get_aws_credentials_manager
@@ -24,6 +25,10 @@
 
 IS_INITIALIZED_KEY = ".lamindb/_is_initialized"
 
+# a list of supported fsspec protocols
+# rename file to local before showing to a user
+VALID_PROTOCOLS = ("file", "gs", "s3", "hf", "http", "https")
+
 
 def base62(n_char: int) -> str:
     """Like nanoid without hyphen and underscore."""
@@ -114,16 +119,11 @@ def init_storage(
             root_str = f"s3://lamin-{region}/{uid}"
         else:
             root_str = f"s3://lamin-hosted-test/{uid}"
-    elif root_str.startswith(("gs://", "s3://", "hf://")):
-        pass
-    else:  # local path
-        try:
-            _ = Path(root_str)
-        except Exception as e:
-            logger.error(
-                "`storage` is not a valid local, GCP storage, AWS S3 path or Hugging Face path"
-            )
-            raise e
+    elif (input_protocol := fsspec.utils.get_protocol(root_str)) not in VALID_PROTOCOLS:
+        valid_protocols = ("local",) + VALID_PROTOCOLS[1:]  # show local instead of file
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Protocol {input_protocol} is not supported, valid protocols are {', '.join(valid_protocols)}"
+        )
     ssettings = StorageSettings(
         uid=uid,
         root=root_str,
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ def _mark_storage_root(self) -> UPath:
 
     @property
     def record(self) -> Any:
-        """Storage record in current instance."""
+        """Storage record in the current instance."""
         if self._record is None:
             # dynamic import because of import order
             from lnschema_core.models import Storage
@@ -299,14 +299,15 @@ def region(self) -> str | None:
         return self._region
 
     @property
-    def type(self) -> Literal["local", "s3", "gs"]:
+    def type(self) -> Literal["local", "s3", "gs", "hf", "http", "https"]:
         """AWS S3 vs. Google Cloud vs. local.
 
-        Returns the protocol as a string: "local", "s3", "gs".
+        Returns the protocol as a string: "local", "s3", "gs", "http", "https".
         """
         import fsspec
 
         convert = {"file": "local"}
+        # init_storage checks that the root protocol belongs to VALID_PROTOCOLS
         protocol = fsspec.utils.get_protocol(self.root_as_str)
         return convert.get(protocol, protocol)  # type: ignore
 
@@ -345,5 +346,5 @@ def key_to_filepath(self, filekey: UPathStr) -> UPath:
         return self.root / filekey
 
     def local_filepath(self, filekey: UPathStr) -> UPath:
-        """Local (cache) filepath from filekey: `local(filepath(...))`."""
+        """Local (cache) filepath from filekey."""
         return self.cloud_to_local(self.key_to_filepath(filekey))
diff --git a/lamindb_setup/core/upath.py b/lamindb_setup/core/upath.py
index 1a33403e..4f92ab29 100644
--- a/lamindb_setup/core/upath.py
+++ b/lamindb_setup/core/upath.py
@@ -190,7 +190,13 @@ def relative_update(self, inc=1):
         pass
 
     def update_relative_value(self, inc=1):
-        self.value += inc
+        if inc != 0:
+            self.value += inc
+        # this is specific to http filesystem
+        # for some reason the last update is 0 always
+        # here 100% is forced manually in this case
+        elif self.value >= 0.999:
+            self.value = self.size
         self.call()
 
     def branch(self, path_1, path_2, kwargs):
@@ -350,27 +356,19 @@ def synchronize(
         exists = True
         cloud_mts = timestamp
     else:
-        # hf requires special treatment
-        if protocol == "hf":
-            try:
-                stat_hf = self.stat().as_info()
-                is_dir = stat_hf["type"] == "directory"
-                exists = True
-                if not is_dir:
-                    cloud_mts = stat_hf["last_commit"].date.timestamp()
-            except FileNotFoundError:
-                exists = False
-        else:
-            # perform only one network request to check existence, type and timestamp
-            try:
-                cloud_mts = self.modified.timestamp()
-                is_dir = False
-                exists = True
-            except FileNotFoundError:
-                exists = False
-            except IsADirectoryError:
-                is_dir = True
-                exists = True
+        try:
+            cloud_stat = self.stat()
+            cloud_info = cloud_stat.as_info()
+            exists = True
+            is_dir = cloud_info["type"] == "directory"
+            if not is_dir:
+                # hf requires special treatment
+                if protocol == "hf":
+                    cloud_mts = cloud_info["last_commit"].date.timestamp()
+                else:
+                    cloud_mts = cloud_stat.st_mtime
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            exists = False
 
     if not exists:
         warn_or_error = f"The original path {self} does not exist anymore."
@@ -386,6 +384,7 @@ def synchronize(
         return None
 
     # synchronization logic for directories
+    # to synchronize directories, it should be possible to get modification times
     if is_dir:
         files = self.fs.find(str(self), detail=True)
         if protocol == "s3":
@@ -451,8 +450,16 @@ def synchronize(
         callback, print_progress, objectpath.name, "synchronizing"
     )
     if objectpath.exists():
-        local_mts_obj = objectpath.stat().st_mtime  # type: ignore
-        need_synchronize = cloud_mts > local_mts_obj
+        if cloud_mts != 0:
+            local_mts_obj = objectpath.stat().st_mtime
+            need_synchronize = cloud_mts > local_mts_obj
+        else:
+            # this is true for http for example
+            # where size is present but st_mtime is not
+            # we assume that any change without the change in size is unlikely
+            cloud_size = cloud_stat.st_size
+            local_size_obj = objectpath.stat().st_size
+            need_synchronize = cloud_size != local_size_obj
     else:
         objectpath.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         need_synchronize = True
@@ -464,7 +471,8 @@ def synchronize(
         self.download_to(
             objectpath, recursive=False, print_progress=False, callback=callback
         )
-        os.utime(objectpath, times=(cloud_mts, cloud_mts))
+        if cloud_mts != 0:
+            os.utime(objectpath, times=(cloud_mts, cloud_mts))
     else:
         # nothing happens if parent_update is not defined
         # because of Callback.no_op
@@ -739,7 +747,9 @@ def get_stat_file_cloud(stat: dict) -> tuple[int, str | None, str | None]:
         hash = b16_to_b64(stat["blob_id"])
         hash_type = "sha1"
     # s3
-    elif "ETag" in stat:
+    # StorageClass is checked to be sure that it is indeed s3
+    # because http also has ETag
+    elif "ETag" in stat and "StorageClass" in stat:
         etag = stat["ETag"]
         # small files
         if "-" not in etag:
diff --git a/tests/hub-local/test_all.py b/tests/hub-local/test_all.py
index 981c24d9..65ffdd76 100644
--- a/tests/hub-local/test_all.py
+++ b/tests/hub-local/test_all.py
@@ -360,3 +360,9 @@ def test_init_storage_with_non_existing_bucket(create_testadmin1_session):
             )[0]
         )
     assert error.exconly().endswith("Not Found")
+
+
+def test_init_storage_incorrect_protocol():
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError) as error:
+        init_storage_base("incorrect-protocol://some-path/some-path-level")
+    assert "Protocol incorrect-protocol is not supported" in error.exconly()