Last Updated on November 27, 2023 by VPNPioneer
Pro
- Great Newcomer VPN
- Easy To Use Client
- Great Selection Of Servers
Contra
- No possibility to choose specific server
Icedrive has been one of the cloud storage that aims at making cloud storage seem like having a physical hard drive. The company claims this to be revolutionary software. By using Icedrive you can get access to cloud storage easily on the hard drive of your device, and it won’t take up any space. Sounds interesting right?
When we speak of the overall cloud market, Icedrive is certainly a newer addition and was found in the year 2019. In the review below, we shall be taking a look at the different features it provides and then you decide if it will be the right choice for you!
Features Of Icedrive
Even after being a relatively new storage service, the software still provides a pretty useful feature. They have implemented encryption in a way that doesn’t just make it impressive but highly practical as well. Their approach for sync is different and provides the choice to keep files off the hard drive you have that frees space on your computer.
Their free plan is amazing, but still lacks some of the desired features. When you go for the paid subscription you can encrypt important files, and this keeps them private and secure. Icedrive has made encryption easy. You can see a different tab called ‘encrypted’ where one can keep all private files safe. You also have the choice to upload other files but you won’t be able to move any of the uploaded files in this folder.
Their virtual drive is another great feature. It allows your interaction with all of the other online files in a manner as though they were present on the computer. You will be able to rename, delete, copy and upload files and all of them get synced with the cloud.
Pricing
Again this is another attractive feature of Icedrive. They provide a value for money service. They have a free plan that provides 10 GB of storage. Even their paid plans are economical and this is especially true when you need large storage with excellent security features. They have interesting lifetime plans, where you just have to pay one-time fees. Here are the details:
- Lite: $ 59 for 150 GB storage
- Pro: $149 for 1TB of cloud storage
- Pro+: $ 499 for 5TB of cloud storage
Of course, you can go ahead with monthly and yearly plans if you just want to try them out. But we highly recommend lifetime plans if you are looking for something that saves you money!
Ease of Use
The interface design of Icedrive is in one word just stunning. It’s extremely modern and sleek with charming matte gradients in greens and blues that fit the icy image the brand has. Apart from that, the interface is fairly simple to use. You will find everything is spaced as one expects and the functions they have as assumed. This means that there is practically no0learning needed.
Users primarily have 4 ways of using Icedrive.
- Their website,
- Mobile app for iOS and Android and
- Desktop application for Mac and Windows both
Their desktop application stays portable and this means that there isn’t a need for installation. However, the virtual drive does need both reboot and installation.
File Sharing and Sync
Icedrive provides some interesting choices when we speak of file syncing. Although you get several ways of accessing files online, there isn’t an actual folder for file sync. Instead, you get to sync any file on the device you have.
File sharing is standard, and there are some added features like links that are password protected. But there is scope for improvement as well. For instance, the sharing system of Icedrive is very basic. When you click over a file you get options for sharing. That is through the mail and link sharing.
As there isn’t any try file sync, there is just an icon created that you will be able to complete interactions with. When you open that file on the desktop app or your virtual drive, it gets downloaded but doesn’t stay permanently, this makes sure that storage space is free. Additionally, when you install a virtual drive you will have the choice of syncing any of the folders from the hard drive to your cloud.
Speed Of Icedrive
Icedrive does manage to provide work with great speed, both for downloads and uploads. Of course, this is also going to depend on the proximity with servers. That means for people in U.S.A, Germany, and the UK. We performed a test with a 1 GB file and the uploading speed came out to be of about 28 minutes and downloading speed was of five minutes.
This means that you will get a fast service. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be any lag. Additionally, you don’t get block-level sync. Therefore any changes needed on a large file will mean that one has to re-upload.
Security
Privacy and security are one of the strongest points the service has to offer you. Icedrive makes use of the Twofish protocol for encrypting all of the files. This is better than the AES protocol that you get with other storage providers.
As per the company when they use a lesser-known protocol for encryption, you get higher security as most hackers aren’t aware of it. Icedrive provides you with looking at encrypted files that aren’t normally possible.
This is done by sending encrypted data to you that’s downloaded temporarily and then decrypted from your side. This allows file preview although it isn’t possible with all kinds of file formats.
Privacy
Icedrive shines in the area of privacy. None of your data without your permission is kept with them. Also, only you can download the personal data for exactly looking at what all is available with them.
As they don’t use third-party apps like Google Analytics, you can be sure that whatever changes you make over Icedrive has been only known to you. Their privacy policy states that data is always kept secured and not given to any third party.
Icedrive is UK based and this means that it complies with privacy laws of the UK and GDPR compliant too. Overall all of the services by Icedrive stays private and your data stays safe through zero-knowledge encryption.
Customer Service
Icedrive lacks in this feature. They only provide you with the option of ticket submission for customer service. There isn’t any chat support or call support either. Initially, the support team was quick with their response. But for the past few months, the response time has slowed down. Surely we believe that their team must be working on it and shall come with more ways of getting customer issues resolved.
Pros and Cons
Here are the top benefits and disadvantages of Icedrive!
Pros
- Top-notch security and privacy
- Excellent user interface
- Affordable plans with a free plan as well
- High privacy with zero-knowledge encryption
Cons
- Needs improvement in customer support service
- No sync at the block level
Final Verdict
Even though Icedrive is still very new, it does seem promising. This is the perfect choice for people that are keeping privacy and security as their top requirement. In case you are thinking of pricing, you can always go ahead with their free plan that also provides good storage. Surely their paid subscriptions will provide you excellent value for each penny you spend too.
Some features need more work. However, as far as we see the kind of features the platform provides, it won’t be wrong to say that Icedrive is going to be the most popular cloud storage provider shortly.
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