Is Icedrive a good cloud storage solution? What features does it offer, and how well
does it perform when it comes to data security and customer privacy?
Find out everything in this detailed Icedrive review.
Also, we will show you how you can get exclusive discounts on all of these services, including
a special 65 percent discount on our highest-rated cloud storage service. So, watch this video
till the end and don’t go anywhere. And which cloud storage solution is your pick,
and why? Let us know in the comments down below. We will reply to your comment -- that’s
a promise. Now, let’s get started.
In this video, we will judge Icedrive in terms of six key aspects. These are Features, Security,
Privacy, Ease of use, Pricing, and Support. We will also award Icedrive a score out of
5 -- with 5 being the best possible score -- for each of these aspects.
But before we begin, we ask for a small favour. Our team spent a lot of time and effort into
creating this video. You would be doing us a massive favor if you just hit the like button
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so please go ahead and press the like button. On a related note, During the past few months,
we have ranked, rated, and reviewed all the best cloud storage providers out there.
Right now, we believe pCloud is the best of the bunch. With its frill of awesome features,
unbreakable encryption, easy-to-use clients, and competitive pricing, there is no doubt
in our minds that pCloud is the best cloud storage service out there.
Also, The Cyber Lab viewers can get a special 65 percent discount on pCloud. All you have
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Icedrive is our second-best pick, while iDrive now ranks third on our list. We have also
added discounted links for both of these services in the description section of this video.
Now, back to the review. First, let’s look at the features Icedrive
offers. Despite being a newcomer in the industry,
the service packs a bunch of incredible features that any established service would even be
proud of. It has a practical and impressive encryption
implementation, and its sync approach allows you to keep data off your drive, leaving enough
space on your PC. However, that is not to say Icedrive is the
richest cloud storage service in terms of features as some vital features are missing
from it. Besides, its free version is quite limited,
with only premium subscribers being allowed to synchronize. If you are looking for a free
service that comes with an abundance of features, we advise you to look further.
But if you are a premium subscriber, you will really enjoy Icedrive. It allows you to encrypt
essential data, keeping them private and safe. It even has an encrypted tab separately, where
it will keep all your private data. In addition, Icedrive provides a virtual drive
that allows you to interact with and access your files online as though they were on your
hard drive. The files can be moved, copied, renamed, uploaded, and even deleted, and all
your actions will be automatically synchronized. It’s also worth adding that files can be
previewed and documents can be edited in their native applications. So, all the changes made
will be instantly uploaded. The file preview is actually a noteworthy and impressive feature,
and the nice thing is that the feature is even available with encrypted files.
To ensure your files are kept private, the service streams encrypted data to your PC,
where it gets decrypted and accessible for the user. You can preview all sorts of image
and video formats, and also PDF files and Office documents.
However, you need to know that Icedrive does not create a synchronized folder on your drive,
but you can synchronize any existing folder on your PC to the cloud service. This allows
you to maintain the structure you are already familiar with.
Furthermore, Icedrive allows you to read and restore your files to previous versions, with
a feature called versioning. Fortunately, there are no limitations when it comes to
file versioning, so you can always restore any file to an older version, no matter how
long ago you saved or deleted them. On the flip side, Icedrive doesn’t integrate
with third-party applications. This means if you must collaborate on an online document,
Icedrive may not be a suitable option for you.
Icedrive also lacks many sharing features. It allows paid subscribers to add expiring
links and password-protection to files, but there is no way to create upload links.
Another downside is that permissions can’t be set for links, which means you can’t
limit the number of times you can download a file.
In the end, Icedrive gets 4 points out of 5 in this category
In the next category, we will review the security aspect of Icedrive, as cloud services are
primarily made to protect data. Unlike most newcomers in the market, Icedrive
takes security very seriously. Rather than the frequently used AES protocol adopted by
most other security outfits, Icedrive adopts the Twofish protocol for file encryption.
The company took this route as it believes most hackers wouldn’t be familiar with the
encryption protocol since it’s new and not as popular as the AES protocol.
Furthermore, the company provides end-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption, which means
your files are encrypted at all times, from the moment they are uploaded to the moment
they are downloaded. This protects your data from being stolen
or compromised while being transferred. When the files reach the company’s data, they
will be re-encrypted. It’s worth noting that both encryption and
decryption happen from the client’s end, with only the owner having access to the encryption
key. As we mentioned earlier, Icedrive also allows
users to preview encrypted data. This is usually impossible with other cloud services, so Icedrive
should be commended. The whole process is done safely, as Icedrive
sends you encrypted data, which is momentarily decrypted and downloaded to the client’s
side. This way, you will be able to preview whatever
is contained in the file, but just briefly. Lest we forget, though, you can’t do this
preview with every file format, so you shouldn’t be overly disappointed if this option is not
activated for a file you want to preview. However, there is no option of two-factor
authentication with Icedrive, which is a little frustrating. Without this feature, a friend
or family member with your login details could easily access your files.
Besides, it makes your login susceptible to brute-force hacking if care is not taken.
The good thing, though, is that this is the service’s only stain on otherwise perfect
security performance. Boasting numerous security-aiding features,
Icedrive scores 4 out of 5 in this category. The only reason it didn’t get full marks
is the missing two-factor authentication, but there are rumors that the feature will
be added soon. Our next stop is privacy.
Icedrive also excels in this category. The first impressive thing about its service is
how it doesn’t keep users’ data unless it’s given permission to do so. Besides,
users can download their personal data to know what Icedrive can access or read exactly.
It’s also a good thing that the service doesn’t utilize third-party tracking applications.
This way, you are the only person who knows your activities on Icedrive, which is truly
brilliant. The company’s privacy policy is also remarkable.
While it may look a bit short, we appreciate how it’s specific, hitting every major area.
According to the privacy policy, the company may only have your personal details if you
subscribe to their email updates or contact them through email. This information is safe
and will never be handed to any third party, which is quite reassuring.
While the company’s DMCA policy generally contains legal jargon, there are some clauses
in it that need to be clarified. For example, one clause states that the company calculates
the hash of all files that enter its system. We understand that this may sound really disturbing
initially, but we don’t think it should be a major cause of concern. A hash is only
an identifier, and in our opinion, it’s not enough for anyone to decrypt or reconstruct
your data. It should be mentioned that the company is
based in the United Kingdom, so it complies with the country’s privacy laws, which is
understandable. On top of that, it complies with European
Union’s GDPR data protection law, which is also reasonable.
In general, Icedrive maintains a very private service, with end-to-end and zero-knowledge
encryption that ensures your data is kept safe. Besides, all encryption is done on the
end of the client, so you don’t need to worry about your privacy.
When it comes to privacy, Icedrive is almost flawless, so it bags all the 5 points in this
category. Next, we will look at the ease of use aspect
of the service. Impressively, Icedrive features a clean interface
that you can easily navigate. No matter your experience level with cloud storage services,
you will understand how to use the service in only a few minutes.
You can also navigate the pages quite effortlessly, and it takes only a couple of minutes to upload
documents. In addition, creating public links for folders
and files is very straightforward. And to share your files with people, it’s as simple
as entering the intended receiver’s email address. While shared files can have expiry
dates and passwords, there is not much when it comes to collaboration features.
It’s also worth noting that the web and desktop apps have nearly identical interfaces.
The mobile applications are also well designed, sporting options to upload your videos and
images automatically. For its clean and easy-to-navigate interface
across all its clients, Icedrive scores full marks in this category.
The next aspect we will consider is customer support.
There is nothing much to write home about when it comes to Icedrive’s customer support.
This is the main area where the company needs to up its game.
First of all, customer support options are limited, with the only available support route
being a ticket submission. There is no chat support, and phone support is hardly available,
which means users can’t get instant help when they run into trouble.
However, it must be said that the email ticketing option is not as slow as you would normally
expect. Besides, the support representatives are extremely knowledgeable, providing helpful
and well-detailed answers. If you would prefer to resolve your problems
independently, though, there is a help center where you can find helpful articles.
Overall, Icedrive doesn’t impress much when it comes to customer support. The support
options are few and insufficient. In this category, Icedrive only gets 2 points
out of 5 points. Finally, let’s take a look at Icedrive’s
pricing structure. Icedrive offers a lot of value for your money,
offering an attractive free plan and numerous reasonably-priced plans. With up to 10GB of
space, its free plan is probably one of the best on the market.
However, the company’s premium plans are affordable as well, particularly with the
incredible features that come with each of them.
To complement its free plan, the company offers three paid plans, which are Lite, Pro, and
Pro+. When you choose a paid plan, you will be offered
a couple of advanced features that will enhance security, like the end-to-end encryption feature.
Apart from that, paid subscribers also have extra sharing options, such as expiring and
passworded links. The mobile client also has a backup option.
While the free plan is really attractive, it’s hugely limited, so we recommend you
upgrade to one of the premium options if you can afford it.
The first premium option you have is Lite, which at $1.67 per month or $19.99 per year,
is one of the most affordable cloud service plans on the market. Despite being so affordable,
though, the Lite plan offers 150GB of storage and 250GB of bandwidth.
The next plan in line is the Pro plan, which costs $4.17 per month or $49.99 per year.
For this plan, the cloud storage is 1TB and the monthly bandwidth limit is 2TB, which
is impressive. Then comes the Pro+ Plan, which is actually
the company’s top-of-the-line offering. Costing $17.99 per month or $179.99 per year,
the plan offers a cloud storage capacity of 5TB and a monthly bandwidth limit of 8TB.
Icedrive also offers a lifetime subscription option for each of their plans, which makes
sense for people willing to make a once-in-a-lifetime payment to enjoy the service forever.
For the Lite, Pro, and Pro+ plans, you pay $59, $149, and $499, respectively. The monthly
bandwidth limit and cloud storage remain the same for each plan.
In terms of pricing, Icedrive gets the full marks, as it has reasonably priced plans that
offer great value for money. So, that’s the end of our review.
To sum up, we think that Icedrive is still some way short of the pinnacle of the cloud
service industry, but it may soon become a leading contender for the top spot with its
incredible service and huge potential. While its customer support leaves a lot to
desire, the company offers almost everything you could be looking for in a cloud service,
including an array of features, watertight encryption, an incredible interface, and reasonable
plans. We hope you enjoyed watching this video. Please
like this video and subscribe to our channel to support our work.
What do you think about Icedrive, and what’s your favorite cloud storage service? Let us
know your thoughts in the comments section down below.