Livedrive Online Backup Review
Overall Rating
What you have with LiveDrive is an interesting offering in this increasingly crowded space of online backup, storage and file sharing services. The service is enterprise class, but its price points of $16.95 for the highest end package make the services affordable to the wide mass market.
What makes the offering unique is the fact that neither bandwidth nor storage is metered; nor are these two things capped. That’s right. This is probably the only service out on the web that actually offers truly unlimited storage and bandwidth. There are services that purport to do this, but “unlimited” is “limited” to a number of computers, limited in the way of the number of files, or the size of files, etc. But with LiveDrive, you’re really getting unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, period. No stipulations.
Another defining characteristic that sets this service aside, that differentiates this service from other services is that it takes the completely hassle free approach to online backup and storage. In other words, the program, the app, and the managing of files between your computers and the cloud is sort completely unmanaged; it just has at it, and we’ll get into the details about these processes in a bit, but suffice it to say, we were pleased with both the speed of the backing up, and the application speed and experience; i.e. there wasn’t any noticeable difference or degradation in our systems performance during the initial or subsequent backup sessions.
Features
Upon installation, you select the folders that you want to have backed up, before you even get started with the app. The usual suspects are listed: your Documents folder, your Pictures folder, etc. And as soon as you finish those short, brief initial steps, the backups begin.
Take A Two Week Free Trial Now…
There are a few things that we’re wary about when we have to install desktop utilities and apps. The first is the affects that the installation will have on our system, and we’re always a little relieved when we find that our system doesn’t degrade any, or that nothing adverse happens after installing the app. That was the case here; we installed, and everything performed as usual, so that’s good. The second thing, though, that we watch for is the domination of the screen; i.e. how well is the interface of the app put together? That’s one of the things that these online backup and storage services actually get consistently wrong. But in this case, with LiveDrive, what we have is a very clean interface, with the app itself taking up very little screen real estate. In fact, the primary menu is this little box that looks more like a popup than an actual app that appears when you double click the tray icon. It’s divvied up into two tabs: Backup and Briefcase, each displaying the statuses of each.
So that’s the backing up of your files, the processes anyway. But how you interact with those backed up files is a separate process of course. We found this to be incredibly fluid. Unlike what you have with other service, the application and the website complement each other very well, with the website actually taking a leading role, and with the desktop app really only there to coordinate the backing up of files. With other services, what we’ve found, and what we’ve grown to actually be frustrated with, is the fact that there were always a number of ways of accomplishing the same result, and weren’t always sure which was the more productive way to do something as simple as, say, restoring a folder from the web. With LiveDrive, it’s straightforward, unambiguous, and clear cut: the desktop app is primarily there to coordinate the backup activities, and the website’s for most everything else.
Take A Two Week Free Trial Now…
Briefcase
Briefcase is where the true power of the service is realized. In fact, we feel that LiveDrive is all Briefcase; it’s what LiveDrive is. The feature can do a number of things, but it’s important to keep in mind the fact that things bandwidth and storage are unlimited. Keep that in mind: unlimited.
That dimension to the service is powerful. There are online drives out there that offer this sort of thing, though not at the quality of service that you get with LiveDrive, with the biggest drawback about those services being the limitation on storage space and bandwidth.
The most prominent use and feature of Briefcase is the ability to attach an L: drive to your PC’s operating system, with your Windows Explorer recognizing LiveDrive as an actual other drive, like having an unlimited storage capacity USB drive inserted into all of your PCs (your PCs at work, home, etc.). This wasn’t just amazing because of the fact that the storage capacity was unlimited, but also because the experience of it was super fluid; i.e we actually experienced the L: drive as another drive; it was as quick and fast as a USB drive. Granted, we weren’t expecting, nor could we stream video files off of the drive as well as we could a local C: drive, but we came pretty damn close. That’s point one: the L: drive.
Point two is the ability to edit the same file from more than one PC at the same time, and have the file update. Simply amazing. We were able to even retouch photos on one laptop, and could reliably expect to find those updates on the same file from the other computers we had the Briefcase installed on.
File Sharing
In the Features section, we went over a bit about Briefcase:
• Finding updates of a file on all computers that had LiveDrive installed
• Using L: drive as a universal “USB” drive of infinite storage capacity
• Having access to the same set of files from all computers
For those that socialize and collaborate on the web a good deal, either for work or school, you’ll find that Briefcase is well worth the $16.95 per month that the company’s charging for the set of features. Here’s why:
What you get with Briefcase is the ability to fluidly share files with folks over social networking sites, such as Facebook and Flickr, straight away from your web portal, where you go to view your Briefcase. You can elect to drag and drop files on a whim, which we found to be super convenient when it came to putting together quick and easy albums of particular motifs, themes, and events. (In fact, a number of us here have actually picked up this subscription, practically just for this feature alone: to be able to whip up quick and easy Facebook albums, since the social networking site’s album features are so static; those sites really need to get with some drag and drop functionality.)
File sharing’s made super easy with Briefcase. The company is offering what they’re calling One-Click Sharing. And what that basically does is it allows you to post a public file, say, with one click (on the PC, it’s the right-click menu option), and to post that public file on the web.
You get the standard permissions set with LiveDrive:
• Public files that are posted to the web, which you get an URL that you can send to friends over an IM window
• Permissions based files and folders, which you can invite users to
• And completely private, locked down files and folders that only you can view
Support
With a number of these other fly by night online backup, storage and file sharing services, you really have shoddy support. So, though we didn’t find that we needed support, we found that that our available options were quite extensive, and that was refreshing. Both services (see section on Price) offer the standard service and support package, and the company websites claim a response by a live support staff within 24 hours. However, Backup & Briefcase subscribers will have priority over the Backup only subscribers. (We didn’t find or figure out how that would affect a Backup only subscriber.)
The knowledge base is extensive, with multiple articles and versions kept on various subjects, and with peer and forum type platforms for users to share experiences with, and to even help trouble shoot problems with. Support was more than adequate, unlike what you’ll find with a good portion of the services out there on the web.
Take A Two Week Free Trial Now…
Price
In terms of pricing, what you get with LiveDrive are two services. Since bandwidth and storage are both unlimited, you’re not left with very many big decisions to make. Bu there is one big decision: Briefcase. Briefcase is going to cost you three times as much as the standard backup solution, but it’s a compelling service; but is it worth the $16.95 a month? It depends on how often you socialize and collaborate on the web.
The problem we had was that the company doesn’t offer a trial on the Briefcase service, it only offers the trial on the Backup only solution. So, you’re forced into subscribing for a month. The 16 bucks should is rather negligible but we’d really would have preferred that the service be open to trial. The savings on the yearly subscription for the Briefcase is substantial; you’re basically getting about a month and a half free if you pay the full year up front. See the section on features of Briefcase to see if you feel it’s worth trying the service, at a fee, for a month. For what it’s worth, the Facebook features alone compelled a number of us to sign up for Briefcase, for at least a few months, if not to just spruce up our photo albums a bit.
Backup |
Backup & Briefcase |
|
| Storage Space The amount of storage space to store files – can be used for any type of files you want. |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Bandwidth The amount of data you can transfer to and from Livedrive each month. |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Transfer Speed The speed at which you can upload and download from Livedrive. We never throttle transfers. |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Computers The number of computers on which you can install the Livedrive software. |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Simple, Secure Backup Constantly backup files from your PC onto Livedrive. Set it up once and forget about it. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Web Portal Personal, secure web page. Log in from any web browser and see your files. |
Yes |
Yes |
| View Files Online See photos, watch videos, play music and display Office documents from your web portal. |
Yes |
Yes |
| iPhone App Listen to your music, view your photos and display your documents on the move wherever you are! Read more |
Yes |
Yes |
| Mobile Viewer View your files from your mobile phone. Includes special support for iPhone and Blackberry. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Total Security Your data is safe, encrypted and backed up in our carrier grade data centers. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Version History View up to 30 older versions of any file, so you can go back to a previous version if necessary. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Livedrive Briefcase A place online to keep the files you use most regularly. See the same files on every PC, and access these files online from anywhere. |
No |
Yes |
| Add an L: Drive to your PC Livedrive Briefcase appears as a new drive on your PC, so you can use it just like a normal drive. |
No |
Yes |
| Edit Documents Online Edit Office documents and retouch photos from your web browser from anywhere. |
No |
Yes |
| Facebook, Flickr and More Drag and drop pictures directly to and from Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug and more from our web portal. |
No |
Yes |
| One-Click Sharing Click to share files with anyone via a simple web link – or share files privately with friends, family and colleagues. No more e-mailing large files. |
No |
Yes |
| FTP Support Upload and download files from your Livedrive account using FTP. Includes FTP resume. |
No |
Yes |
| Operating Systems | Windows (Mac version as Tech Preview) | Windows (Mac version as Tech Preview) |
| Service and Support | 24 hour same day e-mail support | 24 hour priority same day e-mail support |
| Instant Online activation Signup now and you’re account will be active immediately. |
Yes |
Yes |
| Price Pay nothing during your two week trial and then: |
$6.95 per month or $66.53 per year | $16.95 per month or $170.53 per year |
| Special Offer Pay for a year up-front to get two months free AND a 10% discount for life! You can cancel within two weeks for a full refund! |
$59.88 per year | $153.48 per year |
If you are a current LiveDrive user please leave your own review, thoughts, comments and ratings below for others to see. That way people don’t have to only take our word for it.
Take A Two Week Free Trial Now…
On January 24, 2010 Angel wrote:
I loved Livedrive for first few months I was using it. But then something changed. I couldn’t access my files anymore, the drives kept unsyncing and support was non existent. I since switched to sugarsync and have been using them for 5 months without issues. Maybe Livedrive has fixed their problems by now, if they didn’t have all of those issues it was a great service with awesome features.
On March 19, 2010 Tom wrote:
Livedrive was “ok”… I really like the “theory” of it – of a mapped network drive, but in the end it just caused me too much grief – lots of system hangs and crashes and wore out my patience. I know they’ve had a lot of updates since then and probably got those glitches worked out now, but i gave up waiting and moved on to SugarSync instead a few months back and love it.
On April 12, 2010 Buddy wrote:
You need to take a new look at Livedrive. It is the by far the best. It’s like an extension of my PC with an L Drive. It automatically syncs up and backups my files when i make changes.
On April 20, 2010 JR Fent wrote:
So far,LiveDrive has been my favorite cloud computing (SaaS) application EVER. I use it with their Desktop Application on my desktop PC and two notebooks. Since I keep all my important docs on it – I have one version that I can reach from any of my PCs. That alone is fantastic. The LiveDrive desktop application has a truly incredible interface – it gives you access to your cloud stored docs as though they were stored on a drive in your local computer. This means no learning curve. It’s like having a server mapped drive – but the server is on the internet. As a bonus feature, you can use it as an automatic backup system for other data.
I think LiveDrive is a little more expensive than some other services – but I’ve never had an issue – and the simplicity is worth paying a little extra.
On June 22, 2010 RAV wrote:
Ditto with everything JR mentioned above, I have also used Mozy which was very impressive for backups, but Livedrive provides more features then I was getting with Mozy. Thus far I am very satisfied, I have not experienced any of the out sync issues others have stated, maybe that was a thing of the past, I have been using Livedrive for about 1 month thus far without a glitch.