Cloud storage options
Cloud storage options
Selection criteria - A good cloud storage option should support the following features.
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End to end encryption (zero-knowledge encryption)
Canada isn’t the most privacy-friendly country, which we know all too well because of VPNs from Canada. Switzerland, on the flip side, does its best to protect user privacy and it’s no wonder many trust it so much.
Sync, however, focused on Canada. It’s based in this country and its servers are there.
pCloud is in Switzerland; a much safer jurisdiction if you ask us. It has data centers in Switzerland and two locations in the US. Users can pick which data center they want to use and their files will be stored there. However, pCloud duplicates your files across other data centers to ensure they’re always available.
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Good apps for Windows, iOS, Android, macOS and Linux
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Works with rclone
- The ones that don’t work with rclone are invariably crap, they don’t work with anything else except some dreadful quirky client, and you’ll end up scratching your head about how to get your data back.
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2FA
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Good pricing
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block-level sync
- Block-level sync allows the service to sync only the edited parts of the file, making the process incredibly faster
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Multimedia Functions
Okay, so multimedia functions are extremely important for ease of use. pCloud excels in this category by offering the option to preview your photos, videos, and documents right from the interface. It even offers the option to edit your documents and save them as new versions.
Interestingly, Sync.com lets you do pretty similar things. However, we found that its desktop app doesn’t let you reproduce videos for some reason. You first must download them to your PC and then reproduce them. By the way, this applies to both Windows and macOS.
For comparison, its iOS and Android apps let you watch videos directly from the app. Why? We have no clue. pCloud doesn’t skimp on this feature. Regardless of your platform, its app will allow you direct access to ALL file types, even 4K videos that you stored on your cloud storage.
Tools
| Tool | feature | notes |
|---|---|---|
| sync.com | end-to-end encryption [yes] | |
| rclone [no] | ||
| native client for Windows, iOS, Android, macOS [yes] | ||
| native client for Linux [no] | ||
| folder on your computer that you can access from File Explorer [yes] | ||
| block-level sync [no] | ||
| price | $96 / year for 2 TB | |
| pcloud | end-to-end encryption [no] | $150 (one-time fees) to enable it |
| rclone [yes] | ||
| native client for Windows, iOS, Android, macOS [yes] | ||
| native client for Linux [yes] | ||
| browser extensions for Opera, Edge, Firefox, and Chrome/Brave [yes] | ||
| folder on your computer that you can access from File Explorer [??] | ||
| block-level sync [yes] | ||
| price | $99 / year for 2 TB | |
| Proton Drive | end-to-end encryption [yes] | |
| rclone [yes] | ||
| price | $179.88 / year for 1 TB |
End to end encryption
https://www.pcloud.com/help/how-to-encrypt-files-and-data/what-is-bpcloud-encryption-b
What is pCloud Encryption?
This is a paid feature with pCloud.
pCloud Encryption allows you to activate the Crypto folder - a folder, which is protected with client-side encryption. The files in this folder are encrypted on your device, before they get uploaded to our servers. Even we, as a service provider, do not know what kind of data you store in the Crypto folder. Your files can be encrypted and decrypted only with your Crypto Pass.
What if we upload files to pCloud folders outside of Crypto folder? In pCloud, files are generally not encrypted unless they are placed within the Crypto Folder. pCloud Encryption, which includes the Crypto Folder, allows you to encrypt files on your device before uploading them to pCloud’s servers. Files outside the Crypto Folder are still protected by pCloud’s standard 256-bit AES encryption, but they are not encrypted with the same level of security as those within the Crypto Folder, which utilizes client-side encryption.
How can we tell if the data in the Crypto Folder is actually encrypted
How can I tell if the data in the Crypto Folder is actually encrypted? If I unlock the folder so I can actually see it, at that point nothing in the folder is encrypted.
If you access your pCloud drive via WebDAV you can access all files and folders in the Crypto Folder. All these files are encrypted.
To use WebDAV you have to turn off two factor authentication and then use one of the following URLs with your login:
pCloud (US)- https://webdav.pcloud.com pCloud (EU) – https://ewebdav.pcloud.com