Livedrive online backup review: Fast, elegant, and unlimited

Price When Reviewed

Backup 1 PC: $119.88/yr I Pro Suite w/5 licenses: $329.88/yr

Best Prices Today: Livedrive on-line backup

After two tire-kickings of the Windows model of Livedrive, I wrestle to search out something in regards to the service that isn’t first-rate. Signup was a breeze, the consumer put in rapidly, and operation proved straightforward to each perceive and use.

Most importantly, Livedrive by no means glitched. In truth, it by no means even hinted at glitching. That evokes confidence — one thing that’s important when trusting your treasured information to a web based backup service. It additionally proved far quicker than I anticipated for a service with its information facilities abroad. Sweet. 

See how properly Livedrive compares to the competitors in our massive online backup roundup. 

Note: For extra about information backup, see our best Windows backup software roundup.

What are Livedrive’s options?

While I’ve already praised Livedrive for its operational solidity, the eye to element within the interface can be excellent. If I had a dime for each poorly rendered, scaled, or translated GUI component I’ve seen within the backup enviornment, I’d be properly on my strategy to being wealthy. Obviously, there’s somebody on the firm aside from backup programmers.

That stated, it does use the British “centre,” moderately than the American “center.” God save the Queen! (Err, King.)

Though Livedrive routinely selects the whole lot most customers need to again up (learn: the User folder), you possibly can alter the alternatives by yourself. That’s factor for me as I’ve nearly 1TB of VMs, ISO, and storage check recordsdata on the desktop — few of which actually have to be backed up.

Yes, Livedrive supplies limitless backup, however for velocity’s sake, you need to at all times skip something you possibly can simply recreate and restrict backup to something that can produce detrimental feelings if misplaced.

Livedrive backups could also be scheduled as granularly as each hour, or in multiples of hours. There’s additionally a day by day possibility that needs to be adequate for many customers, relying on what you’re backing up. If your information set modifications extra usually, use the hourly.

In the occasion you have to restore information, you my use the consumer software program as proven beneath, or obtain the information by way of Livedrive’s net portal.

Livedrive (Pro Suite or separate) additionally provides sync within the type of the Briefcase, which is the place backups out of your cellular gadgets reside. It is accessed by way of a digital community drive invoked by the Open Briefcase button on the Briefcase web page of the consumer software program.

You could add native folders to the Briefcase by way of drag-and-drop or create new ones. Folders dragged in are copies of the unique folder, not shortcuts — i.e., you’re not syncing the unique folder as is the case with folders created contained in the drive.

A Briefcase-related characteristic is LAN switch. This is used to sync the Briefcase amongst computer systems in your community operating Livedrive. This requires the Pro Suite model, or multiple seat license, and bypasses the overhead of downloading the folder from the Livedrive on-line repository.

Probably my solely criticism about Livedrive is that the Mac consumer requires the set up of macFuse for the Briefcase to operate. It’s not alone in utilizing that extension, however it does complicate the dead-easy vibe you get in Windows.

Other Livedrive choices embrace excluding recordsdata and folders, file-type precedence (which recordsdata switch first), bandwidth allocation (efficiency), proxy server assist (VPNs), and an integrity test (evaluating native and on-line recordsdata).

For safety, Livedrive makes use of switch layer safety (TLS, the successor to the NSA-supported SSL) and two-factor authentication. The service additionally ensures that information is distributed throughout a number of places and obfuscated so it will probably’t be linked to a person account.

It conforms with all EU privateness legal guidelines for Britain’s continental brethren. How this fares in gentle of Brexit, we are able to’t say. But Livedrive is safe.

Livedrive additionally supplies Android and iOS apps so you possibly can hold your cellular gadgets backed up. See beneath

How a lot does Livedrive value?

Livedrive’s base pricing is cheap at $10 a month for limitless information backed up from a single PC, although it was on sale for $8.33 on the time of this assessment. There’s additionally a standalone Briefcase sync service (assume iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, and so on.) with a beneficiant 2TB of house for $17.58 a month (at present on sale for $14.66 per 30 days). The Pro Suite provides each Backup and Briefcase in addition to 5 seat licenses for $27.50 a month ($22.08 on sale).

Nicely, based on the corporate, the sale costs are additionally the rollover costs so there’s no surprising bump in value when your plan renews.

Note that I evaluated the Pro Suite model which additionally consists of 5 seat licenses.

The non-sale costs are up simply barely from these we noticed at our final look in 2021.

The Briefcase choices are moderately dear contemplating the aforementioned alternate options, a lot of that are free for smaller information units. Online backup competitor iDrive provides sync as a part of its normal backup plan. 

How quick is Livedrive?

I used to be pleasantly shocked by the 5- to 10MBps add fee I noticed from Livedrive. The firm’s information storage services are within the United Kingdom so it’s touring a methods from San Francisco, CA, U.S. the place I reside. Of course, that speaks as a lot to continuous enhancements in web infrastructure as the corporate’s operations, however the backside line is that you simply don’t have to fret about backup velocity as you may need as soon as.

Nor do you must fear about the backup’s influence on system efficiency. Livedrive had backed up 34.5GB of a 250GB backup with out my even noticing it. Backups that don’t disturb your computing day are good. 

Should you pay for Livedrive?

Yes. Its flawless setup, minimalist interface, and clean operation make for a superior expertise. If you worth impeccability, Livedrive is a wonderful selection for on-line backup. That stated, it might be good if the consumer offered a secondary backup to native storage — restore from native media, when obtainable, is much quicker.  

Editor’s be aware: Because on-line providers are sometimes iterative, gaining new options and efficiency enhancements over time, this assessment is topic to vary in an effort to precisely replicate the present state of the service. Any modifications to textual content or our last assessment verdict will likely be famous on the high of this text.