NordLocker review: Obsessively secure, easily affordable online storage

At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Hyper centered on safety
Easily navigable interface
Super reasonably priced yearly plans
Encrypts knowledge domestically if you want

Cons

Currently no versioning, undo, or trash to guard from unintended deletion with synced folders

Our Verdict

NordLocker is by far probably the most security-conscious on-line storage service we’re conscious of — precisely what we’d anticipate from the purveyors of NordVPN. It’s additionally very reasonably priced by the 12 months.

Price When Reviewed

$36 per 12 months for 500GB

Best Prices Today: NordLocker Online Storage

NordLocker impressed me from the get-go with its hardline angle in direction of securing your knowledge. Non-optional encryption, robust password guidelines… You identify it, it’s there — precisely what you’d anticipate from the purveyors of NordVPN.

Throw in clear and environment friendly shopper/net software program, some very reasonably priced yearly plans, and the flexibility to additionally encrypt native knowledge and you’ve got a short-lister. It’s not for working on-line, however for securely storing and sharing knowledge, it’s the bee’s knees.

Further studying: The best online backup services

What are NordLocker’s options?

Unlike different companies that additionally supply secondary or two-key safety, NordLocker requires it. You should outline each a password and a secondary encryption key if you first entry NordLocker.

NordLocker offers a downloadable restoration key which you can make use of do you have to lose or overlook the encryption key. Nice. That’s a primary for me with consumer-oriented companies.

Further, you possibly can robotically lock the apps after a definable time period in order that you could enter the safety key everytime you run the shopper or go to the web site.

I believed I could be wincing in safety ache from all this, however I acclimated to it rapidly and grew to understand it. Note that I’m typically not a fan of the fashionable two-factor safety that unhealthy folks have pressured us into.

There are shoppers for each Windows and macOS, in addition to Android and iOS, all of that are engaging, fast, and secure. Unusually, NordLocker makes use of your browser to attach the shoppers to your account. I’m undecided precisely how that is safer, however…

I did have one situation with the Android app (I didn’t check iOS), which is which you can’t merely add all of your photographs and movies — you could choose them one by one. And it’s not readily obvious how to do this after the preliminary “What do you want to upload?”.

I’d love to have the ability to present you screenshots of stated Android shopper, however NordLocker is so security-conscious that they disable the flexibility to share display screen caps. That was a large ache when it comes to this overview, however I started to grudgingly admire Nord Security’s dog-with-a-bone angle in direction of knowledge security when the display screen caps got here up clean.

The service presents only some facilities. Sharing is in fact accessible, but it surely’s additionally safer than most — producing a safety code to accompany a hyperlink. This permits you to ship the hyperlink and code individually by way of completely different types of communication, if you want. You may in fact ship each in the identical e-mail or textual content in the event you discover it a bit overbearing. Again, grudging admiration. There’s additionally a straight e-mail share, but it surely’s just for use with others on NordLocker.

Online file viewing is on the market for static file varieties similar to Word and Excel paperwork in addition to PDFs and pictures, however double-clicking on MP4 and MP3 information did nothing. Note that audio and video file viewing is very often buggy, or painfully gradual even with companies that present the potential.

There isn’t any on-line modifying, however you possibly can outline different NordLocker customers as “Editors” to allow them to obtain and edit information. There are additionally file requests so you possibly can create hyperlinks for others to add information to your lockers.

Another trace on the Nord sercure-at-all-costs angle is that to delete a locker from the shopper, there’s a second step for affirmation: The first time I attempted to delete, I used to be prompted to kind “Yes,” and in a subsequent effort, I used to be requested to kind the primary three letters of the locker’s identify.

“Yes” was requested the primary time I attempted this, however the first three letters of the folder identify works simply as effectively to maintain customers from blindly clicking by the deletion course of.

That’s system-level, command-line stuff proper there, as a substitute of a affirmation dialog you would by accident click on by. Sweet. Except that this wasn’t required on the web site once I deleted a folder. I’d prefer to see constant habits throughout platforms.

Also, this was a one-off in defending customers from themselves. More on that…

NordLocker caveats

While NordLocker does a powerful job of defending your knowledge from unhealthy guys, it’s not almost as adept at defending you from your self. The largest situation presently (the corporate knowledgeable me a repair is on the best way) is that there’s no versioning, no trash, and no undo. If you occur to delete a file on the internet or within the shopper in a two-way sync folder, you’re outta luck getting it again. And with the affirmation being inconsistent, effectively…

As lengthy as you’re conscious of this, no drawback, however I’d suggest utilizing NordLocker’s copy operate, which merely creates backups on-line, reasonably than opting to maneuver the information on-line or create a sync between a neighborhood model and on-line. For the nonce, discrete native and on-line copies are safer.

A pair different minor gripes. I discovered no actual consumer’s information for NordLocker. There are some assist subjects, however they didn’t appear 100 p.c updated. There’s additionally no real-time help similar to a chat window to get you up to the mark.

Put one other method, NordLocker expects fairly a little bit of savvy on the a part of the customers, because the conceptual language isn’t fairly the norm.

How a lot does NordLocker value?

As of the writing of this text, NordLocker was providing a steep low cost on its yearly plans: $3 a month for 500GB, and $7 a month for 2TB. That latter is what I’m paying for OneDrive for under 1TB.

These are tremendous reasonably priced plans from NordLocker.

Of course, OneDrive additionally consists of Office, which is a tough deal to move up in the event you want it. As talked about, NordLocker presents file viewing, however no on-line file modifying. Monthly charges are $8 for 500GB, and $20 for 2TB in the event you solely want area for a brief time period. Not unhealthy in any respect.

The NordLocker month-to-month plans aren’t as attractively priced because the yearly, however nonetheless reasonably priced and helpful.

How does NordLocker carry out?

I used to be impressed with how briskly information and folders uploaded and have become accessible on all my gadgets. Usually, there’s a couple of minute lag on the shoppers. This might have one thing to do with the infrastructure between the server and my residence in San Francisco, but it surely was method faster than most — encryption or no.

Should you purchase NordLocker?

NordLocker is reasonably priced, tremendous safe by default, and simple to make use of. As lengthy as you’re conscious of the risks of pure two-way sync, I extremely suggest it. More safe you possibly can’t get.

Editor’s be aware: Because on-line companies are sometimes iterative, gaining new options and efficiency enhancements over time, this overview is topic to vary to be able to precisely mirror the present state of the service. Any modifications to textual content or our ultimate overview verdict will probably be famous on the high of this text.