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LiveDrive gives a different approach to store unlimited files online

Written by Ruhani Rabin on January 6, 2009.

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livedrive

LiveDrive came out with a different perspective for storing your files online securely. The name might look a little like Windows Live Skydrive which offers 25GB. But LiveDrive, as it’s name remarks itself, provides unlimited space online for storing all your documents, photos, music, videos and any other files in a simple and user friendly interface. The concept of LiveDrive is not to store your data at your computer but store it online for larger aperture of accessibility. I’ve seen a number of file storage systems such as in.solit.us, Mozy.com, Box.net, ElephantDrive. They all come with storage but they don’t provide the full concept of online file storage. Lets take a deep look inside.

Features:

Explorer like user interface
Built in Web Applications for editing your photos and documents
Unlimited storage space
Strong security
Synchronization through multiple PCs
Send large files to anyone privately
Publish files to Facebook and Youtube (Others planned)
Mobile and iPhone accessibility
Access your files offline
Sync with your iTunes music library
The LiveDrive desktop application acts as a regular hard drive
Access your files from anywhere

The LiveDrive Screen Cast:

The File manager interface

File manager actions

File view and file actions

File sharing options

Automatic file revisions

Web applications for editing your documents and photos

Multiple sequential uploads

FotoFlexer web application for editing photos

Edit documents with Zoho Writer

Send any file via e-mail easily

Expectations:

Interface improvements
Speed improvement
More publishing features
More web application integration
Social networking options
Simpler and less error free sign-up (It took me a while to fill up everything)
Hot linking public files
Support for MAC and Linux systems

Conclusion:

638Comments2009-01-05+17%3A22%3A13Ruhani+Rabin to “LiveDrive gives a different approach to store unlimited files online”

Basil Babaa Reply | Quote
6:42 pm on June 5th, 2009 -

After reading the reviews and trying many of those companies reviewed @ http://online-storage-service-review.toptenreviews.com/ we were surprised that LiveDrive was not in the ranks at all, as it surpasses ALL of those reviewed in every area.

It handles the speed issue with the cache (which can be activated only on certain files and folders by the way for those of you who complained about it eating up hard drive space. So the cache size is essentially controllable, even if you cannot easily find it (which in my opinion is a good thing, but it would be nice to be able to relocate it to another local partition or even a local area network drive space)).

It handles the interface issue by making it a seamless integration into the o/s, providing simple drive letter access.

You can access files from anywhere there is an internet connection, it offers public and private file sharing capabilities, and it is secure. All they need next is an integrated collaboration service and the competition will suffer.

It functions as your backup, provides access to files from any internet interface including mobile devices, as well as provides ways to edit many types of files without even having to have the software loaded.

It out prices all of the competition as well by offering unlimited storage for a little over 10$ monthly. (This was our only concern; can they sustain that low of a price offering and remain in business, while housing all that data for people? Sometimes too cheap is not good either.) We figure it is likely they will sell, and the service will be ruined by a big guy purchaser as is nearly everything else ultimately.

It did by the way require 24-48 hours to load it up, but then again we did put almost a tera-byte of data up there. (We just did a copy to the L: Drive and came back a couple days later, and it was done and synced. Then we eliminated our local copies, by right-clicking the folders not needed locally, and regained our local hard drive space.)

Our only complaint is that their website is boring.

And, for peace of mind sake, we’d like to know more about the company.
Know more about the physical location and quality of the data center where our files are being stored… Know more about how the company operates and maintains its disaster recovery strategies and the like…

Perhaps photos and live video feeds into the data center would be nice.

That said, for now, you just cannot go wrong with this service. The competition should take heed.
Matt Parker Reply | Quote
11:12 am on March 30th, 2009 -

I tried Mozy and I like LiveDrive better. Mainly because I can use it as a remote backup. So, if I am out of the office I can access files to send to clients. I really do think this is the way to go. Mozy just didn’t have the features that LiveDrive has. Not to mention the 10 computers backed up for $130 per year. Great! Go LiveDrive!
BLatSD Reply | Quote
3:29 am on March 29th, 2009 -

As a LiveDrive user, I am rather amazed at some of the negative comments here. I’ve been checking out Online Storage sites now for some time. The differences are vast. Service satisfaction in an online storage solution have more to do with personal needs and features offered.

“Mozy, Box, & ElephantDrive” feature sets are quite dismal for the price paid in comparison to LiveDrive . When you compaire apples to apples, the only service that’s fair to compare with - feature set-wise - is FilesAnywhere, and their prices are just plain outrageous.

The features I needed were Online Storage, FTP access, Public & Private Sharing, Transfer Security, a nice Web interface with online features such as direct audio & video file playing, and finally, a decent mobile site or application. None of the other sites mentioned here come close.

LiveDrive excels in all of these areas. Their site and software is solid & reliable and their support is awesome. I get answers to support issues within 24 hours. I’m still wating for support replies from many of the other services I’ve tried.

Is LiveDrive perfect? No, the local LiveDrive cache eats up drive space. It maintains a separate cache/copy of every file you upload. So if you were to backup your entire computer, you would need an equivalent amount of drive space to store the cache. Also, their FTP service only has a date timestamp (all file timestamps show 12:00am) which they were aware of and intend to address once other priorities are addressed.

No, I’m not an employee of LiveDrive. Just a happy customer who has FINALLY found a service that meets my needs for an affordable price.

Ben Lovejoy Reply | Quote
8:24 pm on April 29th, 2009 -

BLatSD Wrote:

Is LiveDrive perfect? No, the local LiveDrive cache eats up drive space. It maintains a separate cache/copy of every file you upload.

Any chance you can tell me the path to this cache? Because Livedrive can’t, and the uninstaller hasn’t deleted it.

Tinstin Reply | Quote
6:20 am on January 7th, 2009 -

If you want to tranfer large files seamlessly Otengo. I have used it to send picture albums, home videos, presentations etc. Very fast, secure and emial like transfer. No hassle of ftp or painful uploading and downloading involved. Greatest thing is you can send entire folders. No need to attach each file one by one as in normal email applications. Available at http://www.otengo.com.
Colt Reply | Quote
3:29 am on January 6th, 2009 -

It sounds like LiveDrive may make some waves in the space - though as you point out, it has a ways to go before it catches up with Mozy, Box, or ElephantDrive.

We’ll be adding LiveDrive shortly to our review site, but if you are interested in learning more, check out http://cloudstorage.wordpress.com.