So You’ve Survived — Part 2

As discussed in So You’ve Survived, you never know when disaster will strike. Safely storing your important documents and treasured photos and videos requires advance planning. A member of our Homeland Security class recently lost all of his belongings in a house fire; his family was safe, but critical documents and a lifetime of memories were lost. There are numerous cloud storage options available today; in this article we will discuss the costs and benefits of some of the top services.

In a comparison of the different services, the best online storage systems for photos in 2017 are ranked based on the level of security provided, pricing, and features. The winner in this study is Sync.com, which is rated as “fast, easy to use, with high security and lots of features.” Speed is a relative term, however. Due to encryption, Sync.com can take around 30 minutes to upload a 5GB video file, so keep that in mind as you prepare to save a lifetime of memories.

The biggest benefit to Sync.com is the file sharing and sync process. The sharing feature allows you to select folders or files that you would like to send to others, and even provided for an expiration date if you so choose. The syncing feature works across platforms, allowing a PC owner to sync files on iPhones or Androids all at the same time. End to end encryption is important if you’re storing sensitive documents containing personal information. Pricing is competitive, with the Starter level offering 5GB for free, the Business Pro level provides 500GB for $49 a year, and the advanced business level allows up to 2TB for $98 per year. The Business Pro and above levels offer advanced sharing controls and administrative tools. Overall, users gave Sync.com a 93% (Excellent) rating and 5 stars.

Following closely behind is SugarSync, which PCMag.com calls “one of the simplest file syncing services we’ve ever seen.” The product is best known for its sharing and syncing features, making it attractive to businesses and families. The negatives are speed and cost; it is sometimes very slow, and although it offers a 14 day free trial, there is no “forever free option” like Sync.com offers. It is also relatively expensive, starting at $7.49 per month for 100GB, and topping out at $39.99 per month for 1TB. In spite of the limitations, SugarSync still earned an 89% (Very Good) rating, and 4.5 stars.

Next up is IDrive, which is really more of a backup service rather than a cloud storage service. It works great for users that have photos stored on multiple PC’s that they would like to backup. It’s inexpensive and fast, and offers file versioning and encryption. It is supported across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android and Windows, and allows file sharing via email, Twitter and Facebook.

Just like Sync.com, there is a free basic plan offering 5GB of storage space. IDrive is currently offering 1TB of backup and 1TB of sync space at a discount of $17.38 for the first year (regular price is $69.50); there are no monthly plans. Although customer service was rated as poor, IDrive still earned an 82% (Good) rating, and 4 stars.

Rounding out the group is Google Drive, which offers the most generous free plan — 15GB. It’s easy to use — -even if you don’t already have a Google account it can be set up in literally seconds. It’s perfect for sharing and collaborating on documents, but lacks some critical features such as automatic backups or selecting folders from your operating system. Plans are as low as $1.99 monthly for 100GB, up to a whopping 10TB of storage for $199.99 a month. One of the biggest benefits is the integration with other Google services; however it also has limitations when working with different types of files. The need to convert a document into Google Docs before reading or editing online is time-consuming and annoying. Overall, Google Drive received a 79% (Good) rating, and 4 stars.

Whatever solution you choose, preparedness requires diligence. Should disaster strike, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

This posting is intended as informational only and does not constitute an endorsement of any product.