TL;DR: IceDrive is a relative new Cloud storage that offers privacy and security to its users. On the downside it does not offer encryption to its free users as other competitors do (eg. Internxt). If you want to know more about pros and cons of IceDrive, please read the full article.
As you already know, privacy is something very important but difficult to achieve nowadays. Not only we should take care of our privacy in “real” life but also in our online life. Increasingly more people are becoming aware of the risk of trusting platforms like Google Drive or DropBox (services that violate user privacy and do not take care of their online security) and are switching to encrypted clouds. With this type of cloud your privacy is guaranteed and you are the only owner of your data. Today I am going to introduce you to one of these encrypted clouds and we are going to analyse whether it is worth it. This cloud is IceDrive, does it ring a bell?
WHAT IS ICE DRIVE?
Ice Drive is a decentralized storage cloud that was born in 2019 and has a zero-knowledge encryption system. One of the strongest points that stand out of IceDrive is its privacy and security, qualities that set it apart from big companies like Google or DropBox. These companies, as I have explained on other occasions, keep the decryption keys of your files and have access to all the files and data you upload to their clouds. Even so, we are going to see if Ice Drive is as secure and private as it claims to be and if it is worth purchasing this service.
✔️ GOOD POINTS
The qualities that make IceDrive gaining traction in the market are as following ones:
-10GB free plan: although this is a generous offer, I admit that it disappoints me as it does not encrypt the documents of free users, only the documents from the paid ones. However, it is good that they offer a free plan where users can start to experiment, get to know the product and familiarise themselves with the interface.
-Zero-knowledge: This is probably the most remarkable quality of IceDrive and it means that no one, not even the company itself, can access what you upload to the cloud. In addition, they do not save the encryption keys of your files, something that companies like Google do.
-Preview function: With this function you can view your documents in the cloud without having to download them. Although basic, I find this function very useful and it helps to improve productivity and efficiency.
-Public links: This allows people whom you share the link with to download the file. You can also set a password to ensure that only the people you choose can download it and an expiry date for the link for added security.
-Interface: I have to admit that IceDrive’s interface is very intuitive and easy to use. From my point of view this is an advantage, especially for those users who are not technology geeks.
❌ POINTS TO IMPROVE
-Their free plan is not encrypted: One the one hand, this seems to me to be a major drawback. First of all because it gives the impression that their free users are not important to them and that their focus is on business profitability and not user privacy. On the other hand, this free plan is not a real test of the final service so I think it is better to offer less free storage but to make the user really see what the product will be like if they decide to buy it.
-No collaboration space: Unlike Google Drive or Internxt Teams, in Ice Drive there is no space where different team members can collaborate and upload and download documents. Interactions are limited to the sharing link and this, in my opinion, this is very limiting for a team and not efficient at all.
-No selective sync: With Ice Drive you cannot select which documents or folders you want to sync, they will all sync automatically.
-No chat support: obviously they have a technical support channel but they don’t have a direct chat on their website. This chat can be very useful to solve simple doubts that arise when you can’t find something on the web or when you don’t understand how something works, especially if you are a new user:
➕ ALTERNATIVES TO ICEDRIVE
Although IceDrive seems to me a good way to leave behind the monopoly of storage clouds that collect your data, I think it still has a lot of things to improve and that’s why I propose an alternative that meets all the requirements in terms of security and privacy: Internxt Drive.
As you already might know, this is the cloud that I personally use.
Internxt is a cloud storage that, in addition to being secure and private, is decentralised. The fact that it is decentralised allows the level of privacy and security to be much higher since all the files you upload to Internxt are encrypted client-side and fragmented. Each fragment is sent to different nodes around the world, which makes it more secure against cyber-attacks and also more private. Internxt is also zero-knowledge and easy to use. Moreover, most of the drawbacks of IceDrive are solved with Internxt Drive. Internxts’ service with provide you the same free storage space that IceDrive offers, but encrypted as if it were a premium plan. I really like it because it shows that Internxt does not only care about billing, but also focuses on the user’s privacy.
The prices for a 2TB plan in both companies are the same (€9.99/month), however, the functionalities offered by Internxt compared to IceDrive are more extensive.
As you can see, it is now possible to leave behind the storage clouds that make profit at your expense and start using private and secure clouds. Which storage do you use?
