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Icedrive Review Table of Contents

Icedrive Video Review
Icedrive is new to the storage scene, but is already showing great promise with its
tight security and great ease of use. It has some rough edges, but you just can't Strengths & Weaknesses

beat 10GB of free space now, can you? Check out our full Icedrive review for the Alternatives for Icedrive

details. Features
By Aleksandar Kochovski (Editor) Pricing
— Last Updated: 01 Oct'21

Ease of Use

File Sharing & Syncing

﴾Editor﴿ Speed
Security
Starts from $ 1.67 per month for 150 GB
Free plan available Save 39 % ﴾All Plans﴿ Privacy
Customer Support
Visit Icedrive The Verdict
Icedrive FAQ

Icedrive is a promising newcomer to the cloud storage scene, focused on privacy

and security. With its sleek interface and excellent security features, Icedrive seems
destined for a great future. It’s entering a crowded field, though, with some strong
competition from established cloud services. Find out how Icedrive fares against
the competition in this full Icedrive review.

Icedrive came to the scene in early 2019, and since its launch it has been steadily
growing and improving its service. Its main selling point is its airtight zero‐
knowledge encryption, and it has made some unique choices that set it apart from
other cloud services. However, it still lacks key features, and there are great
alternatives on our list of the most secure cloud storage providers.

Icedrive offers an elegant and easy‐to‐use interface, and it’s also light on the hard
drive, as files never get permanently downloaded to your computer. Its free plan is
very generous, offering 10GB of space at no cost. However, it still lacks
collaboration options, such as upload links for folders and integration with third‐
party productivity apps like Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365.

Still, it’s a young cloud storage service, and it promises to bring more features in
the future. If you’re looking for a fully fleshed‐out service right now, though, you
might want to check out some better alternatives, like pCloud or Sync.com.

Last update: 10/01/2021

Updated the Icedrive lifetime pricing change: Lite is now $99 for life ﴾formerly $59﴿, Pro is now $229
﴾formerly $149﴿ and Pro+ is now $599 ﴾formerly $499﴿.

More updates

Icedrive Video Review

 Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:

Excellent privacy & security

Generous free plan
Zero‐knowledge encryption
Beautiful user interface
File previews
Virtual drive on desktop
Good pricing

Weaknesses:

Lacks collaboration options

No upload links
No chat support
No block‐level sync
Not good for productivity

Alternatives for Icedrive

10 GB ‐ 5 TB Visit Icedrive
1 $ 1.67
icedrive.net Review
Save 39 % Compare

Visit Sync.com
5‐Unlimited GB
2 www.sync.com
$ 5.00 Review
Compare

10‐2000 GB Visit pCloud

3 $ 4.17
www.pcloud.com
Review
Save 16 % Compare

Features
75 % – Good

For a relatively new cloud storage service, Icedrive has some very useful features.
Its implementation of encryption is impressive and practical, and its approach to
sync gives you the option to keep files off your hard drive, freeing up space on
your computer.

The Icedrive web interface, showing a list of encrypted files.

Icedrive isn’t the most feature‐rich cloud storage service around. It still lacks a few
basic sharing features, and encryption is available only for paid accounts. Although
its free plan is excellent, the lack of features leaves something to be desired. If
you’re looking for a genuinely stellar cloud service, you can try out Sync.com ﴾read
our Icedrive vs Sync.com comparison﴿.

If you have a paid account, Icedrive lets you encrypt essential files, keeping them
safe and private. Encryption is made easy with Icedrive. There is a separate
“encrypted” tab, where all your private files are kept. You can upload files here just
as you would with any other folder, but you can’t move uploaded files to this
folder.

Another great feature Icedrive offers is its virtual drive, which lets you interact with
all your online files as if they were on your computer. You can move, copy, rename,
upload and delete files, and it’ll all get synced to the cloud. You can also preview
files here, and you can even edit documents in their native apps, with any changes
you make being uploaded after you’re done.

Icedrive doesn’t create a sync folder on your hard drive. However, you have the
option to sync any folder on your computer to the cloud, which means you can
keep your existing folder structure. If you really need a separate sync folder,
though, Dropbox offers some excellent sync options.
 Productivity Features
A particularly impressive feat is Icedrive’s implementation of file previews, which
are available even with encrypted files. To keep your files private, Icedrive streams
encrypted data to your computer, where it becomes decrypted and viewable only
for the user. Previews work with all popular video and image formats, as well as
Office documents and PDF files.

Icedrive also saves past versions of your files, so you can restore any file to a
previous version. Versioning and deleted file retention is unlimited, so it doesn’t
matter how old your file versions or deleted files are, you can always restore them.
Take this with a grain of salt, though, as customer support informs us that this
might change in the future.

Unfortunately, Icedrive still hasn’t implemented any integration with third‐party

apps, so if you need to collaborate on a cloud‐based document, say, via Microsoft
Office 365, OneDrive would be a much better cloud storage choice. If you need to
collaborate on files in the cloud, you should look at our list of the best cloud
services for collaboration.

Also missing from Icedrive are several sharing features. Although Icedrive lets paid
users add password‐protected and expiring links to files, you can’t create upload
links.

You also can’t set permissions for links, like limiting who can download the file or
how many times a file can be downloaded. You can try out pCloud if you want a
cloud service with great sharing options.

Icedrive Features Overview

Visit Icedrive

Sync

Sync Folder

Block‐Level Sync

Selective Sync

Bandwidth management

Sync Any Folder

File Sharing

File Link Sharing

Link Passwords

Link Expiry Dates

Folder Sharing

Folder Permissions

Link Download Limits

Upload Links

Productivity

File Previews

Edit Files

In‐App Collaboration

Office Online

Google Docs

Notes App

Media Playback

Mobile Apps

Deleted File Retention

Versioning

WebDAV

Security

At‐Rest Encryption

In‐Transit Encryption

Encryption Protocol Twofish

Zero Knowledge

Two‐Factor Authentication

Server Location EU

Support

24/7 Support

Live Chat Support

Telephone Support

Email Support

User Forum

Knowledgebase

Misc

Free Plan

Pricing
95 % – Excellent

Probably the most attractive aspect of Icedrive is the excellent value it offers. Its
free plan is among the best free cloud storage options, with 10GB of cloud storage
space on offer. Plus, its paid plans are also very cheap, especially when you
consider their large amount of storage and the excellent security features you get
with them.

Free
Details: Bandwidth limit: 3GB
Storage: 10 GB

FREE

Lite
Details: Bandwidth limit: 250GB

Storage: 150 GB

1‐year plan
$ 1.67/ month

Save 39 %

Lifetime plan
$ 2.75/ month

Pro
Details: Bandwidth limit: 2TB

Storage: 1000 GB

1‐month plan
$ 4.99/ month
Save 22 %

1‐year plan
$ 4.17/ month

Save 34 %

Lifetime plan
$ 6.36/ month

Pro+
Details: Bandwidth limit: 8TB

Storage: 5000 GB

1‐month plan
$ 17.99/ month

1‐year plan
$ 15.00/ month

Save 17 %

Lifetime plan
$ 16.64/ month

Save 8 %

Icedrive has three premium plans to complement its generous free plan: Lite, Pro
and Pro+. Going with a paid plan will give you access to some advanced features,
notably the client‐side encryption service. Paid users also have additional sharing
options, including passwords and timeouts for links, plus a backup option for your
phone on the mobile app.

When you create your Icedrive account, you receive 10GB of free storage, with a
3GB bandwidth limit. The first upgrade option on offer is the Lite plan, which is
available only as a yearly subscription, to the tune of $19.99 yearly for 150GB of
cloud storage and a 250GB monthly bandwidth limit.

Moving up a tier, the Pro plan will get you 1TB of storage for a mere $4.99
monthly ﴾or $49.99 yearly﴿. The bandwidth limit also goes up to 2TB for monthly
transfers. That’s a lot of value for your money, but if you need even more cloud
storage capacity, Icedrive offers one more plan.

The most expensive plan that Icedrive offers is the Pro+ plan. It comes with 5TB of
cloud storage and an 8TB monthly bandwidth limit, at a price of either $17.99 per
month or $179.99 yearly, which equals only $15 per month.

Although these plans are very appealing, Icedrive could do even better by adding
a plan in between the Pro and Pro+ plans, which would give users a bit more
freedom of choice.

For personal use, Icedrive’s premium plans are very competitively priced, but if
you need cloud storage for multiple users, Sync.com has more affordable high‐
capacity plans for your business needs.

Icedrive Lifetime Plans

Icedrive offers interesting lifetime cloud storage plans which means you only have
to pay once. Lifetime plans come with a bandwidth cap to avoid abuse of these
plans. The cost of the lifetime plans are as follows:

Lite: $99 for 150GB

Pro: $229 for 1TB of storage
Pro+: $599 for 5TB cloud storage

In October 2021, Icedrive increased its lifetime pricing. Lite increased by $40
﴾formerly $59﴿, Pro increased by $80 ﴾formerly $149﴿ and Pro+ increased by $100
﴾formerly $499﴿.

Overall, we think these lifetime plans are still good value for money. However, the
pricing has edged it closer to pCloud’s pricing, where you get 2TB lifetime for
$350. Nevertheless, Icedrive still earns a top spot on our best lifetime cloud
storage list.

Ease of Use
92 % – Excellent

Icedrive’s user interface design is, simply put, stunning. It’s supremely sleek and
modern, with matte gradients in cool blues and greens, which is fitting of its icy
brand image.

Beyond the design, though, the interface is also very easy to use. Everything is
exactly where you’d expect it to be and functions as you’d assume, which means
the learning curve is practically nonexistent.
Users have four main ways of using Icedrive: the Icedrive website, a desktop app
for both Windows and Mac, mobile apps for Android and iOS, plus the virtual
drive that’s available only on Windows. The desktop app is portable, meaning you
don’t need to install it to run it. The virtual drive, however, requires both
installation and a reboot.

Icedrive on Desktop and Mobile

Icedrive’s web interface is particularly well designed and user friendly. It’s very
intuitive, with large icons and fonts, and contextual menus that pop up when you
click on a file or folder. Right‐clicking an item will bring up a dropdown menu with
file management and sharing options, something most websites don’t allow.

The desktop app functions the same way as the website, with the same menus and
dropdowns, with the exception of the “open/edit” option in the right‐click menu.

This option temporarily downloads the file to your computer, letting you open it in
its native app and edit it. The edited version will be uploaded to the cloud and
deleted from your device’s memory when you save your changes.

Mobile users have access to a similarly well‐designed app. Besides the regular
cloud app features, Icedrive’s mobile app can be set to automatically upload media
files, such as photos and videos, and paid users have the option to encrypt these
files, as well. There is also a backup feature, which lets you backup all of your
documents, videos, photos and music at once.

Icedrive can also mount a virtual drive on your Windows computer, which will have
the native Windows File Explorer interface. This means you can interact with files in
the virtual drive just as you would with any other file on your computer. Cloud‐
based files and folders will appear in this drive as icons that you can interact with,
but they won’t take up any space on your hard drive.

One thing that disappoints, though, is a bug in the desktop app that stops you
from encrypting files through it. You can access the “encrypted” folder via the
desktop app, and the option to upload files is there, but encrypting files through
the desktop app doesn’t work due to the bug. Although the bug doesn’t affect
everyone, it may affect your Icedrive experience.

File Sharing & Syncing

80 % – Good

Icedrive makes some interesting choices with its implementation of file syncing.
Although there are multiple ways to access your online files, there is no actual file
sync folder. Instead, you have the option to sync any folder on your device. File
sharing is pretty standard, with some nice extras, such as password‐protected links,
but there are some pretty big letdowns, as well.

Icedrive’s sharing system is pretty basic. Clicking on a file in Icedrive will reveal two
sharing options. You can share files either by email or with a sharing link. Email
sharing is simply named “share,” and clicking it will open a pop‐up window where
you can add the email addresses of the recipients. You can also write a message to
the recipient if you want.

Sharing files via a link is done with the “public link” option. Clicking on the option
will open up a dialog that will let you set a password and an expiration date for
your link. You can then copy the link and share it wherever you want, but there are
no options for social media sharing directly from Icedrive.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all the sharing options available. You can’t set
download limits and you can’t select exactly who can use your link. Plus, you can’t
set permissions for users, which means you can’t send view‐only links or allow
someone to edit a file or folder.

However, the biggest thing missing is upload links for folders, which severely limits
your collaboration options.

If you’re looking for a cloud service with more advanced sharing options, Icedrive
might not be right for you, but we have a guide where you can find some excellent
cloud services for sharing. For example, Google Drive offers a robust sharing
experience for free, with all the bells and whistles ﴾read our Icedrive vs Google
Drive comparison﴿.
Icedrive Sync Features
As we mentioned, Icedrive’s virtual drive doesn’t truly sync your files to your
computer, it just creates icons of them that you can interact with. Whenever you
open a file through the Icedrive desktop app or the virtual drive, it is downloaded
but isn’t kept permanently, which frees up storage space.

Plus, if you install the virtual drive you have the option to sync any folder from
your hard drive to the cloud. When you sync a folder from your hard drive you can
choose to create a new folder in the cloud or select an existing folder. The latter
option will also download any cloud‐based files in that folder to your computer, so
you should take caution when using it.

You can still open and edit files with their native apps, though, either through the
portable desktop app or through the virtual drive. This lets you make changes to
files, and any changes you make this way get uploaded to the cloud. However, this
method of work would require a constant and stable internet connection, which
isn’t always possible.

Icedrive is useful if you’re short on hard drive space, as it doesn’t create a sync
folder that would keep duplicates of your files. However, using only the virtual
drive isn’t suitable for sensitive work because it relies on a stable internet
connection. Thankfully, the folder syncing option remedies that issue entirely while
still keeping your hard drive free of clutter.

Speed
80 % – Good

First attempt Second attempt Average

Upload: 29:32 29:27 29:30

Download: 05:38 05:29 05:34

Icedrive manages some very good speeds, both for upload and download. Of
course, this will depend on how close you are to its servers, which are located in
the UK, Germany and the U.S. To perform our speed testing, we used a 1GB test
file, with a download speed of 32 Mbps and an upload speed of 6 Mbps.

Uploading our test file to Icedrive took around 29 minutes, a few minutes off from
the expected upload time of 23 minutes and 40 seconds. Downloading the 1GB
test file took five and a half minutes, only one minute behind the expected
download time of four and a half minutes.

This all means that, although Icedrive is a fairly fast service, it won’t be winning any
marathons, as it does exhibit some lag, both on upload and on download. Plus,
block‐level sync isn’t available, so any changes you make to large files will mean
the entire file has to be reuploaded, instead of only the altered bit.

Security
98 % – Excellent

Security and privacy are Icedrive’s strongest selling points. Icedrive employs the
Twofish protocol to encrypt all your files, instead of the usual AES protocol used by
most other cloud storage providers. According to Icedrive, using this lesser‐known
encryption protocol will result in higher security, since most hackers aren’t as
familiar with it.

Icedrive offers zero‐knowledge encryption and end‐to‐end protection. It encrypts

your files from the moment you start uploading them, to keep them safe from
man‐in‐the‐middle attacks while in transit. Upon reaching Icedrive’s servers, your
files are re‐encrypted. All encryption and decryption happens client‐side, and
you’re the only one with access to your encryption key.

Icedrive even allows you to preview encrypted files, something that isn’t usually
possible. It does this by sending you encrypted data, which is temporarily
downloaded and decrypted on your side, allowing you to preview the file, though
this isn’t possible with all file formats.

Icedrive also offers two‐factor authentication for an added layer of security. You
can set this up using Google Authenticator ﴾which is one of the best 2FA apps﴿ if
you want a software solution, or via the FIDO and U2F protocols if you prefer
hardware such as the YubiKey. Finally, there’s also an option for two‐factor
authentication via SMS, but only for users on one of the paid plans.

Privacy
98 % – Excellent

Privacy is an area where Icedrive truly shines. It makes a point of not keeping any
of your data unless you give it permission, and you can download your personal
data to see exactly what is available to Icedrive. They also never use third‐party
tracking apps, such as Google Analytics, so whatever you do on Icedrive is known
only by you.

Looking at the privacy policy, it seems a little short, but it’s to the point. It claims
that your personal info, like your email, may become available to them if you
contact them via email or subscribe to email updates, which is all very obvious. The
privacy policy also states that this data is kept secure and is never given to a third
party.

Icedrive’s DMCA policy is mostly legal fluff, but it has some clauses that require
clarifying. A clause in the DMCA statement says that Icedrive uses a filter to
calculate the unique hash of any file entering its system. Although this sounds
worrying at face value, a hash is just a simple identifier, and it’s nowhere near
enough to reconstruct or decrypt your data.
Icedrive is based in the UK, which means it complies with UK privacy laws, and it’s
also GDPR compliant. In all, Icedrive’s service is private, with zero‐knowledge
encryption keeping your data safe. Plus, all files are encrypted client‐side, so you
should have no worries about privacy, as long as you keep all your files encrypted.

Customer Support
40 % – Terrible

Customer support is one area where Icedrive is lacking. The only support option is
to submit a ticket with customer service. There is no chat support, and you can’t
make a phone call, either.

When the service was still in its infancy, its support team was communicative and
quick to respond. However, in recent months, the company has developed
somewhat of a poor reputation for its slow response time. According to user
comments ﴾keep leaving those, please﴿ and our own testing, you might end up
waiting over a week for a reply.

The Verdict
Even though it is still very young, Icedrive shows a lot of promise. It’s an attractive
choice for those with security and privacy on their mind. Plus, Icedrive has
promised to completely cover its service with its client‐side zero‐knowledge
encryption by 2022.

If you’ve got price on your mind, Icedrive’s free plan has plenty of storage, and its
paid plans offer some good bang for your buck, as well.

There are still a couple of bugs to iron out, though, and Icedrive’s lack of features
shows its young age. However, with many features on the horizon, Icedrive could
soon find itself in the cloud storage hall of fame.

Thank you for reading our Icedrive review.

Icedrive FAQ

What is Icedrive?

How much does Icedrive cost?

Is Icedrive better than pCloud?

How safe is Icedrive?

Visit Icedrive

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37 thoughts on “Icedrive”

User Rating
ssr says:
2019/11/26 at 08:21

Review helped me make my decision so wanted to share my experience. I

have purchased there 1TB plan, initial conversation with team didnot go well,
but once I explained my concerns they were responsive and were willing to
work and improve there interface. They have implemented new features like
able to download folders as zip files which I like, since I have purchased the
plan and also promised to introduce 2FA in there future releases.
What I like
1. I live in U.S, copying new files and downloading files and folder are very
quick. I heard they host in cloudflare and have multiple location one of them
is US.
2. Viewing documents from any device, phone, ipad or desktop like pdf, word
or ppt is good u don’t have to download and even u can update the text files.
You can even take pictures from the application and store them directly clarity
is not very great but good feature.
3. Encrypted document storage is free for paid user.
4. They have portable desktop application which works good, application is
small and easy to use so I don’t map there network drive or there desktop
software but use Portable drive which is very handy and no one else provide
that option.
What I don’t like:
1. There desktop tool syncing is not very reliable I don’t trust until they
improve it.
2. Copying files or folder over if they already exists they don’t handle it well.
3. Media player plays video but doesnot play all formats well. Sometime even
plays in background on my desktop even though I have closed that video.
4. Sharing file is good but is little buggy and they don’t provide folder share
to a specific user.
5. Versioning of document is not available.
6. Sharing of file is little buggy but they provide password protection for
shared document, so us can share and protect the document and then share
in a email with your password.

Reply
Christian says:
2019/12/28 at 13:07

Mind sending them over? I’ve talked with them, and being a US resident, they
haven’t spoke derogatorily towards me.

Reply

Danny says:
2020/01/01 at 23:07

Please share the screenshots. Would like to understand the reason for their
unprofessionalism.

Reply

User Rating
James Thomas says:
2020/01/02 at 04:36

!!!Just OK!!!

Hi
I am a subscriber of Icedrive and would like to share my thoughts on it.

They have a very long way to go to reach anywhere near the big guys like
Onedrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and pCloud.

Its nice that you get 10GB free space.

But there are lots of basic function issues they need to fix.
Folder downloading is not possible on Icedrive, which is a huge problem.
﴾Whenever I address this issue to Icedrive support they reply about some
browser restriction that won’t allow to download whole folder, but this can be
done in almost every other cloud providers, even on Thunderdrive, which is
newer than Icedrive﴿.
Not possible to see folder details. ﴾When you upload lots of files, most times
the progress bar hangs and stops at some random percentage. So you’re not
sure if all the files are uploaded or not. And without any option to check the
folder details its headache at times﴿
When you try to rename files & folders, it won’t allow at times, may allow
after you try multiple times.

Some of these options work fine on mobile app but not on desktop browser.

I know, they are new cloud storage provider.

But with lots of technical issues I don’t recommend them to be your main
cloud storage.
They would require atleast one year more to stabilize every basic operations
and run smoothly.
It’s good for your mobile backups ﴾photos & videos﴿ which are not that
important.
But I DO NOT recommend them to store your important documents.

I think they have to reconsider their prices too, atleast until they gain more
customers.
1 TB lifetime plan on Icedrive is 150$
2 TB plan on pCloud is 350$ which makes their 1 TB 175$ ﴾though they do
not have 1 TB plan, but still that’s what their plan value is﴿
And they always give offers too, like I got my 2TB LT pCloud plan for 245$,
which makes 1 TB just 122.5$ which is cheaper than the IceDrive.
With crypto LT subscription my 1 TB pCloud plan values at 185$. Just 35$
more than Icedrive.

I would definitely go with pCloud as my primary backup solution as they are

already established cloud providers.

Icedrive looks cool, their customer support is good and they are trying very
hard to make a name in the competitive world of online storage solutions.
And hope that some day they become one of the toppers.
But when you need to trust you personal and sensitive documents its always
better to choose the best out there.

Reply

User Rating
Gustav Schmied says:
2020/02/13 at 02:31

my experience:
Bought a lifetime 5TB for 459 Eur …. upload and download, work perfectly ….
I also have pcloud 2TB lifetime ﴾more expensive﴿ … but at the moment I don’t
see much difference between them …
with icedrive and 5TB I’m:
Very satisfied!!!

Reply

User Rating
Vinicio says:
2020/02/26 at 05:20

I have bought the 150GB plan and I’m quite happy with icedrive. When I
address some request to them they always answer kindly and positively.

Reply

User Rating
wouter says:
2020/03/03 at 00:09

Icedrive looks great despite some issues with syncing and folder
downloading. The free 10 Gig, their overall pricing and the possibility to buy
lifetime storage without the hassle of recurrent plans makes this a very
attractive service.
But then, has anyone looked at their terms?
Read section 3: ID CLOUD SERVICES LTD may modify the Agreement which
will become effective immediately upon its posting to the website. Your
continued use of the website and any associated services indicates your
acceptance of the Agreement and you agree to be bound by such
modification or revisions….
Also section 6: … ID CLOUD SERVICES LTD may change, suspend or
discontinue all or any aspect of the Services at any time, including the
availability of any feature, database, or Content, without prior notice or
liability.
Having read this, Icedrive, however good it may be or become, cannot be my
primary backup or cloud service.
Reading on section 9: …. Although ID CLOUD SERVICES LTD will not be liable
for any losses you might suffer, you may be liable for the losses of ID CLOUD
SERVICES LTD or others.
Reading on their terms of service may give a somewhat paranoid impression.
And what to think of this ﴾section 17﴿: …and you license to ID CLOUD
SERVICES LTD all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other
proprietary rights in and to such Content for distribution on the Services
pursuant to the Agreement.
Luckily, they seem to be aware that some confusion may arise and they are
clear in one aspect: For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your
content.
Anyone else with second thoughts on this?

Reply
 User Rating
Bryan Chalker says:
2020/04/01 at 06:14

Maybe give some actual evidence instead of accusations? Anyone…ANYONE…

can toss out the term “racist” for anything. Disagree with someone? Racist.
Don’t like a policy? Racist. Your comments don’t provide a single piece of
evidence to support it, and the fact that you didn’t reply to any of the
followups says a lot.

Reply

User Rating
Cristian says:
2020/04/04 at 12:02

Slow speed and missing a lot of file after folder upload to the cloud.
Not reliable at all, wasted o lot of time to verify if files uploaded correctly
..and still lost many of them.
Not recommended

Reply

Jay says:
2020/04/14 at 01:38

Something I think should be mentioned in this review which I just found on

their site’s DMCA page: “As per EU directive “Article 13″ we have implemented
upload filters which calculate the unique hashes of each file to identify
possible copyright infringement. Reported file hashes are also stored in our
database which aids to build & collect information on infringing data and
activity.”

Reply

Cloudwards.net ‐ Editor‐at‐Large, Writer

Fergus O'Sullivan says:
2020/04/14 at 03:48

Thanks for this information! That’s pretty important stuff.

Reply

User Rating
edge129 says:
2020/04/24 at 17:07

I was testing Google Drive and Ice Drive for the past two days and in the
process i have found some severe flaws with Ice Drive.

1﴿ Deleting files in the PC application ﴾drive mount﴿ has not deleted the files in
the cloud. I had to log‐in to the web application and delete the files from
there.

2﴿ Overwriting image files in the PC application corrupts the file. If i copy the
same image twice in the drive mount the file becomes unusable. But the
same file is working well without issues in the web application.

3﴿ After wiping out all the files in my drive by deleting them and clearing the
trash. The “recent” section still listed some 52 image files in an accessible and
downloadable state. I once again deleted them, cleared the trash and made
sure that no other files are left in the main storage but guess what? the
“recent” section still retained those files. I cannot delete them. Its looping
itself back as recently accessed.

One thing what i don’t understand is, those 52 image files were zipped and
uploaded as a single file. How come they were out there as individual files in
the “recent” section? Totally bizarre.

4﴿ Large files cannot be downloaded directly from the web app for that you
will be needing the PC application which means you have to rely your
important files 50‐50 on a maximally flawed PC application and minimally
flawed web application. I don’t think that would work out well.

I am currently test syncing folders with Google Drive. Except some lack of
features, for what it is, Google Drive is working flawlessly. Ice Drive is total
mess. If you know any better alternative to Google Drive with good security
and monthly payment option please let me know.

Reply

User Rating
Graham says:
2020/08/20 at 01:56

I found their support to be poor, slow and combative. They also make false
claims. They claim their virtual drive works just like windows explorer. This is
not true. I cut and pasted files into the virtual drive to sync them with the
cloud. The operation malfunctioned and then I lost all of the files. In this case,
the cut operation should not have happened as is usual in explorer if paste
does not fully complete. So, it does not work just like windows explorer. The
aggressive support told me “first of all…..do not ‘move’ items into virtual
drive…”…instead, I must copy and paste ﴾not cut!﴿. When I reminded them that
this was not noted anywhere and did not suggest the app work just like
windows explorer, they just ignored my message.

Note that I also have a sync.com account and the above has never been an
issue when moving files to my sync.com folder on my laptop.

Development seems slow, lots of things that other cloud storage can do that
this one cannot and seems only a one man band. Be careful!

Reply

User Rating
P. G. says:
2020/09/02 at 05:53

Icedrive is very “young” , however I love that they published their roadmap
here: https://icedrive.net/roadmap I with other vendors would be as
transparent.

Before I could go much further with it, being on macOS, I’ll need to wait until
Q1 2021 for the “Mount application for macOS” . I believe this will give true
Finder integration. The “portable” app is OK but limited as I really want the
files to appear like they are part of the OS file system ﴾like Sync.com does﴿.

I did get the portable app running on Linux Mint and it works really well. I was
able to edit a MS Word doc in Mint ﴾using LibreOffice﴿ and the open it on my
Mac in Word and see the edits and continue editing.

How about backup though? As it is now, the files I uploaded are copies of files
in my folder structure, and changes made to files in one or the other won’t
sync. I don’t want to delete my local copies because I’d have to trust IceDrive
implicitly, and as an old IT guy, I don’t want all my eggs in one basket. I need
to be able to backup those files! Perhaps the “mount application” will solve
that in 2021? Let’s hope.

All that said, very impressive GUI and being able to run on Mac and Linux is a
big plus ﴾you listening Sync.com?﴿. IceDrive shows a lot of promise and I’ll be
watching closely.
Reply

User Rating
John says:
2020/09/03 at 01:39

I’ve been on a 1tb monthly payment plan for a couple of months and I’m
using it as cloud storage for my vast library of DVDs and old VHS recordings.
I’ve found the interface on PC and android to be clear, clean and modern
looking, but the Icedrive folder on Windows has a tendancy to unmount itself
and disappear. This is probably more the fault of Windows 10, though, with its
never ending run of updates introducing more bugs. Compared to PCloud
and Mega, Icedrive’s upload speeds are slow, but its built in server means I
can watch anything I’ve uploaded on my tablet, phone or PC very easily.
Casting to my Chromecast on the TV also works seamlessly from my phone
through Solid Explorer. I moved everything I had on Mega and Google Drive
to Icedrive because accessing the content is far easier and because I only
tend to watch anything once, ﴾I have a lot of documentaries﴿, my bandwidth
use is only taken up when I’m uploading and Handbrake’s compression
algorithms mean that everything I am uploading is as small as possible. All in
all Icedrive is a good service, though better over wifi than data for streaming,
but that’s the same for everything.

Reply

Alan says:
2021/09/18 at 07:25

How did you set this up on solid explorer?

Reply

User Rating
Greg says:
2020/10/29 at 15:03

I spent a lot of time reviewing this and the other cloud storage reviews. Ice
Drive seemed to have the right mix of features, storage and price so I bought
the 150GB plan. However, I have since moved on to another provider
because of the following problems:

1﴿ Apple Numbers and Pages files sometimes turn into a folder when I upload
them into IceDrive. This happens about 10‐15% of the time, which means I
have about 60‐90 files that are now “folders. When I try to upload a new
version, I get “error, folder already exists”, which is frustrating. Also, I have to
search for the file in the folder section OR the file section since I don’t know
which ones were warped into a folder.

On a positive note, the 8 files I tested seem to work fine if i download the
“folder” and then open it on my computer. I did not test more.

2﴿ I spent ungodly hours verifying that all of my files uploaded. It was

unacceptable to me. Here is why I had to spend so much time:
– I used the mac client to upload 100 office files, but only 88 actually
appeared in IceDrive even though the client said all 100 files uploaded. If I try
it again, i received confimation that all 100 uploaded but this time, 92 appear
in IceDrive. Insane!!

So I switched to the webclient but I experienced the same issue except it was
even worse. The web client does not alert you that a file exists, offering an
option to re‐upload or skip it. So I had to upload all 100 files several times
and STILL not all files appeared. Maddening!

Finally, I have a few PDFs that are 1.1GB and I had to try to upload them a few
times because they failed.

3﴿ I found two files that are corrupted after entering IceDrive. One may or
many not have been corrupt before the upload. The other file worked two
days before the upload. I am scared that IceDrive will corrupt files.

4﴿ the final issue is more of a design issue rather than a malfunction/bug.

IceDrive mac client does not let you see previews of files to help find the
correct one. I like how Sync and PCloud both let you navigate files as if they
are on your computer.

So, I have moved on to another cloud storage provider.

Reply

User Rating
Greg says:
2020/10/29 at 15:18

I thought of one more issue that I forgot to mention:

when I tried to download an Apple Numbers file from the desktop client, i
got “invalid action” or some other alert. I had to switch to the web client to
download it. Maybe these problems are only with Apple, but that is the
only computer I have.

So my comment #2 above should probably be renamed:

You have to switch back and forth between the desktop and web client to
accomplish a task.

Reply

John says:
2020/11/12 at 20:43

Can you email a document to ID via a unique user account email address?

Reply

User Rating
Lee Bradley says:
2020/11/28 at 17:17

Icedrive’s customers are all screaming that the Icedrive app keeps crashing,
but their frustrations fall on deaf ears.

I feel completely deceived by having bought Icedrive.

Out of literally hundreds of programs on my PC and Mac, Icedrive is the ONLY

one that doesn’t work on any of my computers.

I’ve spent 20+ hours in the last few months trying to get it work. I have
reconfigured and reinstalled the app and related functions on my computers
a hundred times, but Icedrive still malfunctions.

When you open the Icedrive app ﴾Windows 10 PC﴿, after a few seconds it
crashes.

Icedrive’s Facebook page, Twitter, and countless review websites are flooded
with IceDrive’s customers all complaining about the crashing and therefore
not being able to auto‐sync folders for backup to Icedrive’s servers and it has
been like this for MONTHS now.

IceDrive’s response? Do nothing.

Their sense of arrogance and complacency holds no limits. They refuse to fix
the crashing problem or many other stupid flaws ﴾e.g. why is their Windows
10 app’s window so small? why make it as tiny as possible – only about 4
inches by 4 inches – to cause maximum inconvenience to your customers?﴿

Avoid Icedrive like the Coronavirus. They don’t care about their app or their
customers.

Reply

Francis says:
2020/11/29 at 22:01

I just tried the free 10 GB version of IceDrive and I thought the app crashes
on my PC too. However, it actually just automatically minimizes and can be
opened at the notification area of the taskbar ﴾lower right area near the
clock﴿. I’m not sure if you are referring to this or an actual crash.

Reply

User Rating
PSP says:
2020/12/23 at 06:26

Be aware. Icedrive will disappear everyday due to what I consider to be

subpar operational standards. This may be ok for personal backup but
anyone looking for 24×7 availability be aware. This is from their support
organization when I queried a period of no activity on my first day of a
lifetime plan.

“Every day at 6:00 am ﴾UK time﴿ our main server starts performing heavy
scheduled tasks. This takes approximately 3‐4 minutes, during which time the
server is unable to accept HTTP requests or do any other work. After
completing the tasks, the server returns to normal operation.”

Reply

Aldo says:
2021/01/02 at 11:03

Terrible, I moved files from a previus cloud to icedrive and I though it was
done because all folders were in the mounted drive, when I checked inside
the folders, ALL EMPTY. My previous cluod permitted to ripristinate the files
otherwise a huge damage. Totally unreliable.

Reply

User Rating
Appie says:
2021/01/05 at 03:51

Support responds doesn’t give straight answers. I asked if an EU VAT invoice

was possible, they said sure, create a ticket. So, i did. In the ticket I was super
specific again, they said sure.
15 messages later I’ve got a custom invoice without EU VAT. Turns out it’s not
possible. It’s the kind of support that just wastes your time. So if you’re
serious about your backup ﴾for business or something﴿ look somewhere else.

I asked about WebDAV support. Sure they said. But running Hyper backup
﴾Synology﴿ to setup a backup didn’t work. I’ve contacted them around 8 times
about it, no answer or any proper solution other than “try again”.
So I tried syncing instead, which worked. So I guess they have a file‐size cap
or something, since Hyper creates big images.
So you can forget about versioning if that’s something you’re looking for.
Unless you use their native app of course, which is not available on Synology.

Also I got an e‐mail that “for now” they keep supporting WebDAV, which
makes me wonder for how long … So that could turn our to be thrown away
money.

+ Webportal looks sleek.

+ Support is quick to respond
+ Great lifetime price

– Support is lazy and useless

– Can’t deliver what they promise
– ﴾very﴿ Limited WebDAV services
– Reliability
– Long‐term WebDAV support is very questionable.

Bottom‐line: I’ll look for an alternative.

Reply

User Rating
Dennis Brown says:
2021/01/14 at 01:02

I’ve signed up for the free IceDrive account two or three weeks ago since I’ve
been looking to give it a try to several cloud storage providers. I was very
excited about IceDrive’s clear interface. When uploaded my first files, it was
easy. But then I wanted to explore all the sharing features of my uploaded
files, and it took me quite a time to understand, that I have to right‐click the
file itself to perform a certain action. You may consider improving navigation
because not all users are tech‐savvy.

Reply

User Rating
Icedrive User says:
2021/01/15 at 10:34

Lack of support is a major problem here. Support tickets more than 10 days
old. 5 days with no reply. I’ve seen bad support before but these guys just
took it to another level where they don’t even bother responding to tickets.

Reply

User Rating
azz1 says:
2021/02/28 at 04:04

I’ve created a free 10 gb icedrive account lately, before uplaoding some files,
i need to ask a ques.

Does icedrive protect free accounts with the same strong twofish encryption
on their servers?
i mean everything i upload in my free storage protected with twofish
encryption on their servers?
thank you.

Reply

User Rating
Chris says:
2021/04/27 at 06:39

You might need to revisit some of your findings. Folder sync is now available
there and works equally for me as OneDrive. AutoUpload feature of Photos
and Vids to encrypted area is a big plus.
I was using iDrive from 4 years and the speed is shit. Look at the speed of
IceDrive. Mobile app can be easily used for viewing uploaded data.
I have linked 2 mobiles and 1 PC. All data goes automatically to their
respective folders.
Collab is something which is not there but again I dont use such service for
sharing things. I use this to keep things away from people and only accessible
to family via my single login.
Lifetime plan of $149 is a deal‐breaker.

Reply

User Rating
Iron‐Duke says:
2021/06/20 at 05:51

+ UI is sleek, attractive, easy to use.

+ Linux desktop app works well, integrates office tools.
+ True E2E encryption.
+ Lightning fast download/upload speeds.
+ Generous lifetime plans.

– No 2FA !!!
– Still some bugs here and there, need sorting out.
– Small firm, potential high risk, will it be around next year?
– Support: deplorable, verging on non‐existent.

Conclusion:
They need to be much more professional in terms of dealing with business
users, support, reliability.
The lack of 2FA makes a mockery of their E2E encryption, ﴾great shame﴿.

﴾Maybe that old idiom “you get what you pay for” rings true in the world of
cloud storage companies﴿.

Reply

User Rating
sebastian says:
2021/07/08 at 05:01

Now the 2FA is now available.

Reply

User Rating
Tom says:
2021/07/06 at 01:22

After all, they have 2FA. The same Mac application is still missing as it is for
Windows. Overall, I am very happy. It works reliably.

Reply

Supersap says:
2021/07/28 at 06:50

Hallo,
Interesting and exhaustive article: congrats!
One question, though: in the “Terms of Service” I found this:

“TERM OF SERVICE:
….
ID CLOUD SERVICES LTD may change, suspend or discontinue all or any
aspect of the Services at any time, including the availability of any feature,
database, or Content, without prior notice or liability.”

I am kind of puzzled as well as worried! Does this mean that the service may
be discontinued without prior advise ﴾because of, e.g., bankruptcy﴿ and then
causing my entire data being lost?!

Reply

John says:
2021/07/31 at 08:00

Did Icedrive go out of business? I tried to sign up but can’t get past the point
where they e‐mail you a 4‐digit code to verify your e‐mail address. I never
received the e‐mail. I tried two different e‐mail accounts with the same result.
I checked my spam and virus e‐mail folders. No e‐mail. I e‐mailed them three
days ago using the support page form and have received no reply.

Reply

User Rating
Tom says:
2021/08/04 at 04:45

+They have an attractive price setting.

+Some bugs here and there.
+Clear user interface

‐But the support can be better. I logged a ticket, no response from them. Two
weeks later closed without a reason.

Reply

User Rating
I F says:
2021/08/18 at 14:00

I am an IT professional who bought a lifetime subscription. I initially had

problems uploading large files which would always fail. I should have bailed
then.

I tried accessing schoolwork after a recent update on August 14. The files
wouldn’t decrypt on Windows, through the web interface, or on Mac and
mobile ﴾app just crashed﴿. I read other recent reviews on Trust Pilot and have
experienced the same as others. I have to assume all of my grad school files
are gone since I’ve been ghosted by customer service. They punted to “the
developers” and no longer respond to messages.

The files I’ve lost include: all of my grad school work, 10 years of tax returns,
medical records, sentimental documents, and much more priceless data.

You would be insane to trust this company with your data. One of the worst
companies to trust your sensitive data with.

Reply

Stephen says:
2021/08/25 at 17:25

If I were to make a car, I would start by focusing on one function at a time and
the first function would be to make the car achieve its base purpose which is
to provide reliable transportation from point A to point B.

The base purpose of cloud storage is to reliably and securely send and
receive data to the cloud servers and to reliably and securely store that data
on the cloud servers.

I see way too many reviews and comments that focus first on features and
pricing and so on that are outside of the most important base feature of
 cloud storage – secure and reliable data communications and storage.
Icedrive knows what they have and what the features outside of the base
security they need to work out. When a company puts the base function of a
product first, that tells me a lot about what they value and that they are
playing a long game. As a new player in the game, Icedrive gets 5 out of 5
stars from me for getting the base function designed and implemented
correctly. Please excuse any bad grammar.

Reply

User Rating
Gary Card says:
2021/09/24 at 12:50

Great review, except you say in the article there is no 2FA yet you show Two
Factor Authentication as a feature under Security! Which is it?

Reply

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