With ElephantDrive, you can securely store and access your files from any device. Just like with a conventional network server, you can store files, but you can also run applications from your files. With end-to-end encryption, seamless syncing, and easy file recovery, ElephantDrive offers an exceptional cloud storage solution. If you’re looking for answers to whether or not you should try ElephantDrive, this review will help guide you on the features, plans, and pricing the service has to offer.
Pros and Cons
- Pros: Excellent encryption, you can backup NAS drives, you can get an unlimited version
- Cons: Pricey, no 2-factor authentication, very little customer support options
ElpehantDrive Cost and Plan Pricing
There are three tiers of pricing available from ElephantDrive:
Solo Plan
The Solo plan includes 1,000GB of storage for $100 per year or $10 per month. While this isn’t excessively cheap, you can only buy increments of 1,000GB for $10 more per month or $100 more per year. Therefore, expanding your storage can quickly become prohibitively expensive. A Solo plan’s maximum allocation is 15,000GB, which would cost $1,500 per year.
Family Plan
Family plans cost the same, but those plans start at 2,000GB, which translates to at least $200 per year or $20 per month. Up to 10 users are permitted on Family plans, in addition to a maximum storage of 50,000GB.
Business Plan
ElephantDrive’s business plan begins at $40 per month, or $400 per year, for 2,000GB of storage with an extra 1,000GB available for $20 per month (not $10). There is no storage limit and more than 25 users are recommended for this plan.
Features
ElephantDrive lets you sync files across all of your devices to the cloud and between each other automatically. With ElephantDrive, you can keep track of old versions of your files and organize them by date, so it’s simple to restore an archive of your data after a malware attack. You have precise control over version retention with ElephantDrive.
ElephantDrive makes file sharing straightforward. You can share entire folders with other users, or you can send individual files with ElephantDrive links, which may be password-protected for security.
Because ElephantDrive works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android devices, it’s easy to use no matter what you’re using. This can be a huge benefit if you want to back up data from both Windows and Linux servers. Importantly, you can use ElephantDrive to archive data from NAS devices and external hard drives, in addition to Windows and Linux servers.
The Usage
After establishing an online account, you must download the client for every device in order to upload files. You cannot simply drag and drop files into your browser, nor are there any browser-based upload tools. Files in the Backup folder are automatically uploaded to the cloud as soon as they are placed in the folder. Whenever you add a file to the Everywhere folder, the file is automatically synchronized across the cloud and your computer.
The desktop client on macOS is somewhat perplexing. Although the Backup and Everywhere files are positioned neatly in Finder to help users navigate their computer’s native file management system, nearly every other aspect of the client directs users to the website. Bandwidth and CPU usage throttling, among other things, are the exception. In addition, the browser portal works in tandem with the desktop client to make the process as simple as possible. Although you must have the client installed, it’s simple to operate it once it’s installed as if it weren’t there, much like Google Drive.
Customer Support
While ElephantDrive’s support is surprisingly limited, Family members can also request a phone call via live chat or email. Business users are the only ones who receive the type of prioritized support that may provide them with the quickest remedies to potential problems.
Security
ElephantDrive employs 256-bit end-to-end encryption, protecting your data from being hacked as it is transferred to the cloud. Your files are encrypted on your cell phone before being sent to ElephantDrive’s servers. ElephantDrive does not provide zero-knowledge encryption. That is, the company controls your encryption key, so theoretically anyone at ElephantDrive could access your files. It’s appreciated that ElephantDrive is upfront about its privacy policy, but this is still a concern for the most sensitive data storage needs. Two-factor authentication is not a panacea for cloud storage security, but hopefully, it will be included as an extra safeguard.