There are a lot of online backup and storage services out there, some with more features. But OpenDrive won itself an Editors’ Choice with its straightforward interface, smooth reliable operation, and most especially — versatile and affordable pricing.
OpenDrive offers both direct sync and backup, as well as web portal access and a virtual local drive for easy browsing and/or adding files. The former require little to no local storage space, though there is minimal caching involved.
The virtual drive on the other hand will store a lot of stuff locally if you drag files to it. Unused files will be deleted over time, but if you drag a lot of data to it, it will take a lot of space on your internal drive. The location may be changed on Windows, but currently not on macOS.
Like Icedrive, OpenDrive for macOS uses Macfuse to implement the local virtual drive. It’s a separate download, though I already had it installed for my recent review update of Icedrive.
The Windows OpenDrive backup and sync client offers several types of tasks: Backup, where files online are never deleted, as well as Synchronization — a two-way sync where changes to either folder are implemented upon the other.
There is also Move, which takes local files and moves them to the OpenDrive server, and One-way mirror, where all changes to the source folder are implemented on the OpenDrive destination folder, but not vice versa.
The macOS client is different, offering only Backup and Mirroring. The latter actually being two-way sync and not the “one-way mirror” of the Windows client. Be aware of the discrepancies if you use both platforms.
Both clients offer a variety of scheduling options from continuous (every 30 seconds or so), to hourly, to daily, and weekly. File filtering (excluding system files, etc.) is also provided.
Email notifications are also provided for all except continuous backup, which would otherwise lead to a deluge of messages.
There are also OpenDrive apps for iOS and Android.
All told, the OpenDrive clients and virtual drive cover the sync and backup essentials nicely. In fact, interface-wise, OpenDrive is easily my favorite online backup service to date. Simple, logical, and efficient.
There are some extras available, including multiple users per storage account, as well as notes and project/tasks collaboration. Those are beyond the purview of this review, but they do render OpenDrive suitable for small scale collaborations. Online previews are also available for most common file types.
I found the OpenDrive client software lightweight (18MB download), and efficient on both Windows and macOS. Of course, ultimately its performance, as with any other service, is dependent upon the speed of your broadband connection.
My only, exceedingly minor, complaint is that the macOS client doesn’t automatically resume scheduled tasks that were in progress when I shut down my computer. The obvious way around this is to use the continuous option — however, it would be nice if scheduled tasks were re-initiated without user or schedule intervention. Most especially daily or weekly backups. It’s a choice, of course.
OpenDrive is more affordable than many online storage services, but the great thing is that you can customize a plan to your exact needs — from 500GB/$5 a month all the way to 1Petabyte/$4,097 a month.
Most users can stick with the minimum (or the free 5GB plan), but plans remain relatively affordable in the lower tiers. Moving up to 1TB is only $6 a month, 2TB/$9 a month, and 5TB/$17 a month. Not bad at all.
There are no lifetime plans as with Internxt, which may be the best storage deal on the planet, but OpenDrive is more than competitive monetarily with any monthly/yearly service that I’m aware of.
OpenDrive is definitely a short-lister. Take it for a test drive — I’m sure most users looking for simple storage will agree. Recommended.
Author: Jon Jacobi
Source: PCWorld
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
