In the vast panorama of cloud storage everyone now knows the Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive services, just to mention the most famous and important ones. All these services offer a free online space that becomes very useful to have your files always available whatever computer you use, without forgetting the apps available for smartphones and tablets.
The only doubts regarding the use of these services is on data security: the servers will be truly hacker-proof or the files risk falling into the wrong hands "> Best Cloud apps for Android and iPhone in which to save files without taking up memory
1) What is pCloud
pCloud is a Cloud Storage based in Switzerland that offers decidedly very high data security, to the point of having convinced world-renowned brands such as Uber and Twitter to use its servers to store shared files.
The service offers a good amount of free space (10 GB) to store data, but it is also possible to subscribe to subscriptions to increase space or to increase data protection or to obtain additional GB by subscribing friends to the service via referral link, so as to increase the space without even paying a subscription.
2) Main advantages of pCloud
pCloud can be downloaded as a program on a Windows PC and as an application for Android, iPhone and iPad mobile phones .
After downloading the client for Windows or Mac just insert and account credentials and start to upload files to the new disk, which will appear directly in the Explorer or in This PC, as if we had installed a new disk (in reality it is the cloud space).
The drive already contains some files to test the pCloud functions and, precisely, a video, a music and some photos.
You can choose to synchronize and then upload the folders of Windows documents, music, videos and photos to the cloud storage or just upload files by copying them to the pCloud drive.
By installing the pCloud application on a tablet or smartphone, we can find all the files uploaded to pCloud and play them in streaming, without having to go through the internal player: in this way the files uploaded online can be played wherever we are, with a really fast speed high.
If you mark a file as a favorite, it is downloaded to your device and also becomes available offline, so you don't have to upload it every time.
pCloud also allows you to share download links with other people and to share a folder link for others to upload files.
pCloud for Android also supports Chromecast, so you can watch videos and movies uploaded to the cloud, streaming, directly to the TV without having to download them locally.
Another advantage not to be overlooked is the capacity of the online recycle bin, which preserves the deleted files before deleting them completely: in the free version it is possible to have up to 15 days of time for the files in the recycle bin, while paid users can benefit from 30 days of time to recover files from recycle bin.
3) pCloud Crypto
The real strength of the service is pCloud Crypto, an advanced asymmetric encryption system capable of protecting every file and folder stored on the cloud.
The additional encryption system is paid and the company boasts that it has not found any hacker so far capable of violating encryption and account data .
To obtain this additional protection for the account we can pay different types of subscriptions (separate from those necessary to obtain additional space): it starts from € 4.99 per month, up to € 125 one-off for total protection without time limits.
Really not bad if we fear for our security and want to keep files online in a safe and efficient cloud.
4) pCloud prices
We want more space on our cloud "> Premium: from € 47.88 per year (€ 3.99 per month) for 500 GB of space, 500 GB of download traffic from shared links, unlimited remote upload traffic and 30 days history log.
- Premium Plus : from € 95.88 per year (or € 7.99 per month) for 2 TB of space, 2 TB of download traffic from shared links, unlimited remote loading traffic and 30 days of trash history.
If instead we prefer a lifetime account, we can subscribe to two plans:
- Lifetime Premium : from € 175 one-off, with 500 GB of space, 500 GB of download traffic from shared links, unlimited remote loading traffic and 30 days of trash history.
- Lifetime Premium Plus : € 350 one-off, with 2 TB of space, 2 TB of download traffic from shared links, unlimited remote loading traffic and 30 days of trash history.
For payments, classic methods are accepted (i.e. PayPal and various credit cards, including prepaid cards) and modern payment systems (Bitcoin transfer).
5) Conclusions
If we are looking for a very secure cloud to store sensitive data (even possibly already encrypted with other methods such as VeraCrypt) and do not trust traditional cloud services, we can give pCloud a chance.
The presence of servers in Switzerland, home of privacy at all costs, will allow us to keep our files with care without fear of anything, with the additional possibility of subscribing to the subscription to the Crypto service, which applies an additional encryption system to hacker proof.
Excellent integrated players and apps for all devices, as well as the subscription offer is well varied (excellent one-off plans, for those who want to make the investment once and forget about it).
The free account offers only 10 GB, but we can expand them quickly by making the service known to friends via the referral link.
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