We like this service because it offers automatic backup, web access, and a mapped drive, really everything you could need. Free account gives the standard 2 Gigabytes.
While you can get 1TB or more access, it is expensive and really limited to business users.
Elephant Drive Review Summary
Elephant Drive Account Review - Read below to find out if Elephant Drive is right for you. Get detailed online file sharing reviews below
Quick Stats:
| Pricing | Starting at Free for 2GB, 100 GB for $9.95 a month (or $99.5 a year), and 500 GB for $19.95 a month (or $199.50 a year). There are Enterprise versions available that provide 1TB or more of storage for an unlimited number of users. |
| Intro Offer | Try it out for Free for 14days! Or go Pro - Elephant Drive Free Trial |
| Backup Options | Yes, download the Elephant Drive client for Windows or Mac, and it automatically backs up all selected files and folders in the background. |
| Web Sharing Options | Yes, there is a full featured HTML application that lets you access your files from any computer or device that has web access. |
| FTP Access? | No |
| Set your own encryption key? | No |
| Offline Access? | No, internet connection is required to access your TrunkDrive. |
| Mobile Device Access? | No, iphone or android applications available. |
| File Size Limits | 100 MB for Free Users, 1 GB for Personal accounts, 2 GB for Family accounts, Unlimited for corporate accounts |
| Versioning | Yes, configurable limits for different file types, very useful! |
| Mac and Linux Versions? | Yes, has both Windows and Mac functionality. No Linux version. |
Elephant Drive: Pros
We like Elephant Drive a lot, enough to give them 4 stars. They have a great feature set at a very good price.
How does Elephant Drive work? First you download the application from their website, then you configure your automatic backup settings. You can choose file types, folders, versioning options, frequency of backups, etc. It was really quite simple. Once setup, the first backup takes a while, but once complete it moves along pretty quickly in the background.
What we really like and Elephant drive is the fact that you get three solutions for one price: The Automatic backups, the synchronized folder, and the web access. Some services only offer one or two of these options, but not all three. Besides the great features, we love the price. With options ranging from free to $19.95 a month for personal and family accounts, you have some great options at affordable rates. Plus if you pay yearly, it gets even cheaper. 500 Gigabytes for only $199.50 a year, including access for 5 devices (still a single user however) is a very good deal.
Elephant Drive Automatic Backup Manager
Elephant Drive: Cons
Its not 100% rosy in Elephant Drive land however, as there are some minor things that we think they could improve. The 100MB file size limit on the free account is pretty annoying, considering other free accounts (Dropbox Review, Mozy) don't have that limit.
Here is our full list of Cons:
- File size limits are a bit of a downer, even on basic paid accounts.
- Cannot specify a private encryption key. Most services do not let you do this, so this is par for the course, however, we would really really like the ability to add one in the future (as far as we have researched, only Mozy lets you do this.
- Downloadable application requires Java 1.5. Not a big deal, but may be inconvenient for some users.
- No FTP access. Again, many users don't require this, but for some this may be a deal breaker (check out Livedrive if you want that feature)
What is the difference between Elephant Drive and TrunkDrive?
This is a common question that we thought we would shed some light on. The main difference between the backup and TrunkDrive accounts comes down to the web functionality. Elephant Drive TrunkDrive allows you to share files across different computers, as well as with your friends via a URL. This lets you keep up to 5 computers in sync (with the Family plan, 3 with the personal plan), and share endless files with all your friends and family (no more emailing large files ever again). This service uses the included storage space limit of your account.
Bottom Line: Is Elephant Drive Worth the Price?
We think Elephant Drive is great, and a good price! With a lot of options for each user type, there is definitely a plan that fits your needs. The service uses a combination of Amazon S3 and their own services to ensure your backups are reliable, and the web access and sharing capabilities are a nice touch on top of the automatic backup options.