Livedrive online backup review: Fast, elegant, and unlimited

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Flawless setup and client interface
Fast, glitch-free performance
Syncing briefcase with online editing (Pro version) or separate service
Unlimited backup

Cons

Mac Client requires third-party software for briefcase functionality

Our Verdict

The adjective that Livedrive inspires is “smooth”: Smooth signup, smooth setup, and smooth operation. Offering unlimited storage backup with online/device sync, we also find the pricing more than reasonable.

Price When Reviewed

This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined

Best Pricing Today

Retailer

Price

Livedrive

$119.88

View Deal

Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

Product

Price

Price comparison from Backmarket

            <h3 class="review-best-price" id="best-prices-today-livedrive-online-backup">
        Best Prices Today: Livedrive online backup      </h3>
            <div class="wp-block-price-comparison price-comparison ">

    <div id="New" class="new_products_tab tabcontent">
        <div class="price-comparison__record price-comparison__record--header">
            <div>
                <span>Retailer</span>
            </div>
            <div class="price-comparison__price">
                <span>Price</span>
            </div>
        </div>
                                                    <div class="price-comparison__record  ">
                        <div class="price-comparison__image">
                                                                <span>Livedrive</span>
                                                        </div>
                        <div class="price-comparison__price">

                            <span>
                            $119.88                             </span>

                        </div>
                        <div>
                            <a class="price-comparison__view-button" href="https://www2.livedrive.com/ForHome" data-vars-product-name="Livedrive online backup" data-vars-product-id="392934" data-vars-category="Professional Software" data-vars-manufacturer-id="18028" data-vars-manufacturer="Livedrive Internet Ltd." data-vars-vendor="Livedrive" data-vars-po="" data-product="392934" data-vars-link-position-id="001" data-vars-link-position="Price Comparison Top" data-vars-outbound-link="https://www2.livedrive.com/ForHome" target="_blank">View Deal</a>                           </div>
                    </div>
                                            <div class="price-comparison__record price-comparison__record--footer">
                <span class="price-comparison__footer-text">
                                                Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide                                              </span>
                                </div>
                    </div>
    <div id="Refurbished" class="refurbished_products_tab tabcontent">
        <div class="refurbished-padding price-comparison__record price-comparison__record--header">
            <div>
                <span>Product</span>
            </div>
            <div class="price-comparison__price">
                <span>Price</span>
            </div>
        </div>
                        <div class="price-comparison__record price-comparison__record--footer">
                <span class="price-comparison__footer-text">
                Price comparison from Backmarket                        </span>
                                </div>
    </div>
    </div>

After two tire-kickings of the Windows version of Livedrive, I struggle to find anything about the service that isn’t first-rate. Signup was a breeze, the client installed quickly, and operation proved easy to both understand and use.

Most importantly, Livedrive never glitched. In fact, it never even hinted at glitching. That inspires confidence — something that’s essential when trusting your precious data to an online backup service. It also proved far faster than I expected for a service with its data centers overseas. Sweet.

See how well Livedrive compares to the competition in our big online backup roundup.

Note: For more about data backup, see our best Windows backup software roundup.

What are Livedrive’s features?

While I’ve already praised Livedrive for its operational solidity, the attention to detail in the interface is also outstanding. If I had a dime for every poorly rendered, scaled, or translated GUI element I’ve seen in the backup arena, I’d be well on my way to being rich. Obviously, there’s someone at the company other than backup programmers.

That said, it does use the British “centre,” rather than the American “center.” God save the Queen! (Err, King.)

Though Livedrive automatically selects everything most users want to back up (read: the User folder), you can alter the selections on your own. That’s a good thing for me as I have almost 1TB of VMs, ISO, and storage test files on the desktop — few of which really need to be backed up.

Yes, Livedrive provides unlimited backup, but for speed’s sake, you should always skip anything you can easily recreate and limit backup to anything that will produce negative emotions if lost.

Livedrive backups may be scheduled as granularly as every hour, or in multiples of hours. There’s also a daily option that should be sufficient for most users, depending on what you’re backing up. If your data set changes more often, use the hourly.

In the event you need to restore data, you my use the client software as shown below, or download the data via Livedrive’s web portal.

Livedrive (Pro Suite or separate) also offers sync in the form of the Briefcase, which is where backups from your mobile devices reside. It is accessed via a virtual network drive invoked by the Open Briefcase button on the Briefcase page of the client software.

You may add local folders to the Briefcase via drag-and-drop or create new ones. Folders dragged in are copies of the original folder, not shortcuts — i.e., you’re not syncing the original folder as is the case with folders created inside the drive.

The Livedrive Briefcase mounted as a virtual network drive in Windows.

A Briefcase-related feature is LAN transfer. This is used to sync the Briefcase among computers on your network running Livedrive. This requires the Pro Suite version, or more than one seat license, and bypasses the overhead of downloading the folder from the Livedrive online repository.

Probably my only complaint about Livedrive is that the Mac client requires the installation of macFuse for the Briefcase to function. It’s not alone in using that extension, but it does complicate the dead-easy vibe you get in Windows.

Other Livedrive options include excluding files and folders, file-type priority (which files transfer first), bandwidth allocation (performance), proxy server support (VPNs), and an integrity check (comparing local and online files).

For security, Livedrive uses transfer layer security (TLS, the successor to the NSA-supported SSL) and two-factor authentication. The service also ensures that data is distributed across multiple locations and obfuscated so it can’t be linked to an individual account.

It conforms with all EU privacy laws for Britain’s continental brethren. How this fares in light of Brexit, we can’t say. But Livedrive is secure.

Livedrive also provides Android and iOS apps so you can keep your mobile devices backed up. See below