Proton Drive Secure Online Storage and File Sharing

Proton Drive offers a secure online storage and file sharing solution that's perfect for individuals and teams. It provides 15 GB of free storage, which is a great starting point for anyone looking to store and share files online.

With Proton Drive, you can store and share files securely, knowing that your data is protected by end-to-end encryption. This means that only you have access to your files, and not even Proton can see what you're storing or sharing.

Proton Drive also allows you to invite others to view or edit files, making it easy to collaborate with colleagues or friends. You can also set permissions to control who can access your files and what they can do with them.

Proton Drive is based out of Switzerland, which is great news for worldwide users because Swiss privacy laws are among the strongest globally.

This means your files will be stored in a super secure environment, protected by robust security measures that ensure your data remains private.

Built on the same foundation as Proton Mail, Proton Drive employs zero-access encryption, which means only you possess the encryption keys, and even Proton Mail can't access your data.

This is a major advantage of Proton Drive compared to other cloud storage solutions, especially in today's world where data breaches are becoming increasingly common.

With Proton Drive, you can share files and folders with individuals or groups, providing complete and granular control over permissions and access levels.

This means you can give collaborators view, edit, or comment permissions, and even track changes and revert to previous versions if needed.

Proton Drive is available on multiple platforms, including web, PC, and mobile devices, ensuring seamless access to your files from any device.

The desktop and mobile applications are thoughtfully designed, offering a consistent user experience across different platforms.

Proton Drive also integrates well with popular productivity tools like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, making it a versatile and usable solution.

To protect your files, Proton Drive utilizes an advanced storage infrastructure with redundant servers and data replication techniques, minimizing the risk of data loss.

Regular backups are also maintained, providing an added layer of protection for your valuable data.

At Proton Drive, your privacy is their top priority. They're a Swiss company, protected by the country's strong privacy laws, which means that law enforcement can't request access to your data without going through the courts first.

Proton Drive's encryption procedures are truly locked down. Files are encrypted before being uploaded, and the encryption keys are generated on your device, so the company can't access your files even if they wanted to.

You can pay for your account in cash by sending dollars, euros, or Swiss francs to a mailing address on Proton's website, giving you even more control over your data.

Their slow and steady development has allowed them to focus on security and privacy, making Proton Drive an excellent alternative for those willing to pay more for storage and who don't need every feature under the sun.

The benefits of encrypted cloud storage are numerous, including defending confidential information from data breaches, government surveillance, and ransomware.

Here are some of the key benefits of Proton Drive's encryption:

By choosing Proton Drive, you're supporting a company that's dedicated to putting your privacy first.

Proton Drive offers a free tier, which is a great starting point for businesses or individuals looking to try out encrypted cloud storage.

With Proton Drive, you can collaborate with colleagues and clients remotely and in real-time on documents and folders. This is especially useful for businesses with high-security needs around the world.

Defend confidential information from data breaches, government surveillance, and ransomware by using Proton Drive's end-to-end encryption. Your files are secured with your private key, giving you complete control over your data.

Proton Drive also allows you to maintain privacy for sensitive corporate transactions, documents, and materials. This is a key benefit for businesses that need to protect confidential research data and intellectual property.

Here are some of the key benefits of using Proton Drive:

You can start using Proton Drive as soon as you've signed up for an account, which can be done through Proton Mail or Proton VPN if you already use those services. You can upload files immediately by dragging them onto your browser or clicking New Upload.

Files you upload are encrypted in your browser before being uploaded to Proton's servers, so you can rest assured that your data is secure. You can choose to sync files from anywhere on your computer with the desktop application, which is available for Windows and Mac users.

The mobile app for Proton Drive is also a great tool for uploading files and backing up photos, and you can even lock it down with a PIN or biometric tools like a fingerprint scanner or FaceID for added security.

Online document editing is a feature in Proton Drive that lets you create and collaborate on documents in real-time. You can share and gather feedback with comments, track real-time edits, and see who is viewing a document.

Proton Drive's online document editing feature is a great alternative to Google Docs, allowing you to create new documents and collaborate on them, or open any uploaded docx file to convert it. However, you don't get spreadsheets or presentations, which is a limitation.

Every keystroke is end-to-end encrypted for maximum privacy and security, giving you the peace of mind that your documents are safe. You can also use version history to restore an older version of a file if it's overwritten or altered.

If you want to edit anything else, like an image or an audio file, you have to download the file, edit it, and then reupload it. But with the Windows or Mac application, you can open files and edit them using the appropriate desktop software, and your changes automatically sync.

You can collaborate with other Proton Drive users by sharing a folder, but there are no other collaboration tools beyond document editing. This means you can't comment on a file the way you can in other cloud services, like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Proton Drive's web version has limited preview functionality, so you get previews for images, videos, audio files, and PDFs, but not proprietary formats like Microsoft Office documents.

Getting Started with Proton Drive is a breeze. You can use your existing Proton Mail or Proton VPN account to access Proton Drive, making it easy to get started.

To sign up for a new account, you'll need to choose a username, which will also be your email address if you use Proton Mail. Create a password and provide some recovery details to secure your account.

You can start uploading files immediately by dragging them onto your browser or clicking New Upload. Files are encrypted in your browser before being uploaded to Proton's servers, so you can rest assured your data is secure.

If you're a Windows user, you'll want to install the desktop application to sync files from anywhere on your computer. The app will ask if you want to back up your Desktop, Documents, and other folders.

The Mac version of the desktop application only offers access to your Proton Drive files from Finder, due to Apple's security policies.

Sharing files with others is a breeze in Proton Drive. You can right-click any file or folder from the web version and select Share to see your options.

You have two ways of sharing files: directly with other Proton users or indirectly using a public link. Direct sharing with other Proton users lets you assign roles, so you control whether they can edit files in your folder or not.

Proton Drive's end-to-end encryption works when sharing files and folders, so you can rest assured that your files are secure. There are no file size limits, making it easy to share even large files.

If you want to share files with non-Proton users, you can create a public link and send it to anyone. Optionally, you can password-protect your shared files and set an expiration date for the link, adding an extra layer of security.

You can track who is viewing a document and see real-time edits, making collaboration a smooth process. Every keystroke is end-to-end encrypted for maximum privacy and security.

You can access versions of files up to 10 years old, giving you peace of mind in case a file is overwritten or altered. Proton Drive's version history lets you restore an older version as needed.

The Proton Drive mobile app is available for download on Android, iPhone, and iPad devices. You can install it to access your files on the go.

You can use the app to browse files you've already uploaded or upload new files directly. It's also possible to sync any files or folders to be available offline.

The app supports backing up photos, making it a secure alternative to Apple and Google's photo backup service. This feature is a great addition to Proton Drive's already robust security measures.

You can lock down access to the app using a PIN or biometric tools like a fingerprint scanner or FaceID, adding an extra layer of security.

Proton Drive's upload speeds are somewhat slow, especially when compared to other cloud providers. This is because Proton Drive encrypts files locally before uploading them, which can be a processing-intensive task.

The upload speed is affected by your computer's processing power, with faster processors resulting in faster upload times. For example, uploading 284GB of files from a Windows 11 computer with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700 processor took 10 hours and 33 minutes.

However, Proton Drive's upload speed can be significantly faster than older computers with slower processors. In one test, uploading 1GB of data took 2 minutes and 12 seconds, which is a noticeable improvement over the 8 minutes and 16 seconds it took on an older computer.

Other factors can also impact upload speeds, such as your home internet connection speed and the distance between your computer and Proton's servers. In one test, a computer with a 100Mbps upload speed took 4 minutes and 17 seconds to synchronize a 589 MB folder with the cloud.

Proton Drive's desktop client can synchronize files with the cloud, but the speed may vary depending on your computer's hardware and internet connection. It's worth noting that Proton Drive's upload speeds are not as fast as some other cloud providers, such as NordLocker and Internxt.