SugarSync ranked highly in our tests
Based in San Mateo California, Sugarsync have been around since 2008.
They provide cloud services to customers of a number of high profile partners.
To name a few, BestBuy, Lenovo, SanDisk, France Telecom-Orange, Korea Telecom.
SugarSync enables you to easily back up, access, sync and share all of your documents, photos, music and movies across all of your computers and mobile devices.
Sugarsync offer a variety of plans with a range of options for maximum storage and numbers of users supported. On their personal plan you can have between 100GB and 500GB all with 1 user. Sugarsync business ranges from 1TB and 1-3 users to custom plans for 10+ users and potentially unlimited storage. This is a comprehensive offering that will easily accommodate any requirement, from the home user who wants to keep their photos safe, to bigger businesses with comprehensive storage needs.
Backup and restore features:
They are not the cheapest on the market (most popular plan is 250GB for $9.99 a month) but they are among the most user friendly.
It is easy to share files with friends, family or colleagues. It is also easy to control how this data is used by recipient.
In theory there is no limit to the file size you can upload. However, you cannot upload anything bigger than 300MB on the website. Bigger files can be uploaded using the app but Sugarsync warn that this will take a long time and use up most of your bandwidth.
Sugarsync will save the last 5 versions of any file which is among the lowest on the market. On the plus side they only count the latest version towards your storage limit which is unusual.
They have all the expected features – Continuous backup, incremental backup and file syncing. They also offer bandwidth throttling which is important on a busy network and only offered by some providers. Unusually they do not offer the ability to back up external drives which could be a deal breaker for business users with NAS.
Security
Sugarsync offers a number of helpful security features such as, remote wipe, geo-redundant storage and helpful options with regard to sharing data. These are not necessarily standard but neither are they hard to find with other providers. Although the file sharing options here do seem to be the most comprehensive.
There are 2 worrying omissions with regard to security. Sugarsync do not own and maintain their own servers which puts them in a minority.
They also do not give you ownership of your own encryption key. This means that they have it too. Not ideal for data security. On the plus side files are transferred with a TLS 1.2 encryption which is about as good as it gets. TLS 1.3 is still only a working draft. Your files are stored with a 256-bit AES encryption which is pretty standard but certainly robust enough.
Supported Configurations and Mobile Access:
Sugarsync are strong here as they support Windows mobile devices and alot of the competition do not.
They sync to mobile devices which is commonplace and they have apps for Apple iOS and Android.
They also cover Windows and Mac OS X computers. With mobile devices, only photos are automatically backed up which is not unusual, but you are able to upload videos and other files manually.
Price Plans
Personal. 100GB for $7.49 a month to 500GB for $24.99 a month. The most popular deal is 250GB $9.99 a month which does give the best value for money and cost per GB.
Business. 1TB and 1-3 users for $55.00 – extra users can be added for $13.00 each up to 10 users. For more storage or more than 10 users you can create a custom plan.
All plans offer a 30 day free trial for you to experience the SugarSync software and features
Support
If you are likely to want immediate response on a personal account then you will not find it here unless you are prepared to pay.
Phone support is offered to Business customers for free but it’s $99.99 for personal customers.
There is an email/support ticket service and a comprehensive data centre which will answer most queries that you are likely to have.
Conclusion
If you have a Windows mobile, or you do not want to store particularly large quantities of data this is a good option as it has a user friendly interface and good options for file sharing. Sugarsync also enables you to email large files easily as a link so you no longer have to worry about crashing someone’s inbox. Data throttling is also a very useful feature. If you run any kind of external drive then this is not for you. I would also prefer to be the sole owner of my encryption key.
SugarSync Cloud Storage
$9.98
Pros
- The addition of the remote wipe feature really gives this cloud service an advantage should your phone or laptop be stolen
- Very easy to use intuitive interface.
- Great mobile device sync support including for new Windows Phones
- SugarSync is known for its top Class support
Cons
- Files larger than 300MB cannot be uploaded through the SugarSync website.
- The mobile app doesn't allow you to sync music or other files