What is the best cloud backup for large files?
Speaking of the best cloud storage for large files, it’s recommended to consider from these
points in the following. Also, you can add your own preference. First, it has large cloud
storage with a reasonable price. Second, it has a fast transfer speed for large files. Last
but not least, no or less file size limit and upload traffic cap.
Sync.com
Pros:
5GB free storage
No file-size or transfer traffic limit
Reasonable price
Limit service resource use
Upload traffic for a limited plan
Cons:
Encryption affect the transfer speed
No file sharing with mobile client
No block-level sync
No monthly plans for personal use
Sync.com is the best cloud storage for large files and it fully satisfies with points
mentioned above. It’s suitable for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, but not Linux. For its
plan, the best ideal for most users is 2TB for $96/year. Its transfer speed is still
above-average with strong security, for example, in Mexico, uploading speed for a 1GB folder
is about 15 minutes while downloading speed takes 6 minutes. And it does not limit file size
and data transfer speed. In addition, it allows you to restrict the system resource and
monthly traffic.
In fact, Sync.com is not perfect and it still has some flaws, such as, encryption for large
files has effect on the uploading and downloading speed, no block-level sync, no monthly
plans for personal use and no file sharing option on mobile app.
pCloud
Pros:
10 GB free storage
No file size
File sharing with anyone, even for non-pCloud users
Fast uploading and downloading speed
Discount for users to pay for the year in advance
Cons:
Monthly traffic limitation
No block-level sync
No schedule backup
Cannot share files encrypted by zero-knowledge add-on
pCloud is great options for Linux, but also applied to Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. For its
plan, the Premium Plus 2TB for $9.99/month is the most popular one for users who want to
backup large files to cloud. Also, if you pay for the year in advance or buy lifetime
license, you can enjoy more benefits, such as, discount. Its speed is excellent, in Boston,
uploading a 1GB folder will take 7 minutes while downloading spend 1 minutes. Like Sync.com,
it has no file size limit.
Also, pCloud still has some disadvantages, such as, monthly traffic restriction, Premium
users 500GB and Premium Plus users 2TB. Also, it does not support block-level sync.
Google Drive
Pros:
15GB free space
Discount for users to pay for the year in advance
File size up to 5TB for non-document file types
File sharing to anyone, even with different cloud storage
Cons:
Daily transmission limit 750GB
No block-level sync
No passwords or expire date option
Google Drive is natural choice for Android device as it’s already integrated, but you can
still use it on other devices. Among the paid plans, the most common used is 2TB for
$9.99/month and it comes with a discount if you pay for the year ahead of time. Its
uploading speed for a 1GB folder is 10 minutes and the downloading speed is 5minutes.
Actually, there are something you need to pay attention before using Google Drive, it limits
daily traffic to 750GB, lack of block-level sync, password and expire date option.
Dropbox
Pros:
2GB free cloud space
File size up to 20GB
No bandwidth for restrictions with desktop app
Support block-level sync
Use little system resources
Selective files and folders sync
Cons:
No near services
Daily sharing limit 200GB
Dropbox is the only cloud storage that supports block-level sync, which can accelerate your
transfer speed. You can use it on various devices, such as, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android,
iOS, and Kindle. For its paid options, the most worth inventing plans are 2TB for
$9.99/month. On web-side, the data transfer is restricted to 20GB. To upload and download
1GB folder in Southeast Asia will cost 16 minutes and 6 minutes separately.
If you can ignore that Dropbox does not have near services, it’s also a great choice. In
addition, it still restricts daily file sharing to 200GB.
OneDrive
Pros:
20GB file size cap
Transfer speed are fast and stable
Flexible file sharing and sync
Selective sync
Cons:
Block-level copying only available for Office files
Errors with manual uploading
Microsoft OneDrive is very friendly to Windows, especially Windows 10, but you still can use
it on Mac, Android and iOS. The biggest highlight is that OneDrive has a global data center
network, which make its uploading and downloading speed faster. For example, to upload a 1GB
folder, you will only spend 6 minutes and 1 minutes respectively. For its plans, you could
consider Office 365 Personal or Home subscription and they will spend you $6.99/month (1TB)
or $9.99/month (1TB) for 5 users.
Global data center network is quite attractive for users who attach great importance to
transfer speed. But it has problem with manually uploading files. Meanwhile, the block-level
copying is only available for Office files, which may make some users feel a little
upset.
Blackblaze B2
Pros:
Most cost-effective option
File size up to 10TB
Snapshot size up to 10TB
First 1GB download is free of charge
Hundreds of third party integrations
Cons:
uploading speed is quite slow
Backblaze B2 is the most cost-effective option and you only need to pay what you use. It
charges $0.005/GB/month for storage and the download will cost you $0.01/GB. And it supplies
users free download for first GB. Meanwhile, its large file and snapshot size limit is
sufficient for majority of users, up to 10TB. Also, it’s numerous integration may be very
helpful to backup or sync files to clouds.
The price of B2 is lure for users who has limited budget. But Its uploading speed is relative
slow, only 5Mbps. Other cloud storage has a faster uploading speed, for example, Google
Drive 48Mbps, pCloud 30Mbps, Dropbox 22.5Mbps.
Reading here, you may already have your own choice, just backup large files to cloud with
your preference. For specific steps, you can go to automatic
cloud backup or personal cloud
backup.
Further reading: cloud backup large files is not safe enough
If you click on this article and read here, you may already know the importance of cloud
backup large files. It can reduce the risk of data loss as much as possible and free you
from local and natural disaster, such as, disk failure, system crash, fire, thief etc.
Meanwhile, it allows you to access files at anytime and from anywhere, provide scalable
capacity and more useful features, such as, real-time collaboration, file sharing, and more.
In addition, after uploading files, your service provider will store your files to multiple
servers.
But the cloud storage may be probably attacked by hackers or ransomware. To make your files
much safer, it’s suggested to store 3 copies of your files in 2 different devices and keep
one offsite. This is the best way to backup large files according to 3-2-1
backup strategy. Thus, after backing up files to a single cloud, you can still
consider transferring files between cloud storage.
Example: cloud backup large files between Dropbox and Google Drive
Make some preparations before backup large files:


Now, let’s start to backup large files between Google Drive and Dropbox.
Step 1. Click “Tasks” and “Create Task” subsequently.

Step 2. Click “Add Source” and select “Dropbox”, then click
“OK”.

Step 3. Click “Add Destination” and Select “Google Drive”,
then click “OK”.

Step 4. Click “Start Backup”.
Note: The above steps are just a simple
step-by-step guide without any backup settings. If you want to get things done better, you
could make use of one or more backup settings in the following.
• Daily/weekly/monthly backup: If you want to
protect your data continuously, you could consider using schedule backup settings,
daily/weekly/monthly. And this software will backup files automatically when it reaches the
point you set.
• Specific time backup: If you
want to avoid working hours, this feature is very useful. Because you can set the backup
time to any time, for example, before 9am
• File
Filter: If you want to backup files with certain file extension, this setting will be a
great choice. With it, you can exclude or contain certain file types.
Final thoughts
Speaking of cloud backup large files, the first and most common question is what is the best
cloud storage for large files. This article offers you 6 available cloud storage, Sync.com
is the first recommended options, Backblaze is the most cost-effective, other options are
also acceptable. Just select it based on your needs and there is no right or wrong.
Meanwhile, there is another thing worth mentioning, transferring files between cloud storage
add a new lock to your files and make it much safer.