Livedrive | Blog

Online storage is the future, ask anyone. Journalists everywhere are talking about the G-drive, the X-drive, the Skydrive the Live Mesh, The Elephant…the list is endless. So, why aren’t we all storing our files online yet? The answer is simple…nobody has made it work properly.

The key to online storage is synchronisation technology. Why? Because, good idea as it might seem, the Internet just isn’t fast enough to access all your files in the Cloud directly. Plus, most people have software they like to use on their computers and don’t want to limit themselves to online applications.

What’s needed is software that you can install on each device that keeps that device in synch with your storage in the Cloud. That’s what Livedrive is all about. With Livedrive, all your files are stored safely and securely in our data vault in the Cloud. They can be accessed from anywhere, anytime on any device. And we have software on each device that works in the background so you can work have you always have done.

The software keeps a local, ‘working copy’ of files you are using and synchs them with our server ‘master copy’. This is the model that Google has been on about for years with their rumored ‘Gdrive’ product. Gdrive isn’t here yet but Livedrive is.

Most online storage services only have a web interface. That’s fine if you just want to backup a load of files or have a special reason to put a certain file online, such as sharing it with someone or accessing it on the road. But it isn’t fine if you want to use it as your main storage. For example, if you keep all your photos on your computer, you don’t want to have to log into a website and upload them every time you add new ones. And you certainly don’t want to save an Office document to your PC and then have the bother of uploading it to the web.

Some of the more advanced players do have desktop software. The trouble is, they tend to be based around web-dav technology which was never designed for this purpose, they are slow, don’t work properly and have never taken off for that reason. Take AOL X-Drive as a prime example – lots of people tried it, nobody kept it. It was painfully slow – up to 100 times slower than a USB drive! Why? Because they didn’t have any synching or caching technology on the client.

Livedrive, on the other hand, doesn’t use web-dav – it uses its own custom written driver technology. We present a drive to your computer – the L: drive – which cleverly works in the background. It keeps your Livedrive perfectly in synch and caches files as needed on your computer. You can configure what files are cached on your computer and when. So for example, you might have a folder containing 100gb of videos you don’t use that often and elect not to keep a local copy on your computer. They still show up on your Livedrive but access to them will be slower as its coming over the web.

Livedrive is designed to be used as your main drive. Simply signup for your account, install the software and put everything – your photos, your documents, your movie collection – straight onto your Livedrive, just like any USB stick or external disk drive. Then, all your files will be accessible from anywhere via the web and your mobile, they’ll be looked after forever, you can install the software on another PC and see the same files and if you lose your PC you won’t lose your files.

I’m Andrew Michael and welcome to my blog. I have a long history in the technology industry, having previously founded Fasthosts (www.fasthosts.co.uk) . Fasthosts was the first company to make it easy for small businesses to get a website up and running. When I sold the business in 2006 for $120 million we ruled to roost – we were the largest player in the UK, we had the best products in the market and the best team in the business.

Why am I telling you this? Well, since then I’ve been working on Livedrive. I have a simple vision: in the future, all files – that is photos, videos, work documents etc., will be stored online rather than on individual computers. I’m not the only person to have this vision, which probably means it’s a sensible idea! There’s a cottage industry out there of small companies offering to look after your data. However, none of them do a very good job and as a result none of them have done very well. Today, people put files online for all sorts of reasons, mainly if they want to backup or share. However, using online storage as your main storage requires a product and technology that nobody has got right yet.

That’s why I assembled the best people in the business and set about working two years ago on Livedrive. The criteria was simple – it has to be a product I’d be happy to put all my files on and use daily.

With Livedrive, you get all the normal features: backup, sharing, mobile access and  a web portal to manage and upload your files.

In addition, you’ll get an L: drive on your computer so you can access your online storage directly without having to use the web. This means you can just drag files onto your Livedrive like any normal USB drive. The best part though is that its fast…stupidly fast. As it has to be, because you aren’t going to use it otherwise.

Livedrive is currently available in beta form, free of charge. We’d love to know what you think. If you sign up for a beta account now, you’ll be able to keep your account when we go live in early 2009.