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The digital storage market, long dominated by tech behemoths like Google and Dropbox, is seeing a fresh entrant in the form of Proton Drive, a cloud-based storage solution. The Swiss company, known as Proton, is best recognized for its deep commitment to user privacy and security. Beginning with their widely appreciated email service, ProtonMail, the firm has progressively introduced a suite of products including a VPN, a calendar, a premium password manager, and most recently, a cloud storage solution, Proton Drive.
In the latest development, Proton has introduced a much-anticipated local file sync option for its Drive users on Windows. This announcement, made via Proton’s official blog, comes as a notable contrast to mainstream alternatives such as Google Drive and Dropbox. While these platforms restrict users to syncing select folders, Proton Drive extends the capability to include any folder on a user’s computer, encrypted end-to-end as with Proton’s other offerings.
In essence, this means that any folders synced with Proton Drive will be visible under a Computers section within the Proton Drive web interface, irrespective of the number of Windows computers linked with the user’s account.
In addition to this, Proton Drive incorporates other intelligent features akin to its counterparts. It maintains an on-demand file download system to save local storage, a feature that’s particularly compelling in an era of ballooning digital data. The service uses smart caching to ensure frequently accessed files are readily available, while less used ones are stored in the cloud. Users also have the ability to designate files they want persistently available on their devices.
One particular merit of Proton Drive lies in its version history feature, a safeguard that permits users to restore previous versions of documents, ideal for instances of accidental deletions or simply referencing an older edition of a document.
While these offerings appear similar to the competition, Proton’s distinguishing feature lies in its privacy and data security ethos. Proton assures users of robust protection afforded by stringent Swiss privacy laws and end-to-end encryption. Furthermore, Proton stores all user data on its own servers located within Europe, fostering an extra layer of trust.
Proton’s Drive app for Windows is a significant stride towards making downloading and uploading processes as frictionless as possible, a crucial factor in rivaling the likes of Google Drive. The company has also confirmed that work is in progress for a macOS version of Proton Drive, expanding its service to Apple’s vast desktop user base. Android and iOS users can already benefit from Proton Drive’s mobile application.
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