JustCloud 1.4.0.18

Overview

The Backup and restore niche is currently overcrowded; it seems that every online company wants to be a cloud storage provider. We see companies, established and new, emerge on the backup and restore market. JustCloud is yet another service provider in online storage industry. It offers three payment plans, Norton powered security, clean interface, and a lot of features, as well as multiplatform support.

JustCloud offers multiple support options: telephone lines for United Kingdom, USA, Canada and Australia, as well as emails for technical and billing questions, and Twitter and Facebook community. The first impression is good, so far; let’s see what happens when we sign up.

Installation

Installation seems transparent and doesn't bring any bundled adware and toolbars, as far as we can see. Installation creates a sync folder available on your desktop. You can also access files contained in your sync folder from the control panel. The sync folder mirrors a folder on one computer to another. Just Cloud supports Windows, Linux and Mac devices.

Interface

JustCloud offers a beautiful, modern and very easy to navigate graphic user interface even novice users can sort out. Once the application is installed, you can register an account directly from the application’s window, which saves you some time because you don't need to go online and use your web browser to register. Registration is simple: you need to provide your email and password, no email verification is required.

You can start synchronizing and backing up immediately after you sign up: you can choose to backup with the default option, or choose files or folders you want to backup specifically. The desktop application is straightforward and easy to navigate; pay attention to the settings button on the main window, it opens up with the set of options in privacy and security, connection, scheduling and other important settings.

JustCloud offers a Quick Start Guide with basic information about installation, interface, control panel, the sync folder and help and support.

The control panel is available online in your browser where you can access from any computer or portable device with Internet connection. You will see your backed up files, information about your connected devices, synced files and account information. You can also share any folders and files you have stored in your cloud and refer your friends to become JustCloud customers, earning yourself additional storage for free for every signed up friend.

The sync folder shows up on your desktop and synchronizes any file you add to it immediately to the cloud and all the computers and devices in your JustCloud account. This pretty much works like SkyDrive. Whenever you edit a file, its last version appears on every synchronized device.

The desktop application is the window you use to set up and run backups; it supports drag-and-drop feature, displays space used on your account, backup schedule and information about the last and next backup, as well as a button to restore files previously backed up.

Pros

JustCloud supports Windows 7, 8, 2000, XP and Vista 32 and 64-bit, Mac OS X 10.5+ and Linux, as well as Android devices, iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry. JustCloud offers email, phone, and online support available 24/7, as well as video tutorials.

Mobile applications come free of charge. The user can have an unlimited number of devices attached to his account. The company offers money back guarantee and an extensive choice of technical and billing support. The plethora of features is rich: file versioning, file and folder sharing, synchronizing computers, encryption, and Norton powered protection, drag-and-drop option, online control panel and file manager, the option of a full computer restore, automated backups, scheduled and selective backups, idle backups, backup of multimedia file formats.

Cons

It is not a con per se, but there is no free account as such with JustCloud. The trial account is valid during two weeks and offers a very limited space for users to estimate the capabilities of the cloud. Immediately, a user is prompted to upgrade to a paid account, with prices starting at $4.95 per month, and that is with the 20% discount. You’re offered a two-year subscription and 1 GB free space each month. Should you choose to delete your trial account, you are taken through a series of promotional offers urging you to buy a discounted account at cheaper prices, the final one being 1 GB of free space. However, when we opted for the latter, we were still unable to upload more files.

Alternatives