Hi, I’m a subscribed Proton user and have been using their Drive since conception. All these years, most of the times I’m just downloading files piece meal (I’m also using their Windows App btw).
Today, I had to download a 200mb file and to my surprise, the download speed from Proton only got to 3kbps. I tried both the connection with and without ProtonVPN, and still the same. 1 hour has passed and it hasn’t finished downloading.
To me, this is borderline unusable and I’m considering either going with Tresorit or OneDrive with Cryptomator. I’m thinking getting the latter because I used to use OneDrive and I know I can rely on it, but unsure if adding Cryptomator on top will reduce the download speed due to encrypting process? Or should I use Tresorit instead?
Curious how others’ experiences are with these 3 platforms.
EDIT: I got the 3 Kbps while using the web version on Brave. But, also experienced the same slow speed using the Windows app.
Have you ever used Cryptomator before? If yes, what’s your experience with it? And how do you use it?
I have only used it with Google Drive and SFTP servers. I don’t sync files. All my Cryptomator folders are exclusively in the cloud, and I don’t think I have uploaded new files in them in years.
I used to sync Cryptomator folders, but for me, it was just not practical. I’d rather just have them in the cloud and not have the files on my computer.
Moreover, in general, I don’t find Cryptomator practical to use in the cloud either. Because if you ever need to access your files only via web, you won’t be able to decrypt them. I hope they develop a web solution. Years have gone by, and as far as I know, they still haven’t.
The reason I only use Cryptomator with Google Drive and SFPT servers, is because I can access my accounts via the FTP client CyberDuck.
Cyberduck supports Cryptomator, so I can easily decrypt and download my file in Google Drive, as well as upload and encrypt files.
The download speed is pretty fast, but I use a VPN so it’s a littler slower. I have noticed that it’s much slower downloading from my SFTP servers via Cyberduck, though.
Cyberduck also supports OneDrive.
This is why I wish Proton Drive and other E2EE cloud providers to support SFTP access, so I don’t have to download my files via web.
Thanks for sharing! I tried it once with One Drive and synced it with my PC and Android. It went well, but I never tried downloading a huge file either back then. However, I stopped using because on Android, you couldn’t see the image thumbnails, so you’d have to open image one by one to see which image it was. My sync was and is primarily used for auto photo backup from my phone.
I’m trouble shooting the Proton issue with their support. Hope they will find a solution. It’s a bit concerning because I found 2 reddit threads around 2 and 5 years ago having the same issue.
I’ve heard of rclone, and to my understanding it’s a pretty good solution. It’s just not for me, primarily because I suck at CLI and find it extremely intimidating.
If you’re only using sync for auto-photo backup, why are you not comfortable backing your files directly to Proton which is end-to-end-encrypted (E2EE)?
Not saying you don’t have valid reasons, I’m just curious.
I don’t trust all E2EE cloud services equally, but I’m comfortable saving personal files and documents directly to Proton Drive, without re-encrypting them myself.
When it comes specifically to photos, have you heard of Ente? It’s a new E2EE open sourced cloud photo backup service, and they’re pretty good. I’ve only played with it, but it looks very promising.
Have you tried just accessing Drive from the web instead? I know I had the same issue where if I used the Windows app, downloads were horrifically slow but if I just access Drive from a browser they are what you would expect.
Hey, I just updated my original post. The 3kbps was what I got from using their web version on Brave. I don’t know how much speed I got by using the synced version on Windows, but it was quite slow as well.
Trying copy pasting the files from Drive to my local drive. 200 mb took more than an hour and it wasn’t even finished. Tried the web version afterwards and only then could I see the 3kbps number.
Not sure why you thought I wasn’t comfortable backing up my files directly to Proton? I have no complaints about the auto sync for files for years because so far, I can retrieve files/photos easily via the sync.
It was just this one time where I had to copy paste 200mb files from my Drive to my local drive that it took really slow + the same goes by using their web version.
You mentioned
… directly to Proton Drive, without re-encrypting them myself
To clarify, I don’t use Cryptomator for anything currently, nor do I encrypt anything manually myself. But, if I were to use OneDrive again, that’s what I’m planning to pair it with.
Yep, I’ve heard of Ente, but I prefer to have a cloud storage for all my files and not just photos specifically. Cost-wise, it’s also nice that Proton provides a suite of solution.
So far they just suggested trying different networks or clearing my browser’s cache.
I haven’t tried using different networks per se aside from (dis)connecting via VPN, also since I only use the app pretty much at home. So will try the cache thing and see if that helps.
In regard to the 200 MB file that you tried to download. Did you only try downloading directly via web? Have you tried downloading via syncing?
I completely agree on having one cloud storage for all your files. But I really wish general cloud storage service had more features for photos and videos. There will always be a market/audience for specialized cloud storage services like Ente, precisely because generic cloud storage lack those features.
I really want Proton and other general E2EE cloud services to step up their game when it comes to photos and videos. I hope they do.
I had Dropbox + Cryptomator and switched to Proton to consolidate.
I’m a bit disappointed as well because each file need to be downloaded before opening. This didn’t happen with Cryptomator + Dropbox.
I’m also disappointed with their photo management on proton drive. I just switched to Proton Drive but switched back because it was too slow.
Hopefully, they step it up as PurpleDime mentioned.
In the meantime, if you don’t pay for Proton services and want to use a cloud solution for your files, I recommend your solution + Cryptomator. The android app works well as well.
Thanks for sharing! Your statement about downloading each file before opening turns out to be going to the correct explanation of what happened and I literally just got the response from Support about this. Will give an update in a bit.
I am a paid customer of Proton suite for years already and so far, I have no complaints about their photo management. It has improved a lot compared a few years ago where you couldn’t even preview the thumbnails, or that the speed was horrible. At least on Android, I can seamlessly auto backup the photos and view them (granted not via the Gallery since Proton doesn’t have a native support for that afaik).
To give an update: the Support team finally nailed the core issue. Here’s their response:
The download process can be slow, especially if you are downloading a large number of small files (less than 1 MB each). These files need to be downloaded in the background one by one to ensure that each download is successful and the file is properly decrypted. As a result, the download speed cannot exceed a certain threshold since the client only downloads/uploads up to 3-4 files simultaneously.
For example, if the 4 files being downloaded are 1 KB each, the download speed would be limited due to the small file size and the sequential nature of the process. Our developers are actively working on improvements to enhance this aspect of Proton Drive, aiming for faster file downloads. However, we cannot provide an exact date for when these improvements will be implemented.
Idk how they found out, maybe by looking at the meta data (?), but indeed the 200mb files I was downloading were comprised of a lot of individual files of <1mb each. I tried downloading just a single piece of video of 119mb and it took a couple of secs (both on their app or the web version).
No further action from my end and hope they get to improve this sooner than later.
You could zip the files before uploading them. Otherwise, I agree it seems like they have a lot to learn as a storage provider. Backblaze B2 + Cryptomator is currently the most reliable option imo