Egnyte is an online service that allows people and/or businesses to easily share files between users. The service is geared towards businesses who are looking to take advantage of online file storage without spending additional money on hardware (remote servers) and software. How does the service work? What are the benefits? Is it reliable?
Egnyte is a form of cloud computing, it allows people to access their files no matter where they are. The service is very simple to use and provides a nice user interface. One of the first things I noticed when I signed up for the service is that you can select your own sub-domain. For example, besttechie.egnyte.com or companyname.egnyte.com. To further customize the interface Egnyte allows you to add your own company logo.
It’s also very configurable, you can very simply setup folders with various sets of permissions for users to access within the company, at home, or on the go. The ability to lock files is also nice, it will prevent files from being renamed, deleted, copied, or moved from their current location on the server. Egnyte also allows you to easily send files as email attachments. Additionally, you can export file(s) as zip files to your local desktop (it also allows you to include previous versions of the file – if it were modified).
The service works well in the browser and also provides a desktop application too (power users only, standard users only can access files via the web). The file sharing software provided makes it super simple to map your Egnyte file server as a network drive. This means you can easily access all of the files straight from your desktop without having to open a web browser which is definitely nice.
Depending on the plan you select you purchase you can have anywhere from 20GB per power user to unlimited storage space. Of course with the more storage space you have the more files you can upload and host there. The built-in search functionality makes it extremely simple to find files. Egnyte has also recently added tag support so you can tag files making it easier to group particular files together. You can even add notes to any file you want as well – this is especially useful when file names are non-descriptive.
The desktop software (which works on Windows, OSX, and Linux) also will allow power users to backup files and email directly to the Egnyte service therefore ensuring your files remain safe. Lastly, the service provides reports of what’s going on within your account such as the latest backups, how much space you’re using within each folder, etc.
Overall, I would say Egnyte is one of the nicest services I have seen with regards to allowing access to files remotely and backing up data. I would recommend this service to any business looking for a way to cut costs on remote file servers. They offer a 15-day free trial – so go try it out.
