LiveDrive - Just signed up as a reseller

[Simmy]

So I just signed upto the 30 day trial as a reseller. I'm setting up a new server for a company who want local and online backups, so seems like the perfect opportunity to test it out on a non live environment with some of my own dummy files. I've just set a folder to backup which contained various install files, one of which was the latest Acronis Backup and Recovery 11.5. Now this is where I'm getting concerned...

The 900Mb file uploaded in a matter of seconds and unfortunately, as much as I wish, my internet connection isn't that quick! Now, this is either a pretty clever program and detected the filename/checksum of the file matched one already hosted on its servers (it was still the original filename from when I downloaded it from Acronis) OR it's a big fat liar and infact uploaded squat. I'm just download the file now and it is indeed downloading a file 900Mb in size. I'll report back when it's finished.

What is everyone elses experience with LiveDrive? I tried it on my own machine before purchasing the reseller package and did successfully manage to backup and recover files which I deleted. The Android app also works really well.

 

[Simmy]

Update - It worked! The downloaded file installed without problem. I must admit, I'm pretty impressed I'll try uploading a large personal file like my outlook PST and see how that copes.

 

[Frick]

Livedrive appears to use a system wide deduplication, explaining you large file uploading that fast (someone already had uploaded the file into their storage). While that is great for personal files, it would be frowned upon by businesses with confidential files.

I dropped them when I was targeting resident users because their support is horrible and very slow. The application was okay but I would notice it would stop uploading files pretty often. To fix it you have to manually open the client application and use its function to look for issues and repair them.

At the time there was also no automated reporting.

 

[TheLaptopFixers]

I'm a Livedrive user turned reseller for over two years now (after moving from Mozy who started charging £££ for their backup service and having 1.5TB of data backed up would have cost several hundred £ each month!).

There is occasionally some issues but I have found their support to be quick to reply to me (possibly because I am a reseller) with any issues that may arise.

With unlimited backup this is a godsend to both my business and my customers. Creating backup accounts dont cost anything as its part of the monthly Reseller fee, its a great service to resell with massive margins!

We even throw in free unlimited backup accounts for 1 year with all laptops we sell, give it away to the occasional disgruntled customer (who doesn't get them!), offer them as part exchange against old laptops instead of payting cash for them to resell etc.

I also use the Briefcase option extensively which for just £20 a year gives 512GB of online storage similar to drop box which I cannot live without.

Again, big, BIG, margins can be made when reselling this.

For example:
1 PC, Unlimited Backup we charge £19.99 per year (most customers think this is peanuts and our most popular upsell) - My actual cost £0.00!
2 PC, Unlimited Backup: £29.99 - actual cost £0.000
Unlimited PC, Unlimited Back: £39.99 - actual cost £0.00
Briefcase Addon £40.00 (needs backup account above) - actual cost £20.00.

Other options such as NAS backup, additonal storage space are available but very rarely do we sell the extras (NAS drives occasionally).

I have automated the setup of livedrive accounts through our POS/ticketing software so its simply two clicks, and instant profit of £20 or more for no extra effort!

Almost all customers who bring their PC in for hard disk failure / virus removals / data backups / OS reinstall etc purchase at least one of these options for piece of mind.

As you can probably guess, I cannot recommend this enough and I have never had any issues other than a recent Windows 8 upgrade which caused livedrive to stop responding every now and again on my own personal PC but it was so clogged with crap it needed a re-install anyway (I just wanted to test the Win 8 Upgrade from a heavily used Win 7 install which went better than I expected). Reinstalled and no issues what-so-ever.

For computer shop owners, this is guaranteed margins with minimal efforts!

(I am not affiliated in anyway, just a very happy Livedrive user and reseller).

Kind regards

Paul

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

What is the smallest package/price that can be done for a business, when you're a reseller? I see you have basically unlimited for what appears to be home user accounts, but do you have as much freedom with businesses? When I say businesses...I mean a client that can be installed on Windows Server and backup a few data folders. I'm not looking for image backups or Exchange or SQL database...just for a product for very small businesses that have a server OS but just a dozen gigs or so of simple data.

 

[JustInspired]

I am a Livedrive reseller and despite finding a few bad reviews online (mostly older ones) I must say I am happy so far.
I've only had it a couple of months and have had no reason to contact support.
I have only about 20 clients so far and they pay pretty much the same price as they would if they bought it as an end user directly from Livedrive.
I might offer a lower priced package to see if I can get more people on board, quicker.

I have not tried it on anything but Vista and Windows 7 so cannot comment on that.

I only offer this to my residential clients as I cannot recommend it for business users. I want to get notifications for failed backups etc and Livedrive doesn't do this.
I am just trialling a Jungle Disk reseller account now for business clients. I also have more faith in Amazon S3 storage than Livedrive's unlimited license and unlimited storage reseller account for a low monthly price. It's nice but makes me nervous.

I have my clients accept our terms and conditions adapted from the Livedrive ones to protect ourselves against liability in case Livedrive lets us down.

 

[DocGreen]

This sounds pretty sweet... what fees are you charged as a reseller?

 

[easytechnician]

What is the smallest package/price that can be done for a business, when you're a reseller? I see you have basically unlimited for what appears to be home user accounts, but do you have as much freedom with businesses? When I say businesses...I mean a client that can be installed on Windows Server and backup a few data folders. I'm not looking for image backups or Exchange or SQL database...just for a product for very small businesses that have a server OS but just a dozen gigs or so of simple data.

Didn't see an answer to this one, sorry if there is one, but to answer the question, if it is a windows Server then I don't see why you would have need of making a specific business allocation for such a small amount of data, rather just the regular backup account (unlimited) and just tell it to keep those directories backed up.

The business packages on LiveDrive reseller is more for the sharing of information like in the instance of the briefcase that creates an L drive for all computers connected, and for having a NAS type environment on the higher end. Ability to edit files online, ftp access etc...

Hope this helps...

 

[Knightsman]

the not alerting to failed backups is the killer for a business application.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Didn't see an answer to this one, sorry if there is one, but to answer the question, if it is a windows Server then I don't see why you would have need of making a specific business allocation for such a small amount of data, rather just the regular backup account (unlimited) and just tell it to keep those directories backed up.

The business packages on LiveDrive reseller is more for the sharing of information like in the instance of the briefcase that creates an L drive for all computers connected, and for having a NAS type environment on the higher end. Ability to edit files online, ftp access etc...

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the feedback.

In doing some further digging around....could you confirm this?
Does the LiveDrive software get installed and run as a service? I had read "no"...and that right there is a big showstopper for me.

Option for backing up system state?

I can deal with no logs...as we have our office manager log into our portal with JungleDisk right now and monitor them all...although I'd prefer a digest/log sent each day for each computer. But for a budget product...we can live with manually monitoring. I can deal with data centers "across the pond"...although if I'm proposing this for business clients entry level backups I may have some clients that don't get a warm 'n fuzzy about their data not being in the conti US.

 

[Knightsman]

We finally decided to start making our own cluster. Our 1st noc will be in place next week, then New York, then Texas. Haven't been able to find a good location in cali yet.

 

[RedFoxComp]

I'm kicking around the idea of Livedrive for basic residential backups. It just seems too good to be true though. $60 a month for unlimited accounts and data!? I don't want to offer a service that is unreliable or folds. I'm so glad I never rolled out Nine's backup offering. They had nothing but problems and discontinued the service after a year.

Anyone know if it supports VSS? failed backup alerts via e-mail?

Also, for anyone that's a reseller how have you found reliability? How is the customer management porta, what can you see there?

I'm currently using Jungledisk but there has been zero development or updates for a long time. It seems rackspace has all but abandoned it.

 

[RedFoxComp]

So, anyone a livedrive reseller and can share their experience so far?

 

[Simmy]

Whilst I haven't seen it mentioned on the livedrive website, there is a volume shadow service for livedrive. The biggest downside is the fact it doesn't notify anyone of failed backups or have the ability to email logs. I would only really recommend it to residential users and make them aware that they need to ensure the program is running and backing up. As for business clients, I only install livedrive if I already monitor their company backups. As a test of the service, I randomly try to recover files from my own livedrive backups and it hasn't failed me yet.

The portal shows the usual info you would expect - customer name, type of service they have, when the service was started, how much data they have backed up. You can limit the amount of backup space, number of machines they can use their account on. You can also suspend/close the account which means you retain full control should they decide not to pay a bill. You can also change their name/email/password.

It's an easy product to sell and does offer people genuine benefits for an affordable price. I stress the importance of checking that the backups are working, trying to recover files themselves so they trust that it works and understand how it works. I also suggest they continue whatever backup routine they were using in the first place.

I've not had to use their support yet. Most of the negative reviews I've seen are from several years ago. I'm hoping they have improved their service since then!

 

[RedFoxComp]

Whilst I haven't seen it mentioned on the livedrive website, there is a volume shadow service for livedrive. The biggest downside is the fact it doesn't notify anyone of failed backups or have the ability to email logs. I would only really recommend it to residential users and make them aware that they need to ensure the program is running and backing up. As for business clients, I only install livedrive if I already monitor their company backups. As a test of the service, I randomly try to recover files from my own livedrive backups and it hasn't failed me yet.

The portal shows the usual info you would expect - customer name, type of service they have, when the service was started, how much data they have backed up. You can limit the amount of backup space, number of machines they can use their account on. You can also suspend/close the account which means you retain full control should they decide not to pay a bill. You can also change their name/email/password.

It's an easy product to sell and does offer people genuine benefits for an affordable price. I stress the importance of checking that the backups are working, trying to recover files themselves so they trust that it works and understand how it works. I also suggest they continue whatever backup routine they were using in the first place.

I've not had to use their support yet. Most of the negative reviews I've seen are from several years ago. I'm hoping they have improved their service since then!

Interesting. I'm on the verge of signing up and I just called their sales team with some questions and there is NO block level deduplication. That would be a killer even for residential customers with larger PST files. He said they are 'looking into it' but there is no hard or even soft date for release.

Simmy, have you not found any problems with that?

 

[Simmy]

Can't say it's been a problem for me, mainly because the online backups run outside of office hours when computers/internet connections are unused. With most people on hosted exchange/IMAP, backing up PST files online isn't that much of an issue either.