Free storage in the cloud with a server in Germany: We show you online storage that follows German privacy laws. Including a tip from an insider and a service that gives you 30 GB for free.
So online storage is a
Online storage, also called “cloud storage,” is useful. You can get to your files from any desktop PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone via the Internet. You can also share these files with your friends and coworkers. Just put the pictures from the holiday on the cloud and send the link to your friends. Or, you can save your favorite songs as MP3s in the cloud so you can listen to them anywhere and at any time without taking up too much space on your phone. The top:
Cloud storage from Germany that is free
Most storage in the cloud is free. Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox are not required. No, Germany has a lot of free cloud storage options, like E-Post Cloud, Magenta Cloud, Web.de, and MyTuxedo. We show you the best online storage or cloud storage services with servers in Germany. At least the basic version of these cloud storage services is free. They have to follow the data protection rules in Germany.
For comparison, so you can figure out how big the online storage is with the following German companies: Google Drive has 15 GB of storage space by default, which includes the space used by Gmail. Dropbox only has 2 GB, but there are ways to make it bigger. Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s OneDrive both offer 5 GB of free cloud storage.
E-Post Cloud is free for up to 30 GB
The E-Post Cloud from Deutsche Post is a free cloud service with servers in Germany. But this online storage sees itself more as a service that goes along with e-mail, which is like digital letter mail. Simply put, e-mail means that you write a letter on your computer and send it digitally to the post office. The post office then prints it out and sends it to the recipient the old-fashioned way, by postman. You have to pay for this service, of course.
Still, the online storage offer that comes with the E-Postbrief is interesting because the online cloud storage is free and huge: you can use up to 5 GB of online storage. However, if you identify yourself to POSTID free of charge with your ID card , this will result in 30 GB of free online storage. If you also use the extra fax and email functions, you will get 100 megabytes more space to store things. Swiss Post says that TLS/SSL encryption will protect against unauthorized access.
Compared to other companies, that’s an unusual amount (see below). Access can be gained from PCs and, with the right apps, from iOS and Android devices as well. Each file, though, can’t be bigger than 50 MB.
Magenta Cloud Free from Telekom gives everyone 3 GB of free data.
With the Magenta Cloud, Deutsche Telekom gives anyone in Germany who wants it free online storage space. This Magenta Cloud Free offers 3 GB of online storage space. So, you don’t need to be a Telekom customer to use the Telekom Cloud for free. All you need is a Telekom login. If you are a Telekom customer, you get 15 GB of online storage instead of 3 GB. This is called Magenta Cloud S.
Sign up for free with Telekom here. The only requirement: you have to register with a free email address.
For a monthly fee, you can greatly increase the amount of storage space and buy extra features.
Telekom’s ads say that their servers are in Germany and that German data protection laws are in place. Also, both downloads and uploads, as well as emails, use AES 128-bit SSL encryption, but not 256-bit. There are apps for both iOS and Android, and Deutsche Telekom also protects the mailbox from spam and viruses.
At least 2 GB of space is free on Web.de and GMX.
If you have a web.de email address, you can use the free online storage that comes with it. Every Freemail user automatically gets 2 GB of free cloud storage space.
Access for uploading and downloading is through the web front end, which is probably used for the free mail service anyway.
You can put photos, videos, music files, and documents in the cloud and share them with friends. Apps are available for Windows PCs, iPhones, Android phones, and Windows Phones.
After the first upload, the 2 GB of online storage space grows by another 2 GB. If you also use one of the apps for Android, iPhone, or iPad for the Web.de memory, you get another 2 GB of free memory. There is also a Windows desktop client.
Isn’t that enough? 50 GB of storage costs EUR 0.99 per month, and 100 GB costs EUR 1.99 per month. For EUR 9.99 per month, you can add up to 1 TB. Members of a club can save money.
The Web.de servers are located in the data center of the parent company 1und1. They are in Germany and have to follow German laws about how to protect personal information.
By the way, GMX is part of the 1und1 group, just like Web.de/Freemail. So, what was said above about web.de is also true for GMX’s online storage, which is called Mediacenter. Of course, GMX is also an online store from Germany with German data protection regulations.
Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, is supported by both GMX and Web.de. However, only via authentication app and not via SMS.
Mytuxedo, a Linux expert, draws people in with 10 GB of free space.
Tuxedo is a company from Augsburg that has been offering PCs and notebooks with pre-installed Linux distributions for a long time. Tuxedo also sells computers that can run both Linux and Windows. They have been doing this for a while.
The best thing about Tuxedo machines is that they use their own scripts to make sure that Linux runs well on the computers and that all function keys can be used. So, when you turn on the device, the hardware and Linux OS work perfectly together, and you can start working right away, as our long-term test with two Tuxedo notebooks shows. Our hardware tests of Tuxedo devices also show that the user benefits from all of these optimization steps.
With WebFAI from Tuxedo , you can reset the Tuxedo notebook exactly to the delivery status and take over all presettings and adjustments or optimization measures from Tuxedo. All the information on the laptop or PC will be erased, so you need to set everything up ahead of time.
What WebFAI is for:
- Reset to factory settings a Tuxedo computer that has been damaged on the software side and can no longer be fixed.
- Try a different Linux distribution, taking all of Tuxedo’s customization scripts and configuration tools with you.
- WebFAI is free to use. Test: We had to use Webfai before, you can read our experience report here: Webfai – Defective Linux system on Tuxedo computer, like new .
With servers in Konigsbrunn and Falkenstein, this is a cloud service.
The Augsburg, Germany-based company Tuxedo has set up its own cloud storage service called Mytuxedo as an extra bonus for anyone who buys a PC or laptop from them. It has been activated since October 19, 2015 and is available to all Tuxedo customers. Customers of Tuxedo can store up to 10 GB of information online for free. Nextcloud is the software that Mytuxedo uses.
The Mytuxedo servers are in Falkenstein, Palatinate, at a place called Hetzner, which is a well-known hoster. There is also a backup server in Augsburg at Tuxedo’s headquarters. Tuxedo advertises the fact that its servers are in Germany and that the Federal Republic of Germany has strict rules about data protection.
When you buy a PC or laptop from Tuxedo, you get 10 GB of free storage on MyTuxedo. The access code (Reg-ID) can be shared at any time, so if a non-Tuxedo customer gets the code from a Tuxedo customer, they can also buy storage space on Mytuxedo. Each Tuxedo device comes with a card with a registration number that can be used to sign up for Mytuxedo. You can sign up at https://www.mytuxedo.de/ and make an account with this number. The 10 GB is always free to sign up for and use.
Anyone with more than one Tuxedo device, like an Infinitybook, can combine the 10 GB of storage for each device into a single account. And, for example, if you have a Tuxedo PC and a Tuxedo laptop, you get 20 GB of free online storage.
Tip: Customers who have already bought from Tuxedo can ask for a key for up to three years after the purchase. So, if you bought a Tuxedo 36 months ago, all you need to do is send Tuxedo an email with the order number and they will send you an access code.
Here’s how Mytuxedo works:
At first, you can get to Mytuxedo through the web front end. The Mytuxedo Cloud’s browser theme is made so that it can also be seen on mobile devices. Tuxedo also has Nextcloud clients for Windows, MacOS, and, of course, Linux. You can also download an app for Android or iOS. Important: You won’t find the apps under “Mytuxedo,” but you will find them under “Nextcloud.” During the short test, we had no trouble installing the apps, connecting them to our Mytuxedo storage, and quickly uploading files.
You can upload up to 999 files at once using Browser Upload. Tuxedo says that there are no limits on the types of files that can be used to upload.
Most of the time, files and folders can’t be shared with the public and won’t be. Tuxedo would like to stop its service from being used for file sharing. So there will be no way to upload a file and then post a public link somewhere. However, the possibility of releasing files for other Mytuxedo users is available.
A calendar, contact management and an image database are part of the equipment, an existing mail account can also be linked to Mytuxedo and then queried via the web front end. There is also an overview of all the user’s activities. A task planner and a password memory including a password generator complete the offer. Tuxedo has also integrated an MP3 player in order to be able to stream MP3s directly via the browser in addition to videos and images.
A simple online word processor that generates cross-platform ODT format files is also available. So you can write and save text files directly on Mytuxedo. Documents can be shared.
Deleted files end up in a trash can. From there you can restore them. The files remain in the recycle bin for 30 days. The trash can can occupy a maximum of 50 percent of the available storage space. Anything beyond that is erased by age.
The integration of Mytuxedo via Webdav is also possible. The backups are GPG-encrypted, data is transferred via SSL. Encrypted hard drives (LUKS1, 256bit key size) are intended to ensure security against hackers.
The virus scanner ClamAV automatically scans the files both during upload and download and automatically prevents the upload if it is found. This is especially important if you have also connected the service to a Windows computer with automatic synchronization. This is how you prevent the distribution of malware.
In addition, ClamAV scans all files for viruses every night. If a virus is found, Tuxedo will automatically receive a message that a virus was found in user account XY.
Tuxedo then contacts the user and tells them to check their files. In the future, an automatically generated email will warn the user, with the name of the infected file being mentioned in the email.
Mydrive – little storage space for free
The Swiss company Softronics Communication AG operates the online storage Mydrive. According to the company, its servers are located in Switzerland. Access Mydrive from your browser via the web front end. Images, audio and video files can be displayed directly in the browser. With WebDAV you can also connect your MyDrive storage as a local hard drive. There are also apps for iOS and Android for Mydrive.
The basic version of Mydrive is free and financed by advertising, but the makers are happy about donations. However, the storage space in the basic version is very tight, just 512 MB is available for free. In addition, only one guest user is possible with the free version of Mydrive.
If you need more than 512 GB of storage space and don’t want to see any ads, you can use Mydrive Pro; prices start at 6 cents for 1 GB per month. Then there is also a complete access log of all actions of the last 3 months. You can also allow more guest users for an additional charge.
According to its own statements, Mydrive backs up users’ files several times a day. The data transmission goes through an AES-256-bit SSL encryption. FTP access is not possible. There is no support for the free version.
pCloud – 10 GB free, server location selectable
The cloud storage provider pCloud gives its users the choice when registering whether the data should be stored on servers in the European Union or in the USA. Thus, the pCloud servers are not subject to German data protection regulations, but are subject to the European GDPR.
With pCloud you get 10 GB for free , which is significantly more than some other providers.
Finally, some fee-based providers
Strato Hidrive – paid alternative
Strato has a paid Hidrive offering, with prices starting at €3 per month for 250 GB of online storage with a one-year contract.
If you want to use Hidrive with your smartphone or tablet, you can download the Hidrive app for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and the Windows Store app for tablets and computers with Windows 8 or higher. There is also a desktop client for Windows and macOS. Some apps are available for network hard drives in the App Store.
Hornet drive
Another cloud storage provider from Germany is, for example , Hornetdrive (Hornet is the English word for hornet) from Hornetsecurity GmbH in Hanover. In addition to storage in secure data centers in Germany, this service also offers automatic AES 256-bit encryption and should therefore be considered fairly secure. Prices start at EUR 2.38 per month for 10 GB of online storage.
Download: Client for Hornetdrive
You can use Hornetsecurity’s cloud storage with the Hornetdrive client software. This allows you to manage your files in online storage, configure the folder structure and the access rights for your stored files. If you share a file with several end devices and users, Hornetdrive always synchronizes this file so that all users have the current version. The files are stored encrypted both locally on your end device and online. Transmission is protected by 256-bit AES encryption.
You can try Hornetdrive with GB online storage for free for 30 days.
1blu – good value for money
The Berlin company 1blu also offers online storage. The 1blu drive. The data is stored at 1blu Drive in a data center in Frankfurt am Main and is therefore subject to German data protection guidelines.
The regular prices for online storage at 1blu start at 1.90 euros per month. The range of services offered by 1blu Home is impressive: 25 GB, WebDAV, web frontend, SSL, FTP, apps for iOS and Android and much more are available for just EUR 1.90. From time to time, 1blu offers its online storage even cheaper.
In the summer of 2015, however, 1blu was the victim of a hacker attack in which the access data for customer login, mail accounts, FTP, MySQL, 1blu drive and personal customer data were stolen from many customers. PC-WELT operates a 1blu account for test purposes. Just a few days after this hack, we received several spam emails a day to our private email address stored with 1blu, at times there were more than ten spam emails a day. Until shortly after the 1blu hack, we didn’t receive any spam emails at all to this email address. Even if the causal connection cannot be proven, there is reason to suspect that our email address was stolen during the 1blu hack and sold on. However, the number of spam mails has long since fallen back to 0.
Driveonweb
Driveonweb offers various cloud storage packages. With DriveOnWeb Free , there was also a free solution with 5 GB and two users for a long time; meanwhile you can no longer register for it. Here the servers are certified according to ISO 27001 and the data center is in Germany. File transfer to and from storage is secured on all clients with AES 256-bit SSL encryption.
There is a shared folder for sharing content with other users. The DriveOnWeb account can be integrated as an additional drive in Windows Explorer. However, clients for Mac OS or Linux are missing. The Windows client runs on Windows 8 and 10 on 32- and 64-bit systems, respectively. There is also an iOS app. There is also a web front end. By the way, there was no support for the free version.
Extra tip: Oddly enough, the whistleblower Edward Snowden, who became world famous for his NSA revelations, recommends a US storage service of all things, namely SpiderOak. This service encrypts all data before it is uploaded by the client and does not store the decryption password in plain text on the servers. SpiderOak can be tested free of charge for 60 days.
Tips for choosing the right cloud storage provider
So much for our tips on recommended cloud storage from Germany. And now some basic considerations when choosing a cloud storage provider.
Cloud storage: Store particularly important files offline
However, this freedom has its price: Your data is stored on third-party servers and is smuggled through the Internet when uploading and downloading. Therefore you should a) not store really “essential” files on the web at all. Instead, make backups of it on external hard drives and USB sticks and store them in different locations. Of course, you encrypt the data carriers or files.
Strong encryption important for cloud storage
All other files that you often want or need to use on the go or on different devices can be stored in cloud storage. But be sure to encrypt all important files before uploading. When encrypting, you should make sure that ideally AES-256-bit is used. Important: The data must already be encrypted on the user’s client. And the cloud operator must not have a key to decrypt the data.
Secure password and two-factor authentication
Use a strong password to access your cloud storage. If you use strong encryption and a strong password, then your data should be safe from unauthorized use based on current judgment.
