Cloud Storages Compared - Part 3

  In Part 1 and Part 2 I look at the pros and cons of a handful of cloud providers. I dive into the nitty gritty to discover the practical differences, annoying behaviors, and other details that can make the experience enjoyable or unpleasant.

 Read on for more info as I continue my test drive. At some point I will do a recap / wrap-up and decide which provider I prefer for my own usage.

JOTTACLOUD UPDATE

 First off, I need to correct myself re. Jottacloud Selective sync capabilities.

Jottacloud does selective sync! - I updated my Part 1 post to reflet that.

In the Jottacloud settings you can select which folders get synced. Great!

JOTTACLOUD FUNCTIONS

Jottacloud has three distinct functions: Backup, Sync and Archives.

Backup looks at folders your device and backup any new file or updated file to the cloud. Backup is also selective as you can select which folders get backed up in the settings. Very cool. You can backup multiple devices. If something happens to your computer, you have a backup in the cloud of the data you've selected to backup.

Sync is for files and folders you wish to share between devices. You can select any folder on your device that you want Jotta to keep in sync. As mentioned earlier, you can select which files and folders get synced within the main sync folder. That's very flexible. 

Archive is self explanatory, and is where files and folders you occasionally use get stored. Archive is in the cloud, but is accessible - not searchable unfortunately - via the desktop app. It is fully searchable on the web app and iOS app, so hopefully Jotta will add the feature in a subsequent update of the macOS app.

I'm liking Jotta more and more. It is accessible in iOS Files as a Location, like kDrive and Drime.

DRIME DRAMA

As I continue testing Drime, something happened on my Mac: For some reason now, only the top folder shows on the local folder and it is empty. The sync of files and folders seem to work, as files I put in the local folder get uploaded to the could just fine, but they disappear from the local folder as soon as that's done.

The other issue I have with Drime, it uploads every single .DS_Store from my Mac, and it gets in the way of the experience.

I wrote to the people at Drime, let see if they come up with a solution to both of these roadblocks.

AND NOW, REAL WORLD SPEED TEST

Cloud Provider	1GB file web app upload speed	Web app drag and drop to upload	Max file size	Web app drag and drop between folders	macOS app
iCloud	12 min	Yes	50 GB	Yes	Yes
OneDrive	18 min	Yes	250GB	Yes	Yes
Mega	12 min (*)	Yes	Unlimited	Yes	Yes
GoogleDrive	12 min	Yes	5TB	Yes	Yes
Internxt	12 min	Yes	40GB	Yes	Yes
kDrive	13 min	Yes	50GB	Yes	Yes
DropBox	11 min	Yes	2TB	Yes	Yes
Drime	11 min	Yes	Unlimited	Yes	Yes
JottaCloud	14 min	Yes	Unlimited	No	Yes
PCloud	12 min	Yes	Unlimited	No	Yes
FolderFort	13 min	Yes	100GB	Yes	No

(*) Mega failed repeatedly on Safari as I was trying to upload the 1GB test file (using drag and drop, and using the upload button.) It uploaded fine on Firefox.

Microsoft OneDrive is the slowest of the bunch. Jottacloud, kDrive, FolderFort are a tad slower than the rest, all clocking around 11-12 min.

I've added FolderFort to this speed test, it looks like a stripped down version of Drime. It has no macOS app, so not interesting to me at the moment. Hopefully they will have one soon.

WEB APP DRAG AND DROP TO UPLOAD

Al providers have this function, which is fast and convenient. On the other hand, not all providers show upload progress clearly. Here is some fun comparison with screen grabs below.

UPLOADING WINDOWS VISUALS

In perfect unreadable Microsoft fashion, I give you OneDrive.

Black progress bar over dark gray line, fantastic.

No info whatsoever except the name of the file and where it's being uploaded.

Plus a useless spinning wheel.

When you click on the expand button, you get a version with improved readability.

Why? Can't we just get that version upfront? Really, Microsoft?...

Jottacloud large contrasty progress bar with data size progress.

Practical, not very beautiful to look at. Does the job.

The Expanded version is really only useful when uploading multiple files.

Drime really good snapshot of the action.

Data size counter, timer. Good job there.

kDrive, not so great display, at least it's contrasty enough.

The progress is shown in the small circle.

The better, larger progress line is actually not one! It just zips endlessly there.

Data size progress indicator wins a point. But overall bad UI from kDrive. 

iCloud clean, unencumbered display.

With the right amount of info, as one would expect from Apple.

Data size counter, no timer though.

Although the progress bar and the wheel are kind of redundant.

Internxt clean, stripped down display, taking after Apple.

Percentage uploaded instead of actual data size.

Except I'm not sure "Processing" is the right word to use here.

DropBox has been at the game for a while and it shows.

Excellent progress bar, extended file info.

Counter, expected time of completion, and more. A winner.

Icedrive minimalistic high visibility "gadget".

Different for sure, not bad actually.

Sync.com not great window.

No progress bar, useless spinning upper wheel.

At least it's readable, with some data counting info.

pCloud clean, stripped down window.

Missing some real time data size and time counter.

Mega excellent panel, another winner.

FolderFort better than Microsoft.

No progress bar, but high contrast UI, and data size upload progress, nice.

Inspired by Google, no doubt.

And finally GoogleDrive clean panel.

Missing size counter, with expected time of completion.

MAX FILE SIZE UPLOAD

Even though some providers have unlimited file size, in practice they have some kind of limitation that kicks in, like slower upload speeds, daily data upload cap, or limitations to the apps themselves.

WEB APP DRAG AND DROP BETWEEN FOLDERS

This is a very intuitive, convenient and fast way to move files and folders around. Most providers do it well, DropBox does it best. Unfortunately JottaCloud nor pCloud have that feature, which makes them very passé. I hope they both implement full drag and drop in the near future.

macOS APP

Being an Apple Mac (and iPhone) user, this is a must for me. All providers on my list, except ForderFort, have a macOS app. As mentioned into Part 1,  the location of the cloud drive differ among providers. They do behave differently, and the available functions are different. I will look into user experience more in details in incoming Part 4.

I will also look into the providers iOS apps, and how they behave. They all have one, including FolderFort, which make the lack of macOS app on their part all the more disappointing.

Stay tuned!

Cloud Storages Compared - Part 2

  In Part 1, I go through the various pros and cons of a select few cloud providers, and what I discover as I'm test using the services. Read Part 1 first and then let's continue our discovery here.

STATUS ICONS

 I have to correct myself about kDrive not visually signaling the difference between offline and online files with status icons, it actually works. I noticed he same phenomena happening with DropBox status icons which are similar looking. Grey cloud icon, file in the cloud only, free checkmark, file on local drive and in the cloud.

 The problem according to Infomaniak (makers of kDrive), is that too many File Providers create confusion on the whole system, and status icons tend to disappear. If you turn other apps File Providers off and on again, the kDrive/DropBox status icons appears. It's kind of random.

 It is weird that this affects every file and folder on the Mac considering each provider should only be concerned by their dedicated sync folder, not the folders of their peers. I suppose Apple has only implemented an all or nothing function at this point. This needs improvements.

 (*) Note that Mega nor Jotta have a cloud only option, so the status icons are only there to indicate upload in progress (red), or file fully uploaded to the cloud (green.)

 (**) pCloud always mounts the whole cloud drive as a virtual drive, with all of its content offline. The status icons serve the same purpose of indicating upload in progress, or file fully uploaded to the cloud.

USER SPECIFIED FOLDER

 iCloud, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, and Internxt do not let user specify a local folder. Instead the sync folder goes to: User/youruser/Library/CloudStorage. You cannot change the location. I don't fully understand this behavior. Google explanation as to how this is supposed to work makes it even more confusing. Depending on your needs, that might work or not for you.

Cloud Provider	Status Icons	User Specified Folder	Movies Preview	Rename Extension	Detailed Info
iCloud	Yes	No	Yes	No	Basic
OneDrive	Yes	No	Bad	No	Basic+
Mega	Yes*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Basic
GoogleDrive	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Basic
Internxt	Yes	No	Limited (***)	No	Basic
kDrive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Basic
DropBox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Best
Drime	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Basic
JottaCloud	Yes (*)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Basic
pCloud	Yes (**)	No	Yes	Yes	Basic

MOVIES PREVIEWS

 Common encoding schemes like h264 are recognized, but others (like ProRes) are not, and so there is no preview for these less common codecs across the board.

 OneDrive previews are an abomination, they look awful like they are over compressed (for the sake of quick access I suppose), which makes the experience borderline useless.

(***)  Internxt systematically fails at previewing most movie files, including ".mov" and common codecs. Only previews that work seem to be h264 ".mp4".

Same thing happens with IceDrive by the way. A h264 ".mov" file will not preview, but renaming the file ".mp4" will preview fine.

The worse is Sync.com, it has no preview for any kind of movie

RENAME EXTENSION (Web App behavior)

 iCloud, OneDrive, Internxt do not allow you to change the extension of a file in the web app. You cannot rename a ".mov" file as ".mp4" for example. I do not like that limitation.

DETAILED INFO

 Most providers only provide basic information, type of file, size, location. OneDrive gives you some useful info like frame size. DropBox is by far the best with info about capturing device, resolution, frame rate, color space, and even codec. All the others are pale in comparison.

For Adjusting macOS Apps Relative Audio Levels There Is FineTune

  FineTune is a well polished sound app that allows for adjusting levels from multiple apps playing audio on your Mac.

 If like me you want to listen to sound effects or music online, and simultaneously playback ProTools, or Audition, but the browser player has no adjustable level and the music is awfully loud, or the level is only adjustable for each item - which is cumbersome, you need an app to adjust relative audio levels between apps. A function sorely lacking on Macs since... Forever. 🍎 Bad Apple!

 That's where FineTune takes over. Adjust the relative level of Firefox to 50% and you now can hear your ProTools session properly. Wonderful!

 It can also adjust outputs levels, and has a graphical EQ available for each source. And it remembers your settings.

 It is similar to Rogue Amoeba's SoundSource, only it's free. Available on Github. If you like FineTune, you can buy Ronit a Kofi here.

Batch Convert Audio Files With iZotope RX

  You can batch convert audio files, including old ".sd2" files with the help of iZotope RX, including RX7 which I own.

 In RX7, select Window/Batch Processing. The batch processing window opens:

Drag and drop a dummy file in the "Input Files" section.

 Add a Processing step by clicking the + button. Select Apply: "Resample" from the list.

 Select With: Preset, or a custom settings to your choice. I chose 48k.

 Note that you can add as many Processing steps as you like, all the processing within RX are present: De-click, Normalize, etc. Save file as: your choice, I chose BWF. Set output options allows to select the destination, and the bitrate, I chose 24bit.

 Rename the batch process to your liking, I named it "Convert to BWF 48k 24bit". Now you can delete your dummy file from the list, the batch process is ready to use. You can create as many as you want and they will be listed there next time you open RX.

 Drag from the Finder to add the files you want to batch convert to the Input files section. Press Process! And let it rip!

Avid Hates You - "idk.app" Is Damaged And Can't Be Opened

  Avid hates you, Avid likes to eat your soul, Avid is bloated software, Avid is too old school even for an old fart like me.

What the F*&k is this Avid?

 Not only your software is way too big, gobbling over 8GB of space on my drive, but your stupid installer is installing crap apps, or installing shit so wrong that macOS has to block it.

jdk.app BLOCKED!

 Seriously what the F*&k Avid? Media Composer is the only software that you have to battle every single time you fire it up. No peace ever with MC. After battling it for hours it might work fine for a few days, or a few weeks if you're lucky. But as soon as you change anything on your system, god forbid update anything, you are a target for Avid ire. MC will break, somehow, somewhere.

 I only use Media Composer and Pro Tools from Avid, I have no idea how other Avid software works. Compared to MC, Pro Tools is much more stable, but as you probably know, Avid acquired Pro Tools from Digidesign, and in my mind it has much better bones.

 Why can't Avid make Media Composer more stable and better is a mystery to me. 😑

Which App Is Best To Remove Telecine Pulldown In 2026?

  If you have to deal with pulldown removal in 2026, there is one app that does it best.

 It's not Final Cut Pro, it's not Apple Compressor, it's not Premiere, nor Adobe Media Encoder, it's not Avid Media Composer, it's not After Effects.

 For those of you who do not know what that's about, pulldown is a trick used when transferring film to tape, in the old days of telecine transfers.

 In order to see films that are 24 progressive frames per second on Television which used to be 30 interlaced (or 60 (1/2 frame "fields") per seconds, the telecine process repeated some frames in a predetermined sequence, usually in a 3-2 pattern.

 If you want to know more about telecine, read this great entry Telecine Explained.

 For example the film sequence of 24 frames:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24

Was transferred as follow in a 60 frames sequence:

1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,5,6,6,7,7,7,8,8,9,9,9,10,10,11,11,11,12,12,13,13,13,14,14,15,15,15,16,16,17,17,17,18,18,19,19,19,20,20,21,21,21,22,22,23,23,23,24,24

 Now since the complete frame consists of 2 interlaced fields, the TV had some frames composed of identical fields / image, and other frames composed of different fields / image.

 In our example, TV frame 1 is composed of film frames 1,1 - identical. But TV frame 2 is composed of film frames 1,2 - different. TV frame 3 is film 2,3 - different, and TV frame 4 is film frames 3, 3 - identical.

 When you want to go from the telecine 30fps interlaced back to the 24fps progressive, you have to perform pulldown removal = removing the duplicated fields, AND reassembling the complete film frames in the proper order.

 The software (or yourself if operating manually) has to recognize the proper sequence, pull and reassemble the proper fields into frames. Which is easily said, but because of the nature of video can be a headache.

 For example you might not have a (3-2) 1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4 sequence, and instead have a (2-3) 1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4,4,4 one. If the software expects duplicated fields in a 3,2,3,2 sequence and instead gets a 2,3,2,3 sequence it will fail. Or the sequence might start on a random field, and then it's not 3-2 nor 2-3, but some bastardized version thereof.

 In addition, there are other flavors / combinations of pulldown sequences that might or might not be recognized properly.

 After Effects has the most extensive pattern recognition and manual override for removing pull-down, but it is nevertheless prone to failure.

 Back in the days of Final Cut Pro Legacy (Classic Versions 1-7), and Final Cut Studio (R.I.P), we had Cinema Tools! That was the perfect app to remove pulldown. And it did that instantly, writing the resulting file in a matter of seconds. Alas, unless you kept a old Mac running an old OS with the old tools installed, no more Cinema Tools for us post pros.

 In 2026 the one app that does a great job is... DaVinci Resolve! Click "Remove Pulldown" in the clip attributes, drop your 29,97 interlaced clip into a 24 progressive timeline, done. Render clean, error free, un-telecined file.

 These are the settings in DVR 20.3:

 Now this is for a single one go telecine transfer where the sequence won't change. If dealing with a telecine, or multiple telecine files that have been edited into a single movie resulting in the sequences being broken multiple times because the cuts have been made randomly, then I don't know how it would behave. I assume it will fail, but I would have to test that theory for myself. That's for another day.

 If you have a favorite way to deal with removing pulldown, let me know in the comments.

Adobe Creative Cloud App Libraries Not Syncing

 If you have an error message in Adobe Creative Cloud App about libraries not syncing on macOS, you might need to grant CC Full Disk access.

In macOS Tahoe 26.3, Go to System Preferences, Privacy and Security, Full Disk Access.

It's likely that Creative Cloud .app is missing from the list of authorized apps, or the slider is off / not authorized.

Either turn the slider on for CC, or add CC (click the + button at the bottom of the list) and select Creative Cloud.app which is in Boot drive/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative/ACC.

CC needs to restart and now that it has Full Disk access your libraries files should sync properly.

Click on the cloud icon within CC to verify the proper syncing.