Internxt Review

In this section I will be signing-up to Internxt, installing the desktop drive software and making use of the various cloud services including the built-in backup tools and the file sharing functionality for myself. This all begins at the official Internxt website where a 10GB free account is available for all new users to the service!

Signing-up to Internxt

Signing-up to Internxt begins at the official Internxt website where a very generous 10GB free account is available to all users of the service. All that is required initially is an active email address and a strong password to get started, a good starting sign that Internxt is committed to only keeping the bare minimum personal information to maintain an account and protecting user privacy in the process!

NB – When signing up to Internxt (using the form seen above) remember to keep your password extra safe! This is due to the service making use of zero-knowledge encryption which means Internxt as an organisation have no access to your data and won’t be able to restore access should you forget it!

Upon creating a new account, the service will automatically take us to the Internxt web portal, a central place where we can easily manage files as well as access the other parts of the service including backups, shared links and also download the desktop software (which can be used across Windows, Linux and MacOS devices).

Clicking the cog icon (found towards the top right of the page) is where the Internxt account itself can be managed:

As can be seen above, Internxt does not require too much configuration nor personal information from its users to operate. In-turn, this means the system is, more-or-less, ready to operate from the moment of first login with additional settings including adding a name and verifying an email address all optional thereafter.

Another important aspect of the Internxt account management section is found under the “Security” tab, it is here that (if required) the account password can be changed and multi-factor authentication (2FA) can be set-up on the account.

It is also important to note a very important aspect to this service is also available on this page, this is the backup key which can be exported for safe keeping and can be used to help recover an account should the main password ever be forgotten. Be sure to note you will not be able to recover data should an Internxt password be forgotten (or this backup key not been used), this is due to the highly secure zero-knowledge encryption employed throughout the service meaning only the holder of the password can decrypt any data!

Downloading the Internxt Desktop Software

With the sign-up and initial configuration process complete, it is time to have a look at the Internxt desktop software which makes accessing the cloud storage from within a Windows, Linux or MacOS desktop device really easy!

A download of just over 65MB at the time of writing this review, this desktop software is a fairly quick download meaning I had the installer running on my own PC just a few moments later. Installation was very quick and required no user input up to and including the final step which is logging into the Internxt service.

Once logged into the Internxt drive application it will, by default, select the current users profile folder (within Windows, as per my testing) as the default Internxt folder and then minimise itself to the Windows system tray whilst in operation. To open up the drive application for, amongst other things, viewing file upload progress and changing preferences can be done by clicking on the Internxt icon in the (bottom right) system tray.

Once in the preferences window, as can be seen above, we can see this default location used as the Internxt synchronisation folder and change it to another folder should we wish. We can also (from the same screen) change the current device name as well as specify that the Internxt software be started automatically with Windows should this be required (something which is, strangely, turned off by default).

Other settings available within the desktop app include those under the account tab (for logging out of the app and viewing the account storage quotas) and the backup settings (which I will be looking at in the next section of this review).

Backup and Synchronisation

Having seen what is a fairly straightforward and easy to install piece of desktop software in action, it is now time to see how well it handles the core task of file synchronisation between the chosen sync folder and the Internxt cloud. In addition to this, I will also be looking at the additional backup functionality which becomes available when installing and running the Internxt desktop software.

As can be seen above, when adding files to the nominated synchronisation folder, Internxt will automatically encrypt said files on the device (before transmission) and then synchronise said files with the cloud storage service. In-turn, adding files to this specified sync destination via the web-based interface will also encrypt the data and then automatically synchronise (download) the new items to the device with the software installed.

Moving on from file synchronisation and another interesting addition to the Internxt desktop software is that of the backup client, this can initially be configured using the “Backup” tab found within the desktop software’s settings pages as can be seen below:

One of the first steps in configurating this backup is checking the “Back up your folders and files” checkbox to enable the backup service and then, just below this, clicking the “Select folders to backup” button to specify what will get backed-up.

With files and folders now selected for inclusion in the backup, the final step is to optionally chose a scheduled delay for running the backup automatically or to run it manually by clicking on the “Backup now” button. Should the schedule be set, the Internxt desktop software can run backups automatically every 6 or 12 hours or, alternatively, daily by selecting the chosen value from the applicable drop-down box.

When backups are running, we can see some information on the backup tab itself as to the status of the current operation, something which can also be seen on the main sys tray window (seen below):

Once the backup has completed, any files included in the set can be seen and recovered via the main Internxt web portal, this process is as simple as navigating to the “Backups” section from the left side menu and then selecting the required device from the list:

Unfortunately, despite this backup service been easy to set-up and functioning well overall, one of the main downsides to this particular implementation is that only a single copy of each file is saved with no option to specify customised historic file versioning periods (as is the case with most other backup software). This means, essentially, only the most recent version of a file is stored (i.e., “backed-up”) and reverting to older versions of files is not possible!

NB – Whilst this “sync only” style of backup does help protect against common data loss causes such as hard drive failure or lost devices, it will most likely provide only limited protection against issues pertaining to malware and ransomware (given that any infected files could become the one and only version of a backed-up file when taking such an approach). For more information on how backup software can help to protect data against malware, be sure to read our guide on how backup software can help in protecting against malware!

Overall, despite missing historic versioning functionality as of the time of writing, this backup component remains a great addition to the Internxt desktop software and via the easy to configure schedule can help users ensure their data is always protected. The main synchronisation functionality itself is also very easy to set-up and, once put in place, seemed to work flawlessly during my own testing.

Secure File Sharing

With the desktop software now covered, one of the other core features of Internxt is the secure file sharing functionality which is built into the service and easily accessible via the web-based file management portal. To share a file or folder in this portal, simply select the item(s) to be shared and then select the link icon form the top right menu to open up the sharing set-up box (as can be seen below):

As can be seen above, whilst setting up the sharing link, one of the core features available is that of setting up a secure password to ensure only those with the password can gain access to the file!

Smartphone Apps

In addition to the desktop synchronisation software mentioned above, Internxt also provide smartphone apps for accessing the service via both iOS and Android devices!

Whilst these smartphone apps can be very useful for accessing any files stored upon the Internxt cloud whilst out and about, they also feature automatic camera upload functionality meaning smartphone users can securely and automatically back-up and photos taken on their device to the Internxt cloud!