TyphoonTools is a system of 3 services rolled into one, a trend that is trying to become the new path that more traditional single-system services have to take. When we talk about online file storage services, more experienced users will immediately think of online services that have a lot of different features in one service. This can be a boon or a bane, really, depending on your specific use for the service.

How so? Take it this way, if you only really want to store and share files over the web and not fiddle with so many programs and services, then the traditional setup will be most appropriate for you as they provide all the functionalities of letting you store data online, which you can access through any device with a web browser and connection. You can also share the link or files to friends or to a work group, effectively allowing for remote collaboration. But if you are looking for a more specialized set of services broken down to various programs, then the newer more specific approach would work best for you.

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As was earlier mentioned, TyphoonTools is an example of the latter, with three services that make up an online file storage and sending service. The package includes Typhoon Backup, Typhoon Drive and Typhoon Upload, all of which you need to download and install into your system. Before we delve deeper into what these tools are, let us take a quick look at what Typhoon Tools has to offer.

So let’s talk about storage first, the main thing to look at when it comes to these types of services.  You get 100GB for $9.95 per month, which is pretty good when compared to other services that charge at least 15 to 20 dollars for the same online file storage allocation.

The Max File Size is the biggest size of any file that you can upload to the service. Delivery notification informs you if the file(s) that you have sent have been downloaded, a service that is increasingly becoming popular among online file storage services recently as this confirms the receipt and use of the file.  You can add users to your TyphoonTools account, letting another person use the account, with all of the capabilities and access that is accorded you, the primary user.

We can get into the details of the other services as we discuss the three services that Typhoon Tools offers.

Typhoon Backup

This service is the most basic of all the services provided by TyphoonTools. It lets you backup specific folders to either a physical drive connected to your system or to Typhoon Backup online storage. One good thing about the service is that you can install the program in multiple computers and set up your backup tasks for each using your Typhoon Backup login. There is a helpful little Wizard that you can use to make setting up the backup task a whole lot easier.

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You can also setup how many versions of each file you want the system to keep. With the Wizard, you can do up to 14 but when you go into the Advanced Tools window of the software, you can set a number higher than that. File versioning, the act of keeping every “version” of a file after it is changed and save is an industry standard for online file storage services. This is a great plus for those projects that many people would be working in, so that any erroneous edits and saves can be solved by going back in time, sort of, as you can access the same file a version or two ago. This saves us a lot of time and confusion as you do not need to save multiple copies of the same file, it is done automatically for you. This proves valuable when you work on a single project with many people dipping their hands into the files, increasing the probability of human error.

Typhoon Drive and Typhoon Backup use the same interface, making it easy to switch from one service to the next. You can also add folders to your backup tasks through the interface or add specific files through the Windows Explorer tie in feature of the program, which I will talk about later on.

As you can see from the image above, you can modify your backup options, changing the Backup Drive to a physical drive, change settings for the vile versioning service and a bunch of other options. The maximum file size, though, is dictated by the plan that you have. One good feature of Typhoon Backup is the Copies and Delete minimum and maximum ages. What this basically means is that copies will be generated only after a specified time, in my case, 60 minutes, so any changes in the file done in under an hour of the last version will not initiate another version. Also, you can set up the system to automatically delete versions of files after a specific time, in my case, the system cannot delete versions newer than an hour but it will automatically delete those more than 30 days old.

The program runs in the background of your system as well, integrating itself to your Windows Explorer, so that you have options when you right click on files on your system.

I tried hard to find a File Recovery option on the Typhoon Backup but I couldn’t find it in the program. I found it instead when I right clicked a file. Doing so will take you back to the program’s interface and give you a bunch of options.

All in all, Typhoon Backup is a very well rounded service that allows you to effectively, and more importantly easily, backup folders and files to an online service. The online access to the files you backed up are available through the Typhoon Tools website.

TyphoonTools Online Access

There are a lot of things that you can do here, but let’s take one particular thing out of the way first. Looking back at the table above, it is important to note that with the free trial, you are supposed to be able to add another user who can access your Typhoon Tools account. I tried doing that to see how it worked but ended up being prompted that my account doesn’t support additional users. What a letdown.

Access to your files through their website is pretty simple, but the only real thing that you can do with the files when you log on is to email the link to a friend. You are not given an option to get a direct download link, as you might have noticed in the service detail table in the beginning of this piece. But there is a way around that, and we will tackle that later.

From the website, you can send a file, get support, manage your account and sub-accounts or manage your drop box. What is this drop box? This service allows you to give out a webpage for people to send you files through. This works well if the file that you are supposed to be sent is large and goes over the limits of free email services such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail. People can simply go to your website and upload files to it, eliminating the size restrictions of email.

Typhoon Drive

This service is the hard drive emulator part of TyphoonTools. What this does is that it gives you a system drive that you can simply drag and drop files or folders that you want to backup to.

This is really convenient as it allows you to backup files on the fly and not have to startup the program each time you want to backup. A really great thing about Typhoon Drive is that its Wizard and program allows you to set up the bandwidth usage of the program. This is really an upside especially if you have the service at work and at home or in multiple computers. Let me walk you through the Wizard and the options available to you.

The first step is to choose the number of computers that you will use the service with. The ability to use a single account on many computers allows you to integrate all of the computers that you use and manage all the backup tasks that you have for all of them with ease.

The next step is to choose the bandwidth allocation for Typhoon Drive. This basically means that backup services and file versioning will be allotted a limited bandwidth, letting you work faster when you need it. As you can see, the options are really easy and are broken down smartly, if you have the program for work, you can choose to throttle the bandwidth allocation during working hours. For your home computer, throttle down the nighttime bandwidth so you can use the internet without having speed issues. Or you can limit the bandwidth for Typhoon Drive all the time, making backups a bit slower and less real-time, but lessening the interference and impact of the program to your internet use. If you are looking for a personalized schedule, you really will not need it. Read on to know why.

This next thing, Smart Speed, is pretty self explanatory, really. Like it says in the image, when you move your mouse, a sign of activity in your system, Typhoon Drive automatically throttles down the bandwidth, ensuring that you every time you use your computer, you get the connection speed you are used to. As mentioned above, this option negates the need for a personalized throttle down schedule as it is automatic.

The next option is for system cache. Again, this is pretty straight forward as the cache you allocate for Typhoon Drive will determine the access time of the program, the bigger the cache size, the quicker changes made to files can be synchronized with the online backup and improves the file versioning service, but slows down you system(s)’s performance.

Typhoon Upload

This is the sharing utility of Typhoon Tools. Much like other services, it lets you send an email that contains the link to a folder or file to anyone.

The really good thing about this service is that it can sync emails from your email service, like Outlook.

You can import your contacts from many online email service providers as well, if you have no paid email application. This makes sending files so much easier as you do not have to copy or type in email addresses. Their service works much like Outlook where in you can send to a group or search your contacts for the email address.

Earlier, I talked about the workaround on the direct link to the file. This capability is not available for the free account, but you can always just send the file or folder to yourself and you will get this message.

Notice that the Visit Download Page is a hyperlink, simply copy the link and you have the direct link to the file or folder, even with just a free account. Like Typhoon Backup, Typhoon Upload integrates with Windows Explorer as well.

This allows you to send files on the fly, a really convenient capability.

Typhoon Upload is the sharing side of TyphoonTools, rounding out the three pronged approach of the company. An approach that might work for a specific kind of person, but can be too complicated for some.

Support

Support for TyphoonTools is pretty limited. You have only two real options, you can submit a ticket or refer to their Knowledge Base, a FAQs like page that has the common questions about the service.

There is an obvious lack of more real time support. In a world where chat support and 24 hour customer service hotlines are not just preferred, but are actually pretty common, an online file storage service without these is way behind the times. Think about it, you use their service to make sure that all your files are kept safe and current. A lot of us, especially the target market of this service, work with computers and rely heavily on the availability of these files. If something unfortunate happens and you computer crashes and, at the same time, encounter problems with TyphoonTools, all you can do is submit a ticket, which take at least 24 hours to get resolution. You cannot talk or chat with a technical support representative, the ticketing system is really a hyped-up email conversation, with you needing to wait for responses and give out details of the problem that the tech support guys need one message at a time.

Price

The one thing that really turns me off with this service is that their Silver plan is a pretty good service with all around value. You get 100GB for $9.95 a month with all the necessary services. But as you go higher the increment table, you essentially pay twice the amount for only really twice the space at 200GB. Now, you do not see this often as it is a common practice by other services to offer larger space allocation, and not a direct proportional ratio as you go up to the more costly services. With TyphoonTools, you basically pay $10 for a hundred GB. And to charge $49.95 for the software is ridiculous since you can download them directly from the site. If you do purchase the software standalone product, all you get are the same functions as that of the free version, a glaring marketing error, if there was ever one.

So really, only get the system if you are sure that your data storage needs will not exceed 100GB since this is the plan that has the best value. If you need more space, there are other services out there with not only a more competitive price, but better bang for your buck.

Wrap Up

Typhoon Tools is all about making things easier for the user. The interface is really user friendly and Graphic User Interface dominated. The services work well on each own and the integration with Windows is fantastic. But I have to gripes about this service: one is that it four programs run when you have all three programs are running. You have Typhoon Drive, Upload, Backup and their central program manager. Even though Typhoon Drive can throttle down its bandwidth usage, all of these four programs still impacted my system’s response time, as well as my internet bandwidth quite significantly. Second thing I really don’t appreciate is the pricing. Again, if you will go over 100GB, I would consider looking elsewhere.

Is TyphoonTools a good online file storage service? Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the automated processes of each program is delightful, but no because you can get comparable services and even better storage space allocation for cheaper prices and less system and connection impact. I can see TyphoonTools software running well in an office environment or for a person who works in an industry that requires him or her to have a central environment with all the files from different computers, but honestly, the 300BG maximum allocation nullifies this scenario as that person, or an office, will simply have more than 300GB of data.

What am I saying here is that in the $9.95 Silver plan is great for a moderate user but any requirement higher than that, the upsides fall away pretty fast.

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