Snapdisk: South African startup enters cloud storage race

We are spoilt for choice when it comes to cloud storage solutions, but we’ve yet to see an emerging market company truly stick it to big name services such as Carbonite, Mozy, DropBox , SugarSync, Box and Wuala. South African company, Motillion, wants to change that with Snapdisk, a secure cloud storage and file sharing service for PC, Mac, and mobile devices.

Depending on the package you choose, Snapdisk allows you to schedule backups — think Carbonite — and sync your files across multiple devices — think DropBox.

Snapdisk aims to set itself apart by competing on ease of use and price. “We wanted to develop a cloud storage service that is much easier to use than anything else currently available online and offer it at a much better price point” says Shaun Adler, co-founder of Motillion.

Having gone through the setup process myself, I can attest to Snapdisk’s intuitive and quick setup. Registration and setup — you need to download an application — was a breeze.

Let’s take a look at Snapdisk’s packages and pricing.

Backup offers 500GB of cloud storage space and backs up your files automatically. You choose the folders you want backed up and the backup mode — real-time or scheduled. Pricing is free for the first year, then US$6.95 monthly. This option is similar to what Carbonite offers. Carbonite is cheaper and offers unlimited storage at US$5 a month for home users.

Sync offers 500GB of cloud storage space and is designed to sync your files across any PC or Mac. Think of it as a USB drive that’s accessible from any of your computers. Simply drag and drop your files or save your content directly to it. Pricing is US$8.95 per month for a 500GB Sync Account. It works just like just like DropBox, but is a lot cheaper. DropBox asks US$20 a month for 100GB.

Pro combines both Backup and Sync functionality, offering you a combined storage capacity of 1TB. Pricing: US$12.95 per month. It’s similar to what Mozy offers. Mozy is cheaper and offers unlimited storage though, at US$6 for home users.

Note that if you sign up for an annual subscription on any of these packages you pay for only 10 months.

If you’re worried about longevity, note that Snapdisk is based on Livedrive’s Reseller program. Storage is handled by Livedrive, while Snapdisk focuses on billing and pricing strategies.