Frequently Asked Questions

Drivolt is a cold storage archive service. You order an online drive and fill it however suits you — upload directly from your computer, pull files in from Google Drive or Dropbox, or ship us a physical hard drive. We ingest everything, generate browsable proxies and thumbnails, then store two copies in separate secure vaults. You browse through your dashboard while the originals stay safely archived for 10–25 years.

We support all file types. Our system will ingest any file regardless of format, whether you upload it, sync it from Google Drive or Dropbox, or ship a drive. For media files (video, images, audio), we generate lightweight proxies and thumbnails for online preview. Documents get indexed for searchability. Even proprietary formats are safely stored and retrievable.

If you're sending us data online (upload, Google Drive, or Dropbox) you'll sign in or create an account at checkout — that's how we route the files into your dashboard. If you're shipping us a physical drive, you can use guest checkout with just your email and we'll create the account for you.

Yes — that's the default flow. Choose how many TB you want to archive and you'll land directly in your dashboard after checkout, where you can drag-and-drop files from your computer, connect Google Drive, or connect Dropbox. Uploads are resumable and integrity-checked. No special software to install.

From your dashboard you connect Google Drive or Dropbox once via OAuth. You then pick the folders you want archived and we pull them straight from the source — you don't have to download and re-upload anything. We only read the folders you select, and we never write back to your account.

Each Drivolt drive in your dashboard is its own archive, but you can absolutely have one drive filled by upload and another by mail. Place a separate order for each, fill them however makes sense, and they all live side-by-side under one account.

Online checkout supports archive sizes up to 100TB. For very large transfers, RAIDs, or anything that would take too long in a browser, contact us or use physical-drive intake after checkout.

Yes. The physical-drive flow lives at /order/physical. You can mail us your drive with a prepaid label, drop off in person if you're in the LA area, or have us send you an empty drive to fill and return. Useful when you have lots of TB or just don't want to deal with online transfers.

Domestic US shipping typically takes 3-5 business days. Once we receive your drives, ingestion takes 1-3 business days depending on the amount of data. You'll get email updates at each stage.

Currently, we only accept drives shipped within the United States. International shipping is on our roadmap. If you're outside the US, online upload still works from anywhere — or contact us to discuss options.

Yes! If you're in the Los Angeles area, you can drop off drives at our facility. Select 'Drop off in LA' during checkout on the physical-drive flow for free local drop-off. We'll provide the address and schedule a time.

After we verify successful ingestion and you approve the manifest, your original drive is securely stored in Vault A. We don't wipe or return drives—they become part of your archive. This is part of our redundancy strategy. (This applies to physical-drive orders only — for online uploads there's no shipped media to return.)

Your data is protected with 256-bit AES encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. We maintain physically separated storage locations (Vault A and Vault B) to eliminate single points of failure. Access is strictly controlled and audited.

We understand this concern. Our storage terms include provisions for data continuity. In the unlikely event of business closure, we commit to: (1) providing 90 days advance notice, (2) returning your original drives or facilitating transfer to another service, and (3) maintaining data access until the transition is complete. Your data is never held hostage.

We don't offer public tours of our storage facilities for security reasons. However, we're happy to schedule video calls to walk you through our processes, show you how your data appears in our system, and answer any questions about our infrastructure.

Only you have access to view your files through the dashboard. Our technical staff can access infrastructure for maintenance but cannot view file contents. All access is logged and auditable. We never sell, share, or analyze your data.

Cloud storage is designed for frequent access, which requires expensive always-on infrastructure. Drivolt uses cold storage architecture optimized for long-term archival with rare retrieval. No constant electricity costs, no egress fees, no monthly overhead—just secure physical storage. This lets us offer 90%+ savings compared to cloud providers.

Your $49/TB one-time payment covers: 10 years of secure storage, dual-vault redundancy (Vault A + Vault B), proxy and thumbnail generation for online preview, cloud dashboard access, and metadata indexing and search. Original file retrieval from our offline vaults is available on request for a separate fee.

25-Year Protection extends your storage term from 10 years to 25 years. The price is +$24.50/TB — a one-time add-on available at checkout. Great for archives you want to preserve for decades.

Yes, we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied within 30 days of your order, contact us for a full refund. After drives are ingested and locked, refunds are prorated based on storage used.

No. Drivolt uses a one-time payment model. Your payment covers the full storage term (10 or 25 years). No monthly subscriptions, no surprise fees.

All original files are stored offline in our secure vaults. To retrieve originals, submit a retrieval request through your dashboard specifying the files or folders you need. We'll pull them from the vault, copy them to a drive, and ship it to you. Retrieval fees apply based on the scope of your request. Requests typically process within 3-5 business days.

Yes! Your cloud dashboard is available 24/7. You can browse all your files through proxies and thumbnails and search by filename or metadata. Proxies are lightweight previews for reference — your full-resolution originals are stored offline. To get originals, submit a retrieval request through the dashboard.

Proxies are lightweight versions of your files optimized for online viewing—480p H.265 for videos, compressed thumbnails for images. They let you see and identify your content without accessing the cold storage. Your originals remain untouched in their full resolution for when you truly need them.

We accept most common drive formats: HFS+ (Mac), APFS (Mac), NTFS (Windows), exFAT, and ext4 (Linux). We support both SSDs and HDDs. If you have an unusual format, contact us first to confirm compatibility.

At the end of your storage term (10 or 25 years), we'll contact you 90 days in advance to discuss options: renew, retrieve, or authorize destruction. If you authorize destruction, drives are physically shredded following NIST 800-88 guidelines. Certificates of destruction are available upon request.

Yes. During ingestion, we generate SHA-256 checksums for every file. We perform periodic integrity checks on stored data. If any degradation is detected, files are restored from the mirror copy. You can view file checksums in your dashboard.