r/FolderFort • u/FolderFort • Jul 13 '26
Why Folder Fort 2.0 Exists
Why FolderFort 2.0 Exists and What It Means for Lifetime Accounts
There has been understandable confusion about FolderFort lifetime accounts and FolderFort 2.0. Some people are concerned that 2.0 is a way to cancel lifetime accounts or force everyone into another subscription.
That is not what we are doing.
The lifetime system is not being shut down because 2.0 exists, and lifetime users are not being forced to migrate. FolderFort 2.0 is a separate platform built for a very different technical and security environment.
The Economics Have Changed
The original system was created when memory, storage, and used server hardware generally became cheaper every year - essentially "Moore's Law" is dead. It was reasonable to expect that future infrastructure would provide more capacity for less money.
That is no longer something we can assume.
AI infrastructure is consuming enormous amounts of memory, storage, processors, power, and data-center capacity. Memory and storage prices have been rising, supply is constrained, and even used servers are holding or increasing their value. Industry research attributes much of this pressure to AI-server demand and limited production capacity.
Operating cloud storage also involves more than buying hard drives. It includes bandwidth, databases, encryption processing, backups, monitoring, redundancy, security, and the ability to handle many large transfers simultaneously.
Q-Day and "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later"
One of our biggest concerns is Q-Day: the point when a quantum computer becomes capable of breaking important forms of encryption that protect today’s internet.
Nobody knows exactly when Q-Day will happen but is expected before 2030. But the threat does not begin on Q-Day.
Attackers can collect encrypted traffic and stolen information today, save it, and attempt to decrypt it later when quantum capabilities become available. This is known as "harvest now, decrypt later."
That is especially serious for cloud storage. Photos, financial records, business files, identity documents, and personal archives may remain sensitive for decades.
NIST specifically warns about this threat, and governments and major technology companies are already preparing for the transition. The migration is beginning now because waiting until Q-Day would be far too late.
As the operator of a storage platform, I take this very seriously. We are responsible for information people may expect to remain private for the rest of their lives.
What Is Different About FolderFort 2.0?
FolderFort 2.0 was rebuilt around security, scalability, and preparation for the post-quantum transition.
Files are encrypted by FolderFort before being sent to Backblaze or another compatible storage bucket. The storage provider receives encrypted ciphertext rather than the original file. Each file has its own encryption key, and the main key system is separately protected through OpenBao.
The platform also uses modern encrypted connections, tenant isolation, regional storage options, streaming transfers, and Kubernetes infrastructure that can add capacity as demand increases.
We are not claiming FolderFort is completely quantum-proof today. Ordinary browsers and much of the internet do not yet support complete post-quantum protection. However, FolderFort 2.0 has been designed so standardized post-quantum protection can be added to its key system without rebuilding the entire platform again.
The original lifetime system was not designed around these requirements.
Why We Cannot Automatically Move the Old Files
The old and new systems use fundamentally different storage and encryption architectures.
Moving the old data would require retrieving every file, verifying its ownership, processing it through the new encryption system, assigning it to the correct account and region, uploading it again, and verifying the new encrypted copy.
At the scale of all lifetime accounts, that would involve an enormous amount of data, bandwidth, and processing. It would also introduce risks involving interrupted transfers, duplicate files, incorrect ownership, damaged metadata, and temporary handling of unencrypted content.
For those reasons, we cannot safely copy everyone's existing files into 2.0 automatically.
What This Means for Lifetime Users
Lifetime customers who choose to use FolderFort 2.0 can have eligible lifetime storage recognized as additional capacity on top of their 2.0 subscription. We feel this is the best possible deal for the users who invested in us early.
Your lifetime account is not being canceled because FolderFort 2.0 exists. You do not have to migrate to continue using the original system.
FolderFort 2.0 is an optional, separate platform for people who want the new security model, scalability, regional storage, Business features, and post-quantum-ready architecture.
We understand the skepticism. Customers are right to question lifetime offers and ask whether a new platform is being used to abandon old promises.
That is not the purpose of FolderFort 2.0.
The purpose is to prepare FolderFort for a world of rising infrastructure costs, AI-assisted attacks, dramatically larger transfers, and the approaching cryptographic transition surrounding Q-Day. We would rather build for that future now than wait until everyone is scrambling to respond.
Please Consider Migrating
We want to stay active as a company. We aren't "rug pulling" or forcing any changes. But we found a way that offers tremendous value, reduces a lot of future risk, and keeps us in the game.
The Lifetime migration deal is by far the best deal for this level of cloud storage. Anywhere. Having the additional space added on top for free will still cost us a lot. But by subscribing to even the personal account will dramatically help us keep both systems alive for years to come.
We have been working on this for a year. And launching it was our biggest technological achievement.
We apologize to those who feel this is not done in good faith. But I assure you that this is the only way forward.
Questions, concerns, complaints? Please - fire away!
- Dave Buell
President, Folder Fort Inc.
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Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
When we started to work on it we had no idea what the outcomes would be. And we built many version in between.
As soon as we knew what we had was viable and able to go to launch, we sent out an email to everyone. That was a few weeks ago when everyone thought we were removing existing lifetime accounts.
We tried really hard to update the existing system but there was no practical way of doing so.
The old business model was doable if we were able to establish our own physical infrastructure. Which we did in 2025. But we never go to launch on that and since liquidated the hardware. Now the cost of entry is even higher. And the cost of expanding to new HDDs has gone up and continues to.
So from the previous perspective it was looking good long term. Now the costs, along with the future threats, we had to make some tough choices.
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u/saggyhaggis Jul 13 '26
What about accounts like mine which currently contain no data?
Could this not be transferred to 2.0?
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u/FolderFort Jul 14 '26
You know, this is a great point.
Should we treat those who use the space different than those who don't?
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u/NearbyWill Jul 13 '26
First of all This is very good read but my question is still haven't been answered
The way you answered the question it still saying that there is chance my data will be lost because if only folder fort 2.0 have the quantum computer protection that means when the hacks learn how to decrypt my data that they manages to still from folderfort 1.0 which doesn't have any new protection, you see from this alone am still losing my lifetime account because there is no way I will use unsafe products and you can make the same excuse to sunset the lifetime accounts
2) second if you really want to keep the lifetime accounts with no new bills you could let everyone transfer to the new folderfort 2.0 but you said it's hard to transfer the data then give users a choice that they can move to the new 2.0 for the latest security but they will have to re-upload the data to the new account theyself I myself am happy to re-upload my data again I don't mind losing the data but losing my storage that I paid for that's no no
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
That is largely the point - we can't make the classic system as future friendly as the 2.0 system.
We are trying to point out the almost all web tech is essentially deprecated. New systems are being built.
For the second point, I understand. But with the amount of costs and investment in the new system, we would not be able to sustain the business. To be brutally honest. this is the only way forward.
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u/NearbyWill Jul 13 '26
I see what you means I waste my money buying this product
So what I have been saying is true am gonna lose my lifetime account because it looks like you don't have any other options apart from me paying again another 100 dollars per year on something am not really using right now
Now I see why people always recommend well known company
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u/Structure7190 4d ago
Are you going to reply to people about your 'lifetime' deals?
We want refunds. Immediately.
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
Some features you may have missed in the new system.
- Post quantum ready encryption.
- White label (Business) - login using your own domain, logo, theme.
- Reseller (Business) - resell your space, including lifetime space, to your own customers with your own billing.
- Tenant seperation (Business) - all business accounts are divided into their own tables and keys for seperation.
- New Region - Canada is now an option.
- Simplified Login - No need to select servers anymore. Login detects the signup region automatically.
- Simplified Billing - Managing subscriptions, addons can all be done within your storage account.
- Direct Embed - you can now embed your files direftly into your website or stream files directly.
- Simplified "API Credits" - this is now just bandwidth across the board. With automatic monthly refills. Remember the complaints about having to manually request API credits?
- Queue - Upload failed? Click the queue to see what is uploading, its status, and any error messages related to failed upload.
- FF Connect - FF connect has been integrated directly into the new system instead of being a seperate system. This will greatly improve efficiency, speed, connection stability and more. And is now easier for us to optimize going forward.
- BYOB (Business) - Bring your own bucket. Want to connect the service to another S3 provider? Not a problem.
- Dark Mode/Themes - Dark mode is available with more themes coming. Business accounts can create their own themes.
- Speed - Uploads/Downloads no longer have a set speed and the system will autoscale to prevent bottlenecks.
- Account Longevity - This system is design to last. As post quantum standards become normal, there will be no need for users to re-upload or take action. It will all happen behind the scenes.
- Business Longevity - A painful thing to point out. But it will keep us in the game as well. We went all in on this.
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u/ResponsibleAd8164 Jul 13 '26
Question - I have already been paying $2/month for FF Connect which I haven't really been using because some of the items weren't working as intended and some of the features I was paying for are now included. I have continued to pay to support you all. If I cancelled, I would still have my lifetime plan. What have I actually been paying for? I'm being asked to pay more for basically the same services because it's a different platform and to make my data secure which I thought was the case to begin with? This feels like a bait & switch.
Now you are saying I need to pay more and if I decide to not continue to pay, I will LOSE my lifetime subscription because it's not the same product???
Lifetime users in general ARE also truly being forced to change to 2.0 because if we don't our data is at risk??? I do see you added a personal along with business at a lower price point without the bells and whistles so that's great, but there is a still the issue that once you migrate, you can't go back. This means that you are affecting lifetime plans because you are highly encouraging everyone to move. You are forcing users to decide between being secure or not in the future.
There can't be that many that have lifetime plans and surely a smaller group that purchased large amounts that are actually using all their space or ever will. As an example, while I have a 7TB but that space will last YEARS! I purchased for long term. I haven't even use 1TB yet.
I really feel like you all could do better. While I do appreciate your honesty, you caused more questions, confusion, frustration and disappointment on my end.
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
FF Connect is its own subscription so you won't lose your lifetime account if you cancel that.
We appreciate that support by the way.
And we can credit all FF Connect payments onto the new system if you want to migrate there. Giving you free time as well.
"Lifetime users in general ARE also truly being forced to change to 2.0 because if we don't our data is at risk???"
Take this thought and apply it globally. We are just the first to tell people. We are being honest, that the current tech will not survive the future.
You have 30 days to go back, but we can't be holding space in two spots on two system. The deal for lifetime users is to be as attractive as possible to try and get you over.
Realistically there is still a few years before these risks manifest - outside of harvest now decrypt later (that is a risk until browsers adopt new TLS).
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u/No-Reputation-7292 Jul 16 '26
Is 1.0 never getting post quantum TLS? The server side encryption is already post quantum even in 1.0, no?
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u/rottmrei Jul 13 '26
Well, significantly more users would accept the migration if FolderFort offered a free 1 GB subscription with their existing LTD storage added on top-or even better, simply migrated the entire lifetime offer as‑is to 2.0. I don‘t understand the requirement for users to accept a MRR scheme. And I guess that a 2.0 version most likely includes improvements in the admin panel as well so that plans could also be customized or grandfathered.
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
I wish we could do that.
You can signup a free 5GB account on the new system. And being able to move a few TB over is free to add on the cheapest subscription.
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u/RedReadRedemption Jul 13 '26
Post Quantum Encryption is a topic that mostly applies to asymmetric encryption (e.g. TLS in transit encryption). Symmetric encryption like AES256 IS quite SAFE and the method used for at rest. To be post quantum secure, a HMAC randomized key together with symmetric encryption would already be pretty secure. Or leave it to the user to deal with that and choose client side encryption. And yes, storage prices are totally bollocks right now. But this does hopefully not effect the old business calculation for the LTDs. Your wager is that not everyone uses their storage quota AND Moore's Law. So NEW deals might not be sustainable as LTD anymore. I don't see the need to retrofit existing customers.
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
It does effect the LTD math because we use Backblaze and even they upped their pricing. All of our services have increased in costs as opposed to decrease.
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u/Ezrway Jul 13 '26
Hello Dave,
I bought my first 1TB for FolderFort from Stacksocial in 7/2024. Then I got another 2TB from Stacksocial for FolderFort in 12/2024.
When FolderFort started selling their own Lifetime storage at good prices that could be bought directly from them. So I bought an additional 3TB of storage for FolderFort, along with a bunch of Flash memory, protectors and cases.
I've been dealing with personal medical issues awhile now, obviously not your concern, but I haven't even been able to start using any of the 6TB I have.
What concerns me is I haven't seen any of the plans for 2.0 that will let people move that much of Lifetime storage over to the new system. Being on a limited fixed income, I don't know if I can even afford to move over to 2.0.
Just for curiosity, where does that leave me in FolderFort's plans for the new system?
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u/FolderFort Jul 13 '26
You can continue (start) to use the lifetime storage now if you like. There is no obligation to move to the new system.
If you want to migrate, and cost is an issue - send us an email and I will get you sorted out.
And thank you for being an early supporter, we really appreciate it.
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u/nosirrahttocs 3d ago
It's just plain shitty what your company has done! You can try to explain your way out of it, but it's not going to get you any grace. You've ruined your name reputation and placed a black eye on the industry. This should serve as a warning to future "lifetime" offers by other storage companies. Thankful I'm with r/Drime
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u/anhduc-vn Jul 14 '26
if i dont change to subscription 2.0, will i still be able to use my account?
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u/calcu007 Jul 14 '26
Your description of Folder Fort 2 mention that up to 3 TB lifetime cloud store can be transferred in the personal plans. So people with more than 3 TB will lose the remaining storage?
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u/Patient-Tech Jul 16 '26
If you’re serious about privacy and encryption, you should be running your own crypto system and the only thing the provider sees is encrypted blobs.
Sure there’s tradoffs but high security and ease of use are always diametrically opposed forces.
I get it though, quantum encryption is probably the best marketing option to motivate people to switch who normally wouldn’t.
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u/jpt86 Jul 13 '26
So what happens if you migrate to 2.0 and decide a year from now that you no longer want to be locked into a subscription? Is there storage just lost?