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Cloudwards.net > Online Backup Reviews > IDrive
IDrive Review Incredibly fast transfers, both backup and restore. Solid compression and security, but not the easiest program to use. By Joseph Gildred – Last Updated: 24 Nov'17
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Overall Rating
88%
Very Good
Features
90%
Excellent
Pricing
85%
Very Good
Ease of Use
80%
Good
File Backup & Restoration
90%
Excellent
Speed
90%
Excellent
Security & Privacy
84%
Very Good
Support
95%
Excellent
During this review, we’ll be revisiting a long-time Cloudwards.net favorite, IDrive. Based out of the San Fernando Valley, IDrive has been in the backup game since way back in 1995 (when it was called IBackup). In technology years, that makes it practically a dinosaur. Still, oldies are often goodies and IDrive is one of the best online backup providers out there. Despite its age, IDrive doesn’t act the part. It separates itself from its primary competitors, Backblaze and Carbonite, by letting you backup unlimited devices with a single subscription. That extends to not only your computers but external drives, tablets and smartphones, too. Coupled with attractive pricing, sync capabilities and an ample — albeit not unlimited — storage limit, it will work for almost anybody. For a complete look at how IDrive holds up to the competition, have a look at our best cloud storage providers comparison chart. Read on for a full accounting of why you should at least give IDrive a trial run by signing up for a free 5GB account. We’ll also touch base on some areas of concern that you’ll want to be aware of before committing to a one or two-year subscription.
Alternatives for IDrive
Starts from Starts from
$ 5.00 per month
Starts from
$ 5.00 per month
$ 5.00 per month
Review
Review
Review
Unlimited backup Low cost Very easy to use Backup by file type Limited to one computer No mobile backup Versioning limited to 30 days Backblaze
Unlimited backup Easy to use Inexpensive Slow backup speed No monthly subscriptions Limited mobile backup Carbonite
Backup unlimited computers Sync files across computers Good file sharing options Private encryption Expensive No mobile backup No courier service No NAS backup SpiderOak ONE
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths: Unlimited device backup Inexpensive plans Sync capabilities File-sharing capabilities Block-level backup Private encryption Android and iOS backup External drive backup Advanced scheduling Continuous backup 256-bit AES encryption Image-based backup Social media backup File versioning Free courier backup/recovery 24/7 live chat support
Weaknesses: Harder to use than Backblaze No unlimited backup plan No two-factor authentication Not multithreaded backup IDrive has a number of strengths to recommend it over the competition. Probably the most compelling are the fact that it can be used to backup unlimited devices (including smartphones), can sync devices and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (for a service that’s very good but will stretch your wallet, read our SpiderOak review). As far as weaknesses, IDrive’s somewhat steep learning curve (at least compared to Backblaze, which you can read more about in our Backblaze review) leads the way. Overall, though, it’s hard to find fault with this solid service.
Features 90% – Excellent IDrive is primarily a disaster recovery tool designed to protect users from hard-drive crashes. The service has desktop clients for Windows, macOS and Linux, making it one of the few online backups to support all three. External hard-drive backup is also supported. On top of that, IDrive has smartphone apps for both Android and iOS. Unlike Backblaze, Carbonite and several other popular services, these apps are for more than just accessing computer files you’ve backed up, too. They can also be used to backup phone data. Both Android and iOS apps can backup contacts, media and calendar events. The Android version can also backup texts, call logs and app data. IDrive can also be used to backup Facebook and Instagram accounts; it’s the only online backup service we know of that does so. We’ll talk more about some of the features specifically tied to IDrive’s backup and restore processes below. Briefly, however, some of the things we like include advanced scheduling capabilities, notification options, disk-image backup and file versioning. IDrive also implements “true archiving,” which means that even if you delete a file on your computer, it will remain in the cloud until you manually delete it there or run an archive cleanup process.
Syncing and Sharing Broad backup options and great backup features aren’t the only way IDrive stands out from its peers: IDrive also offers capabilities more commonly associated with cloud storage. That includes device synchronization and file-sharing. In this way, IDrive not only competes with fellow online backup services, but with cloud storage options like Dropbox and Google Drive, too.
In addition to accessing your backup and sync files from the desktop client and mobile app, IDrive also has a great web UI for doing so. There, you can also check what content you’ve shared and what content other IDrive users have shared with you.
There’s also an Office 365 feature for backing up Microsoft content and a timeline feature for photo viewing. In a nutshell, we feel pretty confident in saying there’s not a more feature-rich backup service available for home users at this time.
Pricing 85% – Very Good IDrive has two personal plans available. One gives you 2TB of space and the other gives you 5TB of space. There’s no month-tomonth subscription plan; you can only sign up for one year or two years at a time. During your first year of service with IDrive, you get a discount from its normal annual price of $69.50. The advantage of signing for two years is that you extend that discount.
Plan
Free
Personal 2TB
Free
Price Plan
monthly
Storage
5
Personal 5TB
Business 250GB
Business 500GB
Business 1.25TB
$ 52 12 yearly
$ 74 62 yearly
$ 74 62 yearly
$ 149 62 yearly
$ 374 62 yearly
$ 104 25 2 years
$ 149 25 2 years
$ 149 25 2 years
$ 299 25 2 years
$ 749 25 2 years
2000
5000
250
500
1250
Details
Even discounted, the annual cost is slightly more expensive than Backblaze’s $50 per year, but it’s a much better deal than Carbonite Plus, which will set you back $99. It’s fair to point out that both Backblaze and Carbonite Plus also give you unlimited backup space, while IDrive caps you at 2TB or 5TB. However, IDrive not only gives you 2TB or 5TB of backup space, it also gives you 2TB or 5TB of sync space. That means you’re really getting either 4TB or 10TB of space to play with depending on which subscription you opt for (and puts IDrive in the same league as some of our best cloud storage services). SpiderOak ONE might be a better cost comp to IDrive, given that it also caps backup space, lets you backup unlimited devices and can be used for sync. So, let’s consider it: the annual cost for a 1TB SpiderOak One plan is $129.99. That’s half the storage and about twice the cost of IDrive’s 2TB personal plan. You can give IDrive a try by signing up for a free 5GB plan, which you can read more about in our article on the best free cloud storage. That won’t be enough to backup your computer, but it should be enough to see if you’d like to sign up long term.
Ease of Use 80% – Good The IDrive desktop client experience isn’t nearly as simple as what you’ll get with unlimited backup services. That’s because IDrive’s 2TB or 5TB cap means you may have to manage your backup space, and so rather than backing up based on file type, IDrive requires that you backup based on file location. That means you need to go through your file system and manually tag files for backup, which can be a pain. On top of that, IDrive has far more setting options than most backup services we’ve reviewed. While that’s a good thing in some ways, it doesn’t necessarily make for an easy user experience right away (i.e., there’s a learning curve).
Some users, particularly those that like to maintain precise control over their backups, will prefer the complexity of IDrive’s approach to a service like Backblaze, which eliminates most of the work involved. Others will be put off by it. All that said, IDrive ultimately shouldn’t be too big of a headache for the average user, and once you get your backup plan setup, you can let it run in the background with very little oversight.
File Backup & Restoration 90% – Excellent After you install the IDrive client on your desktop, it will automatically tag a few folders for backup, including your desktop, music, pictures, videos and documents folders. Everything else will need to be manually tagged by clicking the checkbox beside the folder or file name.
Once done, you can choose to either backup immediately by clicking the “backup now” button, or wait for your scheduled backup. When it comes to scheduling, IDrive offers broad customization.
You can choose a time at night for your backup to run so that it doesn’t interfere with your daily work, pick a cut-off time for it to stop running and choose what days it runs on. If you’d prefer more regular data protection, you can tell IDrive to run backups hourly, too.
IDrive Continuous Backup In the settings tab, there’s also a checkbox for “continuous backup.” Enable this feature to backup files whenever a change is made; that way, you won’t lose file changes should something happen to your computer before the scheduled backup runs. Once files have been backed up, when changes to those files are made, IDrive only uploads the parts of the file that changed rather than replacing the entire file. This method of file copying is known as block-level file copying, and serves the purpose of speeding backup processes up while limiting drain on system resources. Block-level copying also reduces the space required to maintain previous versions of files. Versioning, as this is called, lets you restore past states of files in the event you want to undo a change or a file was corrupted. IDrive maintains the previous 10 versions of every file you’ve stored. Instead of backing up files to the IDrive cloud, the client also lets you send them to local destinations. This includes partitions on your hard drive, attached external drives, NAS devices and WiFi devices. In addition to backing up specific files, you can even backup entire drives by creating a disk image. Disk images are ideal in cases like hard-drive crashes. The IDrive knowledgebase has an article on creating a boot disk in the event that your operating system isn’t starting up.
File restores can be managed from the “restore” tab of the IDrive client. You can restore everything that’s backed up or just specific files. IDrive also gives you the option to restore files to their original location or a new location.
You can also restore files from the IDrive web UI. This is useful if you need to get at a file from a computer that isn’t your own. One of the nicer perks of an IDrive subscription is its IDrive Express service. This is a courier service in which IDrive will send you a 3TB external drive in the mail. While other services, including Backblaze and Carbonite, have courier services for recovery, only IDrive lets you use this service for initial backups, too. The advantage of this is that backups over the Internet can take weeks to complete if you have a lot of data. Local file transfers are much, much faster.
Speed 90% – Excellent Unlike local backups, online backups can take a lot of time: days or even weeks depending on how much data you have to protect. IDrive circumvents that drag with its free IDrive Express service, which we mentioned earlier. If you don’t feel like using IDrive Express, you no doubt want to know how IDrive compares to the rest of the online backup field. To make that determination, we conducted a series of file upload and download tests using a 1GB test file (a compressed folder, actually) that we’ve used to gauge other services. These tests were conducted over a WiFi network from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Upload and download speeds at the time of the testing were 10 Mbps and 50 Mbps. Based on those speeds, we can calculate that the file should take about 15 minutes to upload and three minutes to download with no overhead. Here’s how IDrive did:
Test One:
Test Two:
Average:
Upload:
19:43
20:00
19:52
Download:
4:32
3:56
4:14
That’s pretty close to our calculations and we can probably attribute the difference to distance from the IDrive servers and encryption processes. If you find IDrive is interfering too much with system resources, there’s an option to throttle speed found in the desktop client settings.
IDrive doesn’t let you initiate multi-threaded backups like Backblaze does. That would have been an nice touch to speed up the backup processes even more.
Security & Privacy 84% – Very Good IDrive takes almost all of the necessary steps we like to see to ensure customer data is secure while stored in the cloud. That starts with both in-transit and at-rest encryption. In both cases, the level of encryption used is 256-bit AES, a protocol believed to have never been cracked. Generally, IDrive will hold onto the key to decrypt your data. That way, if you ever forget your password, the company can reset it for you. However, if you’d prefer to retain that key yourself so that nobody but you can ever decrypt your data, that’s an option, too.
If you want to opt for private encryption, you’ll need to do so when you first sign up, however. Once you start backing up to IDrive, you won’t be able to make a change. While 256-bit encryption keys might take billions of years to brute force crack, passwords — especially weak passwords — don’t. Even with a strong password, there’s a chance your password could be stolen or otherwise obtained. To protect against this possibility, the usual approach is to offer two-factor authentication. Disappointingly, this is a security feature that IDrive has overlooked. IDrive does let you remotely disconnect synced devices. That way, if a computer or phone are stolen, whoever has that device won’t be able to access your files.
IDrive servers are maintained in hardened data centers in the United States. These facilities are built to withstand natural disasters and fires thanks to features like raised floors, HVAC climate control systems, cooling zones, fire-suppression systems and racks built to handle earthquakes. 24/7 secured access, surveillance, motion sensors and breach alarms are in place to protect against trespassers.
Support 95% – Excellent IDrive is one of the few home online backup services to offer 24/7 support. Better yet, that includes not only email, but live chat support, too. We fired up the live chat client at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night for fun (we like to party), and received instant connection with a support representative who quickly answered all of our questions.
For comparison, Backblaze live chat is only available during weekday business hours. Carbonite doesn’t offer live chat at all. If you prefer email, you can fill out a support form online. IDrive won’t even try to dissuade you from submitting the form by redirecting you to a bunch of unrelated support articles. That said, if you do prefer figuring things out on your own, IDrive maintains an excellent support knowledge base with FAQs and tutorials (including video). IDrive also has a support phone number, although times for that channel are limited to weekday business hours.
Verdict In the end, we can’t quite say that IDrive is the right service for everyone. Users who don’t want to be troubled with managing their backup or those with more hefty backup needs will want to have a close look at Backblaze and even Carbonite, first. That said, for those looking to save money, IDrive has affordable pricing and its cloud storage features means that you could cut that Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud subscription cost out of your monthly bill, too. The fact that it can be used to backup your external drives and smartphones just adds to its versatility.
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IDrive Express is a godsend for the impatient. 24/7 live chat support doesn’t hurt, either. No two-factor authentication is a troubling miss, but we applaud the option for private encryption and the steps IDrive takes to ensure data center security and user privacy. No, IDrive isn’t the best choice for everyone, but, it is a great choice for almost everyone. That’s more than just about any other online backup service can say. For a look at how IDrive compares to its two biggest rivals, be sure to read our Carbonite vs Backblaze vs IDrive feature. Also, check out our individual online backup reviews for more detailed analysis. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to let us know your thoughts on IDrive in the comments below.
Features
IDrive Features IDrive 5
Free Storage
GB
Free Trial windows mac
System Price
Starts from $ 4.34 per month
Mobile Access iPhone iPad Android
Mobile Apps
Syncronisation Free External HD Backup Continuous Backup Incremental Backup Backup Scheduling Bare Metal Backup Exclude File Extensions for Backup Network Drives Bandwidth throttling Web Access HIPAA Compliant File Size Limit
Unlimited
Included Machines
Unlimited
GB
File Sharing Multiple Accounts Share Photo Albums Music Streaming Folder Collaboration Outlook Backup Local Encryption
256-bit
Server Side Encryption
256-bit
Keeps deleted files
Unlimited
File Versioning
30
IDrive
IDrive Review Fast and reliable, IDrive has a few usability issues Incredibly fast transfers, both backup and restore. Solid compression and security, but not the easiest program to use. Starts from
$ 4.34 per month Visit IDrive
45 thoughts on “IDrive” jean says: 2013/02/20 at 00:38
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WATCH OUT! your “free” trial is not really free if you decide to try an upgrade. After using idrive for a few months I decided to upgrade for more space, even after when reaching the 5gb the software sent my pc into a frenzy. I upgraded and also receive new software (the old software is also used by many other backup solutions, hardly unique but same flaws) I deleted the old idrive and removed the software and installed the new version. Started the backup and it would never complete. It would hand around 37-45% and not go any further. After realizing they used canned software, the issue when reaching the limit and freezing my pc, and the new software not backing up beyond 37-45% (only had to back up 7gb) I decided that within 12 hours of purchase I wanted a refund. Guess what!? They say that you are only eligible for a refund from the time you start your free trial!!!!!! So if after 15day of a free trial and on day 16 you decide to upgrade for more space but it doesn’t work. TOO BAD!!! NO REFUND!! because you are only eligible for a refund the first 15 days of use even though it is a free trial. The free trial period is your refund window. They say it’s in the small print. I call it deceptive marketing.
Mauricio says: 2013/02/20 at 06:42
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Hi Jean! I’m sorry if your experience has been less than pleasant. In fact, IDrive operates under two brands: IBackup and IDrive. However, this is quite common practice: one is more focused on businesses the other on the consumer market. When we publish our review we will try to reproduce your error to find out what the problem was.
Dave says: 2013/08/20 at 19:17
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I had idrive for few years now and Id like to say one thing. please stop making endless versions and variations of this software. This is very confusing. you have 8 versions, yes 8 different idrives to download for IOS without explanation to why should I use one over the other. I really don’t have time to study by trial error your software cans and can’ts. I ended up deleting your stuff and installing dropbox even though you offer more space. ‘this only uploads, this can only downloads, this can sync, this one can do both, this one can do all of the above, this one makes you toast this one speaks only chinese’. cmon man cut the crap and make ONE amazing version. (or 2 for drastically different functionality)
Bruce Wayne says: 2013/09/15 at 18:41
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This is one of the few affordable cloud backup services that actually will backup a network attached storage drive – and does so hassle free. I had problems with another service that “seemed” to be backing up my NAS – but no files were found in the folders when I tried to do a test restore. So I suggest that people test the service on a regular basis even if it appears to be working as promised (test it). idrive is easy to understand and will not delete files off their servers automatically that may get deleted locally … which is helpful if something got deleted by accident. This is a good product and is relatively inexpensive considering the ease of use and features.
Bert Nacknud says: 2014/04/01 at 21:16
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Excellent speed. Highly configurable and reliable software. Very good value if you have a lot of data to back up. I’ve been using them for about 5 years and have about 200 GB backed up.
Rick says: 2014/05/20 at 18:00
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I would advise extreme caution with this service. I have two accounts, one free one which has worked fine, and one paid “pro” account. Abruptly, the pro account began failing to backup (could not connect to server) and I could not login to my account at all. I first tried to troubleshoot it myself, thinking that maybe my firewall was the problem, but it persisted even with my firewall turned off, and I could not log in to my account from the website, which indicated that the problem was on the server-end. Calls and emails to tech support were unhelpful. Their response was to forward my issue to a higher level of support, which would respond “asap.” This was on 4/3/14. As of 5/20/14, still not a single response from the so-called “higher level of support.” Despite multiple follow-up emails to tech support, all I got was “we’ll get back to you asap.” I have not been able to log in from the website for over two months. I started to ask for a refund by email which was ignored. Finally, when I threatened to go to the blogs and online reviews, someone named Jennifer called me and said they would get back to me by email with a refund or a functioning account in two days, but now 6 days have gone by without a response from her or anyone else. I am presuming they have lost my data and that no one will admit it, as I have not heard anything to indicate otherwise. I have given them plenty of opportunities and time to rectify the situation–would have even been satisfied with a pro-rated refund which I asked for numerous times. I am pretty understanding when it comes to less-than-perfect software, small glitches, or customer-end problems, but in this case my experience with IDrive’s product and most of all customer service has been absolutely atrocious.
Jane says: 2016/02/21 at 08:46
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Argh…I am having the same issue and have been getting the same lack of response from IDrive. I have been promised numerous times that their “concerned back end team” would get back to me asap. I, too, want to restore my files to a new computer. I’m afraid you are right and they have lost the files somehow. I am thoroughly frustrated and wonder if you resolved your issue somehow.
Rafael Infante says: 2016/12/10 at 22:49
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This is my same experience, except for “Jennifer.” Buyer Beware.
Russ says: 2014/06/06 at 01:38
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Here is my experience with IDRIVE (Background: I want to leave IDRIVE as I have been referred to a better solution)—this is my email to their support team—I think it sums up my experience quite well. Allen, (I respectfully request that this email be forwarded to your supervisor and that I be cc’d). Per the policy cited below “…after 15 days, pro-rated refunds are issued on a case-by-case basis subject to eligibility”, it appears that this entire run around I am getting with regards to IDrive.com’s denial of my request to issue a pro-rated refund is per the discretion of management. That is, it seems the denial of refund is a WILL NOT rather than a CANNOT determination. Actually, this comes as no real surprise. Over the last 20+ years, both in my capacity as a consumer and professional, I have witnessed this trend of poor business management at some tech companies such as Idrive.com. Let’s take a QUICK look at my situation: ROUND ONE 1. Client calls to request cancellation of policy and a refund of their $149.99 annual subscription. 2. Customer Service representative (JOHN) denies request “based on company policy”. 3. Not at any time during the call does JOHN seek to determine WHY client wishes to cancel subscription but rather all of JOHN’S energy, effort and TIME is spent explaining why no refund, prorated or in whole, will be issued- – – – It is client’s position that since future services have not yet been delivered, that at least a pro-rated refund should be rendered 4. Furthermore, at this point BOTH of the client’s requests, cancellation of service and refund of the $149.99 annual subscription, have not been confirmed or granted. This is the FIRST INDICATION that something seems wrong at IDrive.com. 5. After ~15 minutes, client requests to speak to JOHN’s supervisor. ROUND TWO 1. Customer Service supervisor JENNIFER reiterates “company policy “and explains that an email was sent prior to billing explaining this policy. 2. Despite that client has seemed to receive all previous emails from idrive.com, client cannot locate said email. 3. Per request of client, JENNIFER recovers, cites and forwards email initially sent to client. 4. After ~15 minutes, JENNIFER maintains her policy stance and decision not to issue refund. 5. Not at any time during the call does JENNIFER seek to determine WHY client wishes to cancel subscription but rather all of JENNIFER’S energy, effort and TIME is spent explaining why no refund prorated or in whole, will be issued. 6. Still at this point, at ~30 minutes into the call, BOTH of the client’s requests, cancellation of service as well as a refund of the annual subscription fee, have not been confirmed or granted – this is the SECOND INDICATION that something seems wrong at IDrive.com. ROUND THREE 1. Department Head/ Support Manager ALLEN… a. “Checks” client’s account. b. Reiterates (Is reiterating something a third time called tri-iterates?) and forwards an excerpt of company’s “PRICE policy”. c. Attaches a link to all of company’s policies. 2. Despite that client has seemed to receive all previous emails from idrive.com, client cannot locate said email. 3. Not at any point throughout the email does ALLEN seek to determine WHY client wishes to cancel subscription but rather all of ALLEN’S energy, effort and TIME is spent explaining why no refund prorated or in whole, will be issued. 4. STILL at this point, at ~45 minutes into the process, BOTH of the client’s requests, for cancellation and a refund, have not been confirmed or granted. This is my FINAL INDICATION that something seems wrong at IDrive.com. Despite the fact that I was 45 minutes into and three levels up IDrive.com’s customer service team, not once did any representative ask “why are you leaving our service?” let alone try to utilize my 149.99 as a credit to cross sell me into another service offering or even as an up-sell of the current service package. This tells me that at the very least that Idrive.com is not interested in me or my business. WHY? Whether it is that I’m a “small fish” or symptomatic of other problems at IDrive.com, one thing is for sure – – – I will be better served somewhere else. PROS: Fast to the draw! It seems that the team at IDrive.com are well versed when it comes to denying refunds to dissatisfied customers wishing to terminate service — – hmmm. CONS: Time management, customer service, and problem resolution. IDrive.com, by dedicating almost of 1 hour of its resources, has made it quite clear that it will not refund my 149.99 annual subscription, but can I at least get a confirmation that my subscription will be cancelled and billing terminated on May 14, 2015?!? Do not terminate or deny access to my account until the subscription lapses. Since I have been forced to pay for and remain subscribed to your service, I will continue to utilize in some capacity up and until May 14, 2015. I will await your confirmation. By the way——I sure hope this customer resolution isn’t costing IDRIVE.COM more than $149.99.
Brenda says: 2015/05/15 at 19:55
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I had EXACT same experience with SOS, but eventually they agreed to give me my $139.00. I had tried trial for a few days and went to paid because of some mis-info their sales team told me about…to drop trial in order to get paid version. Something like that. They insisted at first that had I TRIED trial, I wouldn’t be in the situation I was in. I explained that their sales staff told me to quite trial and sign contract. (For some reason I can’t recall.) I believe that ONE bitty glitch in it all is the ONLY reason they finally gave in and cancelled my account and issued the refund in full. Again: I am talking here about S.O.S backup service (was June 2012) and I had happen exactly as you describe above for Idrive.
Ed Leachman says: 2014/08/06 at 13:20
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I first started experiencing problems with this “service” about three months in. I couldn’t delete file that ran me over the limit and I was getting additional charges. The technical support on this problem left me at a point where I just abandoned the product and stopped the backup routine. In the interim, I closed my Chase credit card and opened a new one because of a potential compromise. When I got an e-mail from Idrive stating that they couldn’t process the charge and they needed another account number, I ignored it because I had no intention of renewing their clunky product. Lo and behold, somehow they found my new account number and ran the charge against that. I called them to get the charge reversed and I got their “Too bad, so sad” reply because I did not close my account with them within the specified time frame.
Mami says: 2014/09/20 at 04:59
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iDrive is suprisingly good, because if you make a subscription through their Mobile application, you can get 50gb Backup, 50gb Personal Cloud storage, which makes 100GB for 1 year, for only 0,99$/year (this price continues even on the further subscription). iDrive claims NSA Proof, i don’t believe that, i tried iDrive with a couple of experimenting, and sadly i DONT believe their security (it’s just to make it look proffesional). So simply, i had a video file on iDrive cloud, and when i was trying to play it, the video through copying Video Source link, i could play the video (during being as logged in). When i logged out, i STILL Could use that link to see videos (during logged OUT!) which means it has 0 Security!. Other Cloud Providers we’re automatically blocking to avoid security leaks during hijack (if someone was going to monitor your network usage). iDrive has many good sides, but that doesn’t mean it’s CON-Free. iDrive has horribly slow internet, and playback codec support. Their cloud storage is somehow made only for personal use, not for sharing with friends or family. However, the most amazing part of iDrive is, it’s the best you can have for Smartphone users to backup your files. Their Android Application is automatically uploading instantly new pictures to the cloud (Auto Camera Backup enabled). And you can set up Scheduled Backup, and check box like all folders in your device, or contacts, messages, call history etc which is optional to backup if you want. Speed of iDrive is simply enough for Smartphone users, since smartphone’s not having (or most of them) have blazing fast internet speed, so is iDrive perfect for everyone with smartphone to backup their photo. I never encoured any issue with them. They have integrated 4 pattern password on their application, so everytime you/someone opens the application, it will ask for 4 pattern password that you setted it up (this is customizable if you want, or not). The iDrive application is PERFECT for family. Because you can install application to 2 – 3 phones, and backup them simulatenously without getting any issue while all the devices perform backup. Each phone, creates it’s OWN cloud folder, so when you login to iDrive, you will see Folders with according to their Device’s name, so backup files never get shuffled with someone else’s backed up photo/music. iDrive support, can’t i rate/say anything, because i never got any problem with them. Their application can be a bit tricky that requires some time to learn how it really works. iDrive security, is GOOD they claim, but i don’t believe that, but that is my thoughs, so don’t really listen what i say, all these are MY review on this cloud. 0,99$/year for 100GB of cloud storage that supports this much features is simply AFFORDABLE! for the price, it’s simply the BEST for the price.
Tomas says: 2014/12/18 at 15:06
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I too was burned by their pricing/refund policy. Essentially you can’t cancel your recurring fee without closing your account. I was two weeks into an auto-renewed annual membership when I cancelled my subscription. Any normal company would either 1) provide a prorated refund, or 2) continue service until the subscription date ends. They do neither. My files were deleted (therefore ending my service) and no refund was provided (even after a phone call and 3 emails with Customer Service). Like another reviewer mentions, at no time did anyone from customer service ask why I wanted to cancel and made no attempt to retain me as a client. They do offer refunds on a “case by case” basis…but apparently using 2 weeks of service but paying for 52 weeks is not a valid reason. Look elsewhere…there are better solutions out there from better companies. AVOID IDRIVE!
Chad says: 2014/12/25 at 17:29
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As a person in the IT industry, I have to say that I have found Idrive to be the leader in mobile data storage. The many features ranging from sync options to ios compatibility make it a versatile tool for use in everyday business. I also liked the cutting edge security features which is different from the average cloud based storage system. Particularly when the security of your data is always a primary concern.
Ed says: 2015/02/23 at 04:24
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I have been trialling iDrive with a view to our company buying it. We want to use it as a backup AND sharing service for part of our business. First thing – their tech support is dreadful. I run a tech support team (hence why I am doing the testing) and their level of unhelpfulness staggered me. On one query – my IE9 browser can not open the backup console the response is appalling English was to upgrade my browser. Firstly, how can they have an interface which is not compatible with what is still a heavily used browser (11% Jan 2015). As I want to use it for sharing, we will have customers still using it – what do they do. There was no explanation. Some later testing gave us a problem with URL sharing – when a detailed description and evidence of the problem was sent to iDrive, there response was “It works on our computer”. Yup that was it. No advise, suggestions, just that it worked on theirs. It is a shame because the interface is not bad, and data speeds seem quite good – but as they have a browser based interface it is a big failing to not support legacy browsers as many peeps still use them (that is why we test with multiple browsers as our customers have them) and to have support that bad means I have uninstalled and will look elsewhere. The greatest way to sell your product is to demonstrate the ability to solve problems – tech support liaising with a potential customer is a golden moment when it comes to selling.
Mick says: 2015/02/27 at 02:17
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In a nutshell: Performance very good (fast upload speed), but the need to improve on support/customer treatment. I selected IDrive about a year ago (paid account, I need about 1TB) among a few others after doing tests on upload speed. IDrive clearly stood out in upload speed, which really matters if you need to upload about 500GB! I’m still very satisfied about the performance and feature wise (multiple devices, reorganizing files) I’m happy as well. What I do not like is that existing customers pay much higher rates then new customers. Rates have dropped dramatically in cloud storage, but existing customers only benefit a little bit. In my view, they should do better on keeping existing customers. So my best option is to shut down the account and start a new one to get it for half the rate.
Lawrence Goodman says: 2015/06/04 at 06:03
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Stay away. Unbelievably slow upload speeds. Lots of complaints on their Web site for over a year now and they haven’t fixed. http://forum.idrive.com/topic.php?id=116 You get what you pay for.
Shankar says: 2015/09/03 at 07:49
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Always problem with backing up especially for windows 10. Never been able to complete download (size 200+GB data) for the last 10 days. Tried uninstalling and re-installing a clean copy and most recent copy as per support. Nothing works really fedup and have stopped calling or emailing support. Same answers always.
kent says: 2015/11/18 at 10:53
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I have been with IDrive for 9 years. Their software always shuts my computer down after it has drawn out the files for backup. Now, after all this time, they have charged me $60+ a month extra because i had exceeded my 300GB quota those three months. Firstly, their crappy desktop application no longer has a recalculate feature to have it rebalance after data has been removed. Secondly, $60/mo extra for the supposedly 200GB extra usage is as much as I paid for the year of usage at 300gb/mo. When i called them to ask that this be straightened out, they offered to reduce one of the 3 months by half. REALLY? To hell with them. There are too many other options. Kick them to the curb.
Roger says: 2015/11/23 at 17:01
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I started with iDrive this past June ~ today I terminated my account. Reasons include: Tech phone support is light on expertise and rude. During the 5/6 months I was with iDrive (I back up both PCs and Macs) I estimate there were perhaps 10 or more software updates. I did not notice any new functionality with each update. My belief now is that these updates were to fix bugs and enable / re-enable reliable core backup functionality, below is an example. Elevated LOL (chat box) Tier 2 Tech support is equally useless. On no fewer than 3 occasions I noticed not all sub-directories of selected parent directories would appear in restore. I called this to “elevated” Tech support’s attention. In each case it took days to receive a reply. Once advised it was fixed NOTHING had changed. To be fair, I did test restore – that worked if (a big IF in my view) files/folders were visible / accessible in restore. Nonetheless 3 strikes and you’re out — a backup service shouldn’t be more worrisome than no off-site backup at all. Here’s the kicker for me. I called iDrive earlier today to discontinue auto-renewal, cancel account and request a refund. They did not ask why I was cancelling, only indicated I would be advised by email. My request for a refund was denied – yet my account was closed immediately (confirmed by trying to access online). “Weird int dat?” I’m paid through next June and $60 bucks isn’t worth getting my knickers in a knot …. but account was immediately shut down. Interesting business practice. I’ve moved to Crashplan. Good luck with your decision. Cheers!
eleanor says: 2015/12/08 at 19:16
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BIG SECURITY CAUTION! Our family are victims of identity theft following a B&E and a laptop theft. The hackers gained access to our IDrive account. We have not been able to regain control of the account (see the extensive documentation of IDrive’s customer service deficit), IDrive continues to push through bills on an invalid credit card number, and continues to allow hackers access to our online data.
Richard says: 2016/01/17 at 23:47
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I have used iDrive for over 8 years. Starting with 1 PC, moving up to 4 PCs, then converting to 5 Macs and 3 iPhones. The service has been almost completly flawless. I have contacted Support on 2 occasions. The first was an issue with connectivity, the support guys talked me through the problem and it was fixed. The second was the conversion from Windows/PC to OSX/Mac. You cannot have an account with both operating systems! I simply created a new account and backed the Macs up to the new account. iDrive were happy to run the old account for 2 months (free of charge) while I did the migration. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have been backing up over 1TB for many years from multiple machines, and all I do is check the emails each morning. Close to flawless. I understand some of the issues with support – but I (maybe) have been lucky, and have not encountered any problems.
Rob says: 2016/04/06 at 07:31
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Richard, Thanks for your review. It’s nice to see a positive one. However, I’m confused about something you wrote. You said iDrive will not allow the user to have an account with both Windows/PC and OSX?Mac operating systems running simultaneously. However, here’s a quote from the iDrive review by cNet: “IDrive is a universal online backup tool that lets you sync your files across Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android devices.” They also write: “Multiplatform: IDrive has a consistent experience across Windows and Mac clients, making it easy to jump between operating systems and keep your files.” This conflicts with your review. Can you explain this? Is there something I’m not understanding or is it simply that one of the two (yours or theirs) reviews are inaccurate about this capability?
Not Pleased says: 2016/03/31 at 19:35
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I purchased the 1 TB drive/backup plan almost a year ago. The drive slowly but steadily degraded in connectivity, up/down, over time. It was never filled. CS told me to let the battery drain entirely, then reboot. I did. Same problem. CS asked me for screenshots. Sent. No resolution. I finally told them to replace it, but they refuse. Their excuse is they have to return it to their supplier in order to issue a replacement to the customer, so they demand I send it in for a “bench test.” So much for security and privacy. I’ll be getting another solution, but if you are in the market for a reliable personal cloud, you might want to avoid IDrive.
Marie-Helene says: 2016/11/28 at 12:47
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Hi. I have crashplan wich I found quite unreliable and whose client is quite complicated. No way to save their “complicated settings” for reinstall, and so. I would like to test Idrive, and test their client. From the answer in this forum it seem taht the free (5g) demo client is not the same as the paying acount (1T) one ? If so, testing the free account is pointless… And how to choose the right client if they are so many of them. No info on Idrive website. Thank you very much for your idea or suggestion.
David says: 2016/12/29 at 17:40
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Purchased as 12 month subscription today. Installed DataCenterEdition on Linux headless Server and configured backup. All simple enough. I then fired of the backup.. IMMEDIATELY my network hung whilst the backup was running. All my other internet connected machines immediately dropped Internet connectivity, including my work machine that was routed through a hardware CISCO VPN box. I had to cancel the backup. Within 2 minutes all network activity was restored. Something is seriously wrong with the DataCenterEdition product. I set the ‘bandwidth’ option down to 1% – same result. Product is basically unusable in this state. Wrote a detailed report via email to their Support and will wait and see…. not holding my breath.
Greg says: 2017/01/08 at 03:17
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I sugned up to idrive two days ago and while idrive is ru ning on my mac or s7 my entire network crashes. Dowsnt look like i will bw able to get a refund either. Wish i had of read this page. I believed a review in an IT mag.
Matt S says: 2017/01/18 at 18:51
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I’ve been using iDrive for a year now. The backups seem to be ok. What drives me insane though is being unable to delete the iDrive Daemon or even force quit it through the Activity Monitor. I like to be able to control what is happening on my machine, especially since I’m trying to track down malware (see JustCloud comment). Just give me an option to Cleanly Uninstall Idrive and I’ll be happier.
James says: 2017/01/24 at 12:56
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Total DISASTER of a service. After a very quick initial backup I then had repeated back up failures, days without a successful backup, then a backup success out of the blue and then the next day the service kept stalling on simple files like an MP3 or a .txt file. Some times it would be doing a backup for 5 days (despite me only altering or adding 2Gb of data) which I eventually had to cancel as I wasn’t sure if it would ever stop or was stuck in some sort of self perpetuating loop – you name it the service kept failing with no discernible pattern to explain why. I kept trying to resolve the issues myself by changing the settings but after a few weeks gave up and contacted customer service. They tried to help but couldn’t resolve the issues and then after several different attempts I contacted them again and someone just thoughtlessly emailed me “uninstall and reinstall the program and do the back up again” so in disgust I decided to quit the service via email. I was then informed I couldn’t cancel the service via email so after a busy month long work period I finally rang them up and the guy told me I had to just switch auto renewal off myself and in 10 months my data would be deleted. I explained the service had never functioned since day 1 and I felt I shouldn’t have to pay for the service but he explained that in the terms and conditions I have 15 days to evaluate the produce and cancel for a full refund if I was not happy. I presume this clause is buried probably in page 18 of the T&Cs in some small print as I certainly wasn’t aware of it. I asked the guy if he read all the T&Cs in every online service he signed up for he said that he didn’t but I had to abide by them. I then asked him to delete all my data and cancel my account and he told me I had to do it myself but was at least helpful enough to explain how I could do it. He then insisted again that I couldn’t cancel my account I had to just turn off auto renewal and have an account with the dysfunctional iDrive service that I no longer wanted or used for a further 10 months. Quite how iDrive can avoid statutory consumer protection laws on selling malfunctioning products and not give refunds is beyond me. Imagine the outrage if Apple sold iPhones and put in the small print you have 15 days to evaluate the phone and beyond that period if it isn’t working you aren’t eligible for a refund. It is not just paying appropriate taxes that the tech industry are good at avoiding, it seems like it is any responsibility at all. So here I am warning potential iDrive customers on every review platform that I can find on what to expect from this service and it seems like I am not alone. Ironically I changed to iDrive from Crashplan (which worked perfectly until I changed country when it would fail for a week or two) because there customer service was slow but at least their service actually functioned 95% of the time and when I did cancel my monthly plan they refunded me the money for a month because their wasn’t a back up for a couple of weeks. I believe that is called customer service. I now know why iDrive force you to pay for a year upfront. Anyway after unsuccessfully trying cloud back up for over a year now I am now just buying a second hard drive to backup all my data alongside my normal back up hard drive. I will then store the drive off site in case of fire, theft or whatever. It looks like cloud storage still has a way to go.
Mark says: 2017/02/14 at 23:27
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You cannot directly backup a disk image to your cloud storage, but have to back it up locally and then copy it to the storage. There is a note on the iDrive site that states ‘no encryption for disk image backups.’ But if you have to back it up locally and then copy it, it will be encrypted in storage like normal I guess?
Terry Beye says: 2017/02/23 at 11:36
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1) At least for my DSL connection, the software doesn’t work….in 15+ hours of idle computer time, it backed-up about 8GB of a 157GB drive! That is unworkable. And then the audacity of the software telling me it estimated only another 7-8 hours to complete the task. 2) On another occasion I did back-up some data to a local external hard-drive, but after a necessary fresh install of Windows 10, I couldn’t decipher the data to reinstall it 3) So called “customer support” took a week to get back to me….and then mostly with multiple messages that they hope their (never happened) responses had solved my problem. 4) When I was finally directed to a Chat Session, Harish (sp?) never picked up nor responded to my questions. I wouldn’t define that as a “Chat” session. 5) Now they magnanimously suggest that I can set it so that the subscription doesn’t renew next year….or will consider prorating it for the full month it hasn’t worked and I’ve been waiting on support!
Denny says: 2017/03/04 at 09:06
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At present, incremental backup on local drive is not available using Idrive which is a significant deficiency for efficiency. It has been referenced numerous times in the forum as being on a list for potential upgrade. Is this item currently on the upgrade list and has a timeline been set for this.
Dragan Ruzic says: 2017/03/15 at 12:38
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Oh well, just because of good reviews and the great discount through you YouTube review of iDrive, I bought a 1 year 1TB option. Drawback no.1: In the Web Access, you cannot upload larger files than 2GB. It works OK from the app (I’m on a Mac) but the app is so non-intuitive. I have to navigate myself through the file structure and mark files or folders for “backup” – but hey, I’m not backing up these files, I just want to upload them to the online storage. There’s no option of drag & drop into the app, I cannot assign where the files will end up, a nightmare. I’m usually storing files on an external drive and then upload to (previously) Google Drive, it worked like a charm over the web. One more thing. They have a limit of how many tiomes a file is allowed to be downloaded. People I shared files with complained that they lost access or couldn’t download anything.. Chatting with the iDrive support I’ve got this answer: “Currently, we have a limit of 10 for each file download and 25 for each share link irrespective of the number of files in the share link.” What?! Why? As the very important last drawback – iDrive doesn’t have the option of mounting a virtual drive in Finder on my Mac. Well, pCloud has it, guess what I did? I contacted pCloud and there are no limits of any kind, I’m on a free plan to investigate this file and folder sharing, and… I believe I’ll be going over. They still cost less than Google Drive, for the 2GB plan it’s cheaper than G.Drive for 1TB. Thanks for your fine work reviewing all these services.
paul says: 2017/03/16 at 03:33
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The company auto renewal policy is a ripoff, I was out of the country and did not return home until 10 days after the renewal, they refused a refund, even a partial or prorated refund. I will not use their service even though I have to pay for the rest of the year. They said I wasn’t eligible because I didn’t cancel within the 15 day trial period. this is the craziest policy I seen. ripoff 101
Ed says: 2017/07/20 at 11:54
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After coming to the conclusion that a fire or sinkhole could render my hard drive inaccessible, I decided to find some cloud storage for my PC personal data. Having about 78 GB of data, I thought ICloud would be the answer. I purchased 1 TB for a year. I set up a backup yesterday, and it ran all night. This morning, after about 20 hours running….it was only 20% complete. I will update later.
Avery says: 2017/08/09 at 12:04
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What was your final outcome?
Max says: 2017/07/26 at 01:16
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Stay away from IDrive. IT’s VERY slow, both upload and download. I’m on optic fibre and I never saw it transferring higher than 4 mbit. Not to mention their really poor customer service.
PET says: 2017/08/01 at 04:21
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I simply can NOT avoid writing about IDrive. Why? Because they now just charged me for 69$ even that I deleted my account. Well, you can’t really delete your account, but I deleted all the files & made sure that the auto-renewal is NOT turned on. But yea. They turned it on and bam… MONEY GONE! Last year they “detected” that my email is “a professional email” and they wanted to make my account a business acount for 100$ per year. They would have done that AUTOMATICALLY if I did not clicked a link on that email. My account is PERSONAL… I just don’t use a GMAIL account. So this year, about 2 months ago I decided to STOP using IDrive. I clicked delete account which just empties your account from all the files, etc. I made sure that I don’t have auto-renewal active. Yet, they still charged me!! DO NOT USE IDRIVE! They will make it so you will never be able to delete your account! Even if you set it up to do not autorenew… they will renew it FOR YOU!
Julio says: 2017/08/09 at 14:22
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Would NOT recommend it. User goes over their allotted capacity and they get charge for “over usage”. They do this even though they don’t tell the user they will be doing this at the time of opening the account. Nor do they have any notifications in place with thresholds. Nor any configuration allowing the user to configure the software not to allow going over the capacity. You go over it??? BAMMM!!! You get charged.
Bill Adams says: 2017/08/29 at 10:24
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CrashPlan has abandoned the home market leaving many of us looking for alternatives. Crashplan recommends Carbonite, which I previously used quite happily until the price went up 25% upon renewal (to over $100/yr). Right now I’m testing Backblaze and studying Comodo. Backblaze is extremely simple, even primitive; clunky, and not real fast, but it’s cheap and offers unlimited storage. For basic data backup to cloud for a PC it works. Based on these reviews, I will skip iCloud. Thanks everyone for their advice.
Jack Heape says: 2017/10/14 at 08:33
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Thanks for these reviews. I am looking for a replacement for Dropbox and would have tried IDrive. Will definitely not do so after reading the reviews here.Thanks everyone!
Ludde says: 2017/11/22 at 02:55
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Automatic upgrade to more expensive plan unless you opt out! I got this in the mail: “You’ve been with IDrive for a while now, and we hope you’re protecting your most critical photos, videos, and documents. But we’d like to offer you more space, to do more things with! We’ve got a new plan that will give you DOUBLE the space you currently have. For just $10 more a year, you can enjoy 2 TB of backup for as many devices as you want, helping you protect your entire digital life, in one secure place. Our rock solid 256-bit AES encryption, with optional private key, ensures your data stays in your hands only. When your account renews later this month, you will be automatically upgraded to this plan. Or, you can choose to remain on your existing plan by clicking this link.” They tried to automatically upgrade my account to a more expensive plan. Horrible business practice. Sure, there is a link to opt out, but it’s easy to miss since the mail looks like an offering for another plan and not an offering to opt out. It’s misleading and maybe even illegal? I cancelled renewal of my account immediately and will be looking into other backup solutions. I don’t care if it’s more expensive than iDrive as long as they don’t try these kinds of tricks. Also backup speeds were horribly slow for me.
Mike S says: 2017/11/24 at 10:59
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I have to chime in and just report what a horrible experience IDrive was for me. Their support has taken a nose dive apparently. It certainly no longer warrants being listed in the strengths column. No more chat support. And phone support is only 6-6 West coast time Mon-Fri. I signed up 2 weeks ago and installed on my Windows 10 machine. Windows 10 has been rock solid for me for a year now… until I installed IDrive. It crashes 2-3 times a day – freezes and then the Win 10 crash screen where it does its memory dump and then reboots. I started an email thread with tech support. The first thing they asked for was a screen shot. Ok this tells me right out of the gate I’m not getting the A team of tech support. Obviously I don’t have screen shots of crashes. I sent the minidump file to them and they then asked me to try installing on another computer. This is like asking a mechanic why the car keeps dying and he says well try a different car. I’ll be giving BackBlaze a try now.
Joseph Gildred says: 2017/11/26 at 02:24
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Hi, Mike. Thanks for sharing your experience with IDrive. 24/7 chat support is still an option — I just checked. However, it doesn’t sound like it would have been of much help in your case. FWIW, I run IDrive on Windows 10 and haven’t experienced any issues (yet). Hope that Backblaze works out better for you.
RHW199 says: 2017/12/13 at 19:01
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I found IDrive as an alternative to CrashPlan (Carbonite is too slow and pricey) and have been very pleased. My backups and restores are completing on a regular basis (400+GB so far) and my restores have been 100%. I really like being able to backup multiple devices – 5 computers and 3 phones in my case – and I can restore easily enough. After all, backups are only as good as your ability to restore. I’m a little leary of the potential customer service and billing issues several of you have mentioned and will try to anticipate those beforehand.
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IDrive
IDrive Review Fast and reliable, IDrive has a few usability issues Incredibly fast transfers, both backup and restore. Solid compression and security, but not the easiest program to use. Starts from
$ 4.34 per month Visit IDrive
Starts from
$ 4.34 per month Visit IDrive Unlimited device backup Inexpensive plans Sync capabilities File-sharing capabilities Harder to use than Backblaze No unlimited backup plan No two-factor authentication Not multithreaded backup IDrive
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