IDrive Review

Pros:

• Monthly fee equates to less than our Market Standard of 15 cents per GB
• Offers file sharing capability
• Offers high quality customer support
• Allows you to set your bandwidth usage
• Offers a "Restore Wizard"
• Allows you to restore files for an indefinite amount of time
• Online backup company has been in business for at least 5 years
• Professional plan offers server backup

Cons:

• At this time, we did not find any notable cons

Conclusion:

We found IDrive to meet or exceed almost all of our Market Standard criteria, making it an excellent choice for those seeking an online backup service. IDrive offers a personal plan with up to 150 GB for $4.95 per month. They also offer several professional options that include additional features, such as server backup. We were also pleased with IDrive’s “Restore Wizard” that allows you to restore your files indefinitely for up to 30 previously saved versions.

Features

Using IDrive is as easy as downloading their software and then selecting the folders you want to have backed up. You have the option of setting your backups to be performed continuously or on a schedule. Note that our review does not apply to IDrive's Unlimited plan, which is lacking several features of IDrive's personal plan, such as Mac compatibility, bandwidth throttling, and true archiving. IDrive also performs incremental backups, meaning it only backs up new or changed files. This saves bandwidth and keeps future backups from slowing down your computer. IDrive allows you to customize your backup sets so that it will only back up the files you want. They also let you create different versions of files.

IDrive offers file sharing capability, which allows you to share your files with another party. They also offer a “Restore Wizard”, a step-by-step process that helps you restore lost files to their proper place on your computer. They let you go back and restore deleted files for an indefinite amount of time for up to 30 versions. IDrive has smartphone apps available for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android, and their service is compatible with both Macs and PCs.

Professional Options

IDrive offers both business and personal plans, and they let you upgrade from a personal to business plan without having to re-upload your files. However, they do not offer a free trial for their business plans. Their business plans offer additional features, such as full web-based administration support, priority security support, unlimited included users, and the ability to back up a computer running on a server operating system. They offer 50 GB for $9.95 per month, 100 GB for $19.95 per month, 500 GB for $49.95 per month and 1000 GB for $79.95 per month.

Customer Support

IDrive offers phone support Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST. Live chat and email support are available 24/7. We found their customer support, as a whole, to be high quality. They do not offer forums or a searchable knowledgebase, but they do offer an FAQ section as well as tutorials, which we found to be very helpful.

Security

IDrive has been in business for 13 years, and their parent company is Pro Softnet Corporation. It is important to choose an established online backup provider to ensure that your files stay safe and secure. IDrive offers 256-bit AES encryption, which changes your data into a form that can only be read by the intended receiver with a proper decryption key needed to decipher the message.

Pricing

IDrive offers a personal plan that includes 150 GB for $4.95 per month. This works out to be cheaper than our Market Standard of 15 cents per GB. If you pay for a year of service, you can receive two months free. IDrive also has an unlimited plan for $49.95 per year. As previously discussed, our review above does not cover the Unlimited plan, which is lacking several features of IDrive's personal plan. IDrive has an indefinitely free personal account available that offers up to 5 GB of storage. As mentioned above, IDrive offers professional plans of 100 GB for $9.95 per month, 200 GB for $19.95 per month, 500 GB for $49.95 per month, and 1000 GB for $79.95 per month.