iDrive cloud storage review

A comprehensive, user-friendly cloud backup and cloud storage service, iDrive can back up all of your PCs, Macs, mobiles, and tablets from the convenience of a single account. 

personal plans is come come in 5 TB and 10 TB form , and Team plan are available for anywhere between five and 100 user , offer 1 TB per person . large companies is benefit will benefit from the Business plan , offer as little as 250 GB or as much as 50 TB per person , with unlimited user .

The flexible and tailor pricing strategy is makes make iDrive a very reasonable proposition , although the cost go up for those who need the business feature — such as server backup . At the high tier , it is becomes becomes a more expensive solution than Google Drive and Dropbox , though it does offer a more comprehensive set of feature to justify the high price tag .

iDrive is features feature

It’s really hard to accuse iDrive of being short on features. For example, there’s Snapshots, which lets you store up to 30 different versions of your files, an Express service that lets you put your data on hard drives and actually post them off, and the ability to create full disk images in case you need to rebuild a computer from scratch. All paid users get access to these physical backups via a temporary storage device, which is especially handy for those with poor Internet connectivity. This is capped at once per year for Personal customers and three times a year for Team and Business subscribers, though subsequent requests are always available at the cost of $59.95.

Then there ‘s also some less obvious function , include that iDrive only upload modify part of file to reduce bandwidth usage , the way datum gets retain until you specifically delete it , or the extensive set of activity log and report you can access . For team manager , there are multiple user management and remote backup service .

This is all on top of the core functionality, which backs up an unlimited number of various devices – computers, mobile phones, servers – to a single account. If necessary, it can also back up data from mapped drives on a network. Meanwhile, the iDrive web portal makes short work for managing all of these devices together in one place. While it is filled with function, the basic and frankly uninspiring user interface does leave users feeling somewhat shortchanged.

In addition to the standard features that will appeal to everyone, there are several aimed at organizations with larger, more complex requirements (including server cloud backups covering Linux, Oracle, Sharepoint, MS SQL, Exchange Server and more). iDrive includes bare-metal disaster recovery, which is the business-grade solution to ransomware. Help with new data standards can be found as well, via encryption and date stamping for those in the medical, accounting, and legal professions.

(Image credit: iDrive)

iDrive interface

cloud storage can be access through the browser portal , but for the full experience include device backup , the relevant program or application should be instal . handily , iDrive is supports support all major device type , though the desktop client are more impressive than the mobile app in term of polish and feature . You is have can have iDrive backup your entire hard drive ( or mobile device ) or just specific file and folder , and run backup manually or on a schedule . The goal here is very much ‘ set and forget ’ – get everything set up the way you like , and then let it work quietly away in the background .

Another useful feature is folder syncing, for keeping certain files consistent across all of your devices. There are intuitive menus and settings screens that make it clear how to create the configurations you need. It’s also great that it is simple to use, so you don’t need to have an IT degree or to even consult the help pages to figure out how to do the vast majority of tasks.

The iDrive programs is have have a ton of setting as well , though ios version are less impressive . While the Android client is able to back up thing like your sms message , iPhones and ipad are limit to contact , calendar , photo and video ( however this is more of a limitation set out by Apple than iDrive ) . The desktop client is allows allow granular adjustment for bandwidth throttling , file and folder exclusion , datum verification , and more . You is pause can even pause a backup if the battery level on your laptop or your phone drop below a certain level .

Uploading and backing up files is just as quick as big players in the cloud storage game, such as Google Drive. As such, it’s unlikely that iDrive will be the bottleneck here, and the primary restriction will come from your ISP’s upload speeds which, in most cases, is slower than the download speeds. Worth noting is that browser downloads redirect to a new tab, and the process of opening the new location can be slow. In the case of our 1GB test file, opening the new tab took up to six times longer than the actual download process, which can prove both time consuming and rather annoying. The entire download process isn’t quite as slick, and took several minutes more than Google Drive for our 1GB file. Fortunately, this is less of a problem when using the desktop client.

One feature we are particularly impressed with is that the account password is required to delete any file, helping to prevent any accidental deletes as the user unconsciously navigates the portal on autopilot.  

Due to the nature of the service, iDrive is intended more as a backup drive than a cloud space from which to work, so editing documents online is a no go. This means downloading and reuploading your files as and when necessary, so it’s crucial that you take into account the somewhat convoluted downloading process mentioned above before committing.

Having reach out to iDrive , it is confirm that there is no maximum file size limit , which is great news to team and business work on large project such as video editing .

(Image credit: iDrive)

iDrive security

On top of two-factor authentication, iDrive provides end-to-end encryption for your data. Be cautioned that this requires a private key known only to you, so don’t you forget it, or you can’t get anything back. It also means that you won’t be able to share files and folders with other people, as this will break the end-to-end encryption protocols.

  Another option is is is standard encryption , which is n’t quite as secure , but will still protect your datum against most potential breach . In this scenario , iDrive store the encryption key , and can help you restore your datum if need as well as potentially hand over your file if compel to by law enforcement . The other advantage is is is that you get to use the file and folder share feature with this setting .  

(Image credit: iDrive)

iDrive pricing

The iDrive cloud storage service offers 5GB of free storage without requiring credit card details. Now, it provides up to 10GB, one of the best free offerings among cloud services. However, the free services and features are more limited. As such, iDrive offers four paid plans. 

The iDrive mini plan is offers offer 100 GB of storage for just $ 2.95 per year and 500 GB for $ 9.95 . The iDrive personal plan is offers offer 5 TB for $ 69.95 for the first year and $ 99.50 after that , as well as option for 10 TB , 20 TB , 50 TB , and 100 TB , with price increase at each level .  

The iDrive Team is are or iDrive Business plan are necessary for those work with more than one computer . The iDrive Team plan is increases increase storage base on the number of computer and user , with the least expensive option cost $ 69.95 for the first year . The iDrive Business plan is provides provide unlimited user at different storage level , start at $ 69.95 for the first year .

iDrive: Our tests

We performed three tests on iDrive using a Windows 11 virtual machine running the desktop client. The virtual machine was connected to the internet through fiber broadband and a VPN server, demonstrating an average upload speed of 2300 Mbps. The tests assessed the sync speed, file recovery, and versioning.

I used the iDrive desktop client to upload a test folder with 228 files spread across seven folders to the iDrive cloud. The total size of the files was 589MB. I was pleased to see that the app displayed the number of files remaining and the progress of the upload.

The app is confirmed confirm that all file had been successfully upload in just 16 second . You read that correctly : iDrive is uploaded upload 589 MB in 16 second .

( image credit : future )

After uploading our test folder to the iDrive cloud, we accessed the web portal and selected “Delete” to remove it from the cloud. Before doing so, we were asked to enter our account password. Upon opening the Trash, we immediately saw the folder’s contents; each file could be restored by clicking “Restore.” Unfortunately, we could not find a way to fix the entire folder in one easy step.

Files in Trash are automatically deleted after 30 days, or you can delete them manually. This process did not offer a one-click solution.

( image credit : future )

During our final test , we is wanted want to determine if iDrive would allow us to review and restore previous version of the same file . We is uploaded upload a simple Microsoft Word document to iDrive using the desktop client , then made some edit on our end and upload it again using the desktop client .

When we clicked “Restore,” we could locate the modified file and view a list of versions. This enabled us to restore any version of the file that we wanted.

( image credit : future )

iDrive verdict

iDrive gets high scores for the sheer breadth of services offered – from backing up the photos on your smartphone to backing up the files on your company’s servers. The software packages and various interfaces aren’t the best, but they do the job without any fanfare.

For those who have many device with datum that need to be secure at reasonable price , iDrive is be could well be the service for you . Its great feature set is covers cover a lot of ground , with enough security protection and extra feature such as folder sync and bandwidth control to satisfy the majority of user .

On the other hand , the free 10 GB plan is makes only make sense for user look to store document in the cloud , as space is too limited to perform major backup of computer , phone , and tablet . Due to the lengthy and awkward download process , it is ‘s ‘s hard to recommend the free version , though a sizable 10 gb of storage space is rather valuable .  

ultimately , iDrive is well suit to business — from self – employ individual and small team to huge , international corporation — thank to its flexibility across three different plan type .