IDrive Online Backup Reviews 1,755

The service is reliable, although I've experienced minor issues and bugs when dealing with backups and downloads from synced devices. The UI looks very old and is not particularly user friendly. Servers are very slow, and often non responsive. I was put off by dark patterns used by this company:
- couldn't downgrade to the free plan, I had to contact them because it's impossible from the UI (which is also illegal in the EU, as far as I know). Massive waste of time and very confusing, because the UI kept saying that I am on a paid plan (and still does, after a few months).
- The deleted data still adds up to the total space used, even months after deleting. I had to upgrade because I thought I needed more space, and realized later that it was not the case.
I am now on a free plan that I use purely to backup my photos from Android, which works well because it preserved the same folder structure as on Android. Another option would be the FolderSync app, which costs only €7.

Appallingly rude support and inaccurate marketing material. 1st, idrive web said join us and have a London based server. After signing up and starting to upload, I see it shows a 300+ day time line to back up 3 TB. As I have a stable 40Mbps connection I consider this rubbish. Contact chat support (NB: This is not real support just a shallow we fix minor issues help chat) I was told we don't have London servers for e, only e2 and I had to send screen shot before they would believe me what their site states. Anyway, they have connected me to a server in Ireland, no wonder it's so bloody slow. They then say we will send a HDD so 1st upload is faster, I have to follow a link for a form, but link doesn't work, said I have to use "proper support" as they (chat) can't send me the form. 2 Days later I chat with support, who, after 5 minutes waiting, say my ticket will take 3 business days for them to respond, I asked why the ticket is marked as low priority? The agent then cut the chat whilst I was typing. Be aware... pay peanuts and you should expect simians distracted by trying to type Shakespeare. UPDATE - Idrive told me that I should use their express service, where they provide a 5TB drive, I backup, send it to them to upload onto their servers, saves months of time, I thought yes sounds good, but.... I can't get their request form to download, spoken / chatted with at least 6 agents who all said yes express is available and then tried to get the doc for me. No success, and today, after 2 weeks of communication, their support emails saying Express is no longer available in the UK. WHAT??? it's all over their website saying UK = idrive Express. What an utter bunch of unless imbeciles.

I switched to IDrive because i need more storage than my current Google and Amazon backups for my phone, and the price for iDrive is better.

I was pleasantly surprised that they also offer more options for a better price.

The setup wasn't as user friendly as Google and Amazon, and the initial backup job as long, but you absolutely cannot beat their price for what they offer - i feel like i bought a cadillac for a bargain

Idrive does not allow for password reset(authentication).

Tried to sign up as a customer multiple times. Website goes inyo meltdown. No action or movement for over 10 minutes. Possibly longer. Tried multiple times. Different laptops. Customer Service unable to help. We do not have your email in our system. True because I have not been able to sign up.

I have been a user of iDrive Backup on my PC since September of 2013. I use it to backup my valuable documents and photos. I have thousands of old family photos I have scanned in, so these are very precious to me.
I have almost 5 TB stored on iDrive.
I have setup up the iDrive app to run nightly backups and it sends me an email telling me what was backed up and if there was any issues.
Over all the years that I've been using iDrive there has not been a time that I needed to restore something and it was not on iDrive.
One of the best features I like about iDrive is the versioning. That saved me recently when the file on the computer size was 0 kb, so I restored from the version before. I would have spent hours recreating the data in that file.
Another recent event where iDrive saved me. I recently purchased a NAS and moved files from internal hard drives to the NAS. Apparently the program that I used to do the "move" didn't do it's job and I wound up with missing files.
iDrive to the rescue again. I downloaded what I had stored on iDrive and was able to rebuild the folders/files on my new NAS.
All of this has happened in the last few months.
iDrive does what it is supposed to do.
Another point I want to make is their support. The few times I called iDrive Tech Support I always get to speak to a human, which is unusual these days. I'm picky about Tech Support, as I was in IT for many years, but I have no complaints about the support I've received from iDrive Tech Support.
I'm a very satisfied customer, thank you iDrive.

I was looking for a cloud service to back up my laptop and external hard drives. IDrive was recommended to me. I researched it and signed up. Glad I did. Easy to download, set up, and schedule backups. I found it reasonably priced and easy to use.

These are scammers dont ruin your business as they can close your account and destroy your data always use USA or UK based companies like Wasabi etc

In the fast-paced digital age, securing and managing your data is paramount. iDrive emerges as a stellar solution, offering a comprehensive suite of features that make data backup and storage a breeze.

Key Features:
Cross-Platform Compatibility:
iDrive supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. This cross-platform compatibility ensures that your data is seamlessly accessible regardless of the device you're using.

Effortless Backup and Restore:
With iDrive, backing up your files is a cinch. The intuitive interface allows you to schedule automatic backups, ensuring that your important data is always up to date. Restoration is equally straightforward, providing peace of mind in case of data loss.

Secure Cloud Storage:
iDrive employs robust encryption protocols to secure your data during both transit and storage. The data is stored in highly secure data centers, adding an extra layer of protection to your sensitive information.

Real-Time Syncing:
Stay in sync across multiple devices with iDrive's real-time syncing capabilities. Whether you're working on your computer or making edits on your mobile device, changes are instantly reflected across all connected platforms.

File Versioning:
Accidentally overwrite a file? iDrive's file versioning feature has you covered. Retrieve previous versions of files, allowing you to undo changes and restore documents to a specific point in time.

IDrive Express for Swift Transfers:
For large datasets, iDrive Express offers a physical storage device for rapid initial backups. Ship the device to iDrive, and they'll transfer the data to your account, saving valuable time.

Pros:
User-Friendly Interface:
iDrive's interface is designed with simplicity in mind. Even for users new to cloud storage, the learning curve is minimal.

Ample Storage Plans:
Choose from a variety of storage plans that cater to different needs, ensuring you only pay for what you require.

Comprehensive Security Measures:
iDrive prioritizes the security of your data, employing encryption and secure data centers to safeguard your information.

Cons:
Learning Curve for Advanced Features:
While basic operations are intuitive, some advanced features might require a bit of exploration for full utilization.

Dead slow. I have a 1Gb up/down connection, and backups crawl between 15 and 30Mbps. The GUI is unintuitive, and syncing doesn't always work...

I found IDrive very good primary backing up from my Netgear NAS. I found their support, both technical and billing excellent but ultimately it is too expensive for me to justify for personal use hence the loss of 1 star.

iDrive does not recognize that files were deleted on another computer and uploads them again. Then they get downloaded to the computer where they were previously deleted. This is a BIG issue and makes it impossible for me to use iDrive to keep a set of files current between 3 computers.
UPDATE 1/2/24 - I contacted iDrive Support with this issue and received the following response:
We request you to elaborate your query to assist you better.
However, if you looking to remove the files from your IDrive cloud space, please make sure that after deleting the files from the IDrive cloud you have deselected the same files from the IDrive backup set on your computer.
Thanks,
Your IDrive Support Team
We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If you have additional questions or information regarding the issue, please reply to this email.
No, the response did not answer my question at all. This is a known problem, not a new issue, with this software.

Basically does what it says on the tin, keeps backups of selected data with plenty of storage for a reasonable price.
Why the 3 stars? well if you're like me and upgrade your system often then here is one thing to keep in mind.
I've just installed a 2tb NVME SSD as I wanted a faster drive for my photos and videos, the old HDD is way to slow these days. Nice easy job, drive up and running now just need to redirect IDrive to the new folder locations, except you can't! (customer service confirmed this) meaning that 500Gb of data now needs uploading again even though it already exists, 3 days in so far and still uploading!
I also backup to Amazon photos, no problems here, redirect the app to the new location, 10 minutes while it verified the files and job done.

I signed up for their Personal 2 year plan and managed to get a backup of some folders on my PC to a NAS drive. I could see the backup files on the NAS but neither the iDrive desktop app or their online app could see them, so it would have been impossible to restore the backup, which is obviously completely useless.

I contacted their help via chat describing the issue and they replied 3 days later (having promised to reply within 48 hours) with a message which bore no resemblance to my issue - they either hadn't read my message or do not understand English.

I replied describing my issue again and they didn't reply for another 5 days, by which time I had cancelled my subscription.

During this time I was also completely unable to run a backup to their cloud, so again, completely useless.

In conclusion, their service for MS Windows does not work and their support is awful.

I've been using them for over 5 years now and I've had outstanding experiences. I have a a lot of streaming video I backup and also some basic desktop PC, music and photos. Much of my backups are from external drives and I have only ever had one issue, that tech support quickly helped resolve. Once a year they will also send you an encrypted drive if you have a lot of data to backup to add at one time. You send it back and they upload it to your account. Works great and is free. For a personal backup system, it's fairly sophisticated but if you have some patience and some computer experience, it's manageable to setup and maintain. Some of the negative reviews appear to be more user related than system issues, in my opinion. Their log files have been useful in debugging any issues and the backups run unattended on computers that support background services to run properly. Especially if you have a few TB's of data, highly recommend.

The Cloud Drive basically doesn't work!
It all sounded great until I tried to use it. I had a discrepancy between the contents of the Cloud Drive on my two computers - after 2 hours on their help chat we appeared to have resolved the issue, and the files were consistent between the two computers. A couple a weeks later I went to get a file from the cloud drive and it wasn't there. On investigation there were big discrepancies between the contents of the cloud drive on the two computers, and on on one of them literally thousands of files in various folders had simply vanished! (I had not deleted them!). Luckily my files were still safely stored with my old provider so I will be returning to them and asking for a refund. Pretty basic stuff - if it loses my files, I'm gone!

Painfully slow upload and download speeds. They hook you in with generous offers and pricing, but once you try it out, your files will be uploading and downloading very slowly and it's not worth the hassle. You will never get to use your storage. If they're willing to fix that issue then, I would reconsider. But the product is barely useable.

Tech support sucks. I will never recommend this company. Their tech support is terrible. You can not use what they provide. They are rude and do not help users.

#Every time you log in you get to stare at, and click on, small fuzzy pictures of motorcycles, bridges, bicycles, etc. Sometimes several of these in sequence. What a pain! If you're so serious about security, just email me a code.
#Their software is buggy. I backed up a directory tree, then found I couldn't navigate into one of the backed up directories. Not on their Windows program. Not on their website. I submitted a query about this to technical support; they never got back to me.
#They don't do an exact backup. They skip empty directories. These may be placeholders that a program requires. This is unacceptable. A backup should be an exact replica of what's on the hard drive.
#Technical support is spotty. Sometimes they get back to you, sometimes they don't. This is unacceptable. When I submit a ticket I need an answer.
#Pricing is all over the place. I've seen different deals on different websites, all on the same day. I signed up for 500G storage for $9.95, only to see 5 Terabyte storage for $9.95 on their website a few days later. This makes me feel like I was ripped off.
#In conclusion: This is a cloud backup solution that is not ready for prime time.

Easy to signup, makes it complicated to cancel subscription. SHABY, besty avoid