IDrive Online Backup Reviews 1,762

Good: Cheap and supports external drive sync.
Bad: extremely slow, unreliable sync (doesn't always detect changes, sometimes Windows service just doesn't run), bandwidth "intelligent" feature doesn't work. On top of that, awful UI, and dodgy behaviour, including app adding shortcut to Desktop every time it starts.
Would not recommend.

Have been with iDrive for many years. I did not have 'auto renew' on my account (as I choose each year what to do). This year for the first time no notice that my account was due for renewal and simply suspended account without notice.

I contacted them to ask why no notice? No answer.. eventually they offered a two week extension at no fee or charge so I could remove my data as not renewing at $95.

My ticket offering two week extension confirmed my account would close at end of the two weeks - which is what I wanted.

Immediately when starting the two week extension they billed my credit card (the one they have no auto renew on nor any authorisation to take payments) for a full year.

I webchated 'Chris' - complete arrogance! They switched my account to auto-renew and deliberately took the $95. He advised it was my responsibility to cancel account (No - idrive told me they were cancelling). He advised it was my responsibility to log into portal to check whether auto-renew had been updated by them - not theirs. I can't begin to explain how arrogant 'Chris' was. If you believe in customers you will part company with him pronto.

Had to raise charge as fraud and if my money isn't returned my credit card company will chargeback as fraud and report to their bank on their fraudulent behaviour.

Will it make any difference - not of course it won't they will still behave in just the same way. idrive are going down the proverbial 'pan' and wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly stopped trading - so buyer beware.

I had iDrive for 3 years and it performed well until Christmas 2023, that's when I renewed my computer and bought one with the latest Windows 11 operating system.
I am not very confident about restoring and setting up and so enlisted a Technocrat to do the job for me! Which he did fantastically .. and quickly I might add.
I asked iDrive if their software was W11 compliant and they assured me it was. Then came the Restore from the regular back-ups I had always done. That's when the trouble began!
It placed the restored files and folders in odd places - possibly as they were saved from W10 - although I was assured their software would place everything back in the same or similar places and in the same order as they were saved. This turned out to be false.. but of course I didn't know it at the time!
I then proceeded to do a back-up of the new PC, which took 3 days! Wow I thought, it is much slower than the old system. About 10 days later I got in touch as it wasn't working. A technician worked on it via a remote link, found a problem and fixed it! But it continued to baffle me, I kept finding files and folders in odd places! - then I found out why! The software had duplicated just about everything, thousands of files in folders, plus all the photographs and music and some of the folder names were similar but changed! There was over 200 Gb of duplication!
I was gobsmacked! and went onto the cloud backed-up versions to see if I could see why. I discovered that somehow the original computer had been Linked to itself! I would certainly not know how to do that or why that should be necessary, it seemed to me that it was something their system had done!
It took me approximately between 2 and 3 weeks to find all this duplicated stuff as I had other things to do, but I had to compare the folder contents with the other similarly named folders only to find they were in fact populated with differing numbers of files! So I couldn't just find similarly named folders and erase them, I had to check and compare every single one! Can you imagine the laborious and stressful job I had facing me? .. let alone the time it took!
Then I contacted their Help again to report this HUGE problem, which was met with doubt and denial! I couldn't believe their attitude! Atop of this, their chat windows weren't working properly, I kept getting cut off (or dropped by the helper - I suspected - when it got difficult!), sometimes they left me waiting up to half an hour to check things, the chats were timing out, and to cap it all they told me I hadn't done any backing up since December, and this was now March! .. but I had! at least 12 or more - they were automated anyway -(unless my PC was off at the time of Auto back-up) but I always did them upon start up. I was then instructed to send an error report, I tried many times, but it just would not do what he said it ought to. The Helper insinuated I wasn't doing it correctly, but I was, I was following his instructions to the letter - and then said that he should use a remote connection to send it as I didn't know what I was doing! I was livid and insulted! At that point, the chat dropped - yet again - and so I closed it all down as I had been on line with them for almost 7 hours!
The next day I tried again and the Error report went first time, which pointed, again, to their site or software - in my opinion. They finally got the back-ups working correctly, how I don't know.
My subscription was due within days but I felt patronised and let down, and had lost confidence in their once reliable software! I then said that they ought to waive the due subscription About £80, but they said that was a billing issue who I should contact. I did, and explained about experiences. I was told they would look into it and call me the next day. It never happened.
There is small print in their pricing section which says that you must cancel by hitting the link ‘Cancel my Automatic Renewal’ which I found and cancelled with one day to run. Their site then asks why you are cancelling.. so I explained, fully!
Now, although I have cancelled on 22/3, I keep getting emails saying I need to contact them about a ticket numbered problem! It's funny how, reading other people's feedback, that they are also marking this company down and receiving very similar responses, saying they are ‘looking into it’ but clearly they are not! It looks to me like their days are numbered. Shame really, as I believe they were once reputable.
If my experience is anything to go by, I would advise giving iDrive a wide berth.

David

I disputed a subscription charge with iDrive when they billed even after I directed them to not renew it. The $106.07 renewal amount was over 25 times the $4.24 charge for the previous year. I rejected their half price offer and insisted on a full refund. Despite their ever-changing descriptions of company policy, my persistent requests and filing a credit card dispute eventually led to them issue a full refund.

Switched to iDrive from iCloud due to iCloud regularly failing to upload larger files even though I was paying for tons of storage space. Enough was enough and I moved to iDrive.

So far, so good! Plenty of space (5TB) for a very reasonable price, automatically backs up my selected folders to a cloud drive.

Customer services have been great so far, my only disappointment was being told that Mac Time Machine Backups may not work when backed up using their express drive service.

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.