Review: IDrive Online Backup

www.backupreview.info

Backup Review Rating:

(4 stars out of possible 5)

http://www.idrive.com

Summary

IDrive, is a service offered by Pro Softnet Corporation, an ASP and Internet Solutions Provider, based in Woodland Hills, CA.

IDrive offers 2GB of free online backup space to its clients with every subscription. For this free 2GB offer, there are no backup and restore restrictions or bandwidth limits or restrictions on file type. The backups are automated, with remote backups of files/folders and IDrive boasts of world-class infrastructure for the data centers and advanced data encryption.

IDrive is one of a handful companies that also provide online backup service for Mac. This review does not include their Mac offering.

IDrive requires a minimum system configuration which it specifies on its website and at the time of product download/purchase and installation. It requires Microsoft Windows 2000 (Service pack 4), Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP Home/Professional, Windows Vista, and Windows Home Server. Internet Explorer 6 must be installed. The software also requires above 512 MB RAM, 10 MB Free Hard Disk space for installed program, 20 MB or more recommended for local caching.

IDrive comes in two flavors– Basic and Pro. IDrive Basic allows users a 2GB of online backup space absolutely free for storing photos, media files or other important documents. This service is comparable to services offered by the competition. This option is considered best for individuals and families. Users have the option to upgrade to the IDrive Pro version depending on their needs.

IDrive Pro is considered to be ideal for small businesses or individuals with very large online backup needs offering 150 GB of storage space for backups, for a small fee of USD 4.95/month or USD 49.50/year. With IDrive, Pro users can create and manage multiple accounts for small Businesses. As a matter of caution, IDrive encourages users to upgrade to one of the higher storage plans if their usage exceeds the opted plan to avoid the overuse charges since for usage beyond the opted plan for business plans, there may be an overuse charge at the rate of USD 0.50/GB/Month.

The advantages of IDrive are:

- Files can be accessed anywhere, anytime

- Convenient, elegant and organized

- Installation and ease-of-use on multiple systems

- Encrypted backups for maximum data security/privacy

- Retains 30 individual versions of backed up data

- Drag-and-drop restore is possible using the optional IDrive Explorer interface in addition to IDrive Classic options to backup and restore.

IDrive provides optional encryption of data on storage with a user defined key known only to the user and no one else. It uses a 128 Bit SSL encryption during transmission and a 256 Bit encryption during storage.

IDrive offers a fully functional trial account to users with 2GB of online backup space absolutely free. This 2GB free account is available in Windows and Mac versions. A new version of the software for windows was released recently. The IDrive for Mac version sports the same ease of use and efficiency features as in the Windows platform. Pricing for the Mac service remains same as for the Windows, starting at $4.95/month for 150GB of storage for personal use.

The highlights of the IDrive is its user friendly GUI and ease of operation. It effectively uses Internet bandwidth and uploads data in compressed format during transmission. Incremental backups quicken the process of regular backup and versioning features allow you to store up to 30 versions of documents, while storage space is calculated on the latest version of the document. Mapped drives can also be backed up even when the system is in a log off mode. The open file backup feature that is available for Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server is unique to this application. IDrive backup or restore operation can be set up from behind HTTP/SCOKS proxy servers and the local computers contents can be synchronized with that of the IDrive account. The robust search feature enables a quick search and retrieval.

Support for the software is available over email and telephone. Users can also download the user manual, which is very detailed and also view the online demo. FAQs posted on the site also provide answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Company Information

CEO: Raghu Kulkarni
Employees: 20 (in the USA)
Funding: Self-funded and profitable
Revenues: $8.3 Million (2007) for Pro-Softnet (Parent company); unknown for IDrive
Positioning: Provides secure online backup services to individuals, small and medium sized businesses.

Getting started with IDrive

Sign up for a free account is fairly simple. To sign up, IDrive asks for your name, email and password and asks you to choose the platform– Windows or Mac. Then you hit the Sign up for a free account button. The sign up is confirmed through the screen below and you are allowed to download the IDrive Basic.

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