You can keep your own encryption key.ĭig deeply and you can set up continuous backups as well as image the entire machine onto an external drive. They’re all encrypted using the 256-bit AES cypher, but the service lacks Acronis’ blockchain technology to verify a backup file’s authenticity. The service can be set to back up every file.

IDrive’s interface is a little busy, with redundant navigational cues that some may find annoying and others may find handy to get to various features. There’s also a page that lets you back up Exchange, SharePoint and other servers. IDrive’s busy interface has links on the left for Backup, Restore, Scheduler, Sync and Settings. The service’s 20.2MB Windows app can be downloaded and installed in three minutes. It’s free (including shipping) to use once a year.

Within a day of when IDrive receives the drive, the files are typically online and ready. The company sends you a USB hard drive onto which you transfer up to 3TB of files, then ship back to IDrive. If your data provider meters your online use, IDrive can ease that first big backup with IDrive Express. There’s also a 5TB tier of IDrive Personal that’s $75 per year. That is just over half what Acronis charges, for twice as much storage. In my tests, I set up the lower tier for the IDrive Personal 1TB plan, which at the time cost $70 since then, however, this plan has doubled in size to 2TB while falling in price to $52 for a year. There’s a free Basic service that offers 5GB of storage space for those with limited backup needs. As with Acronis and Moby, you’ll need to pay for the online storage space, but IDrive is the least expensive backup service of the four services reviewed here, and if you have a lot of data, it can be a bargain. IDrive Personal will archive files from as many computers as you have.

Idrive image backup