When comparing IDrive vs pCloud, the Slant community recommends pCloud for most people. In the question“What are the best cloud backup services?” pCloud is ranked 15th while IDrive is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose pCloud is:
Allows you to store your HD videos, FLAC music files, and large documents.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Web UI admin console has a feature to individually update IDrive program *settings* on each device or make all the same
This is very helpful to remotely update one or more devices or ensure all settings are the same on devices when managing multiple device backups on the same account.
Pro Web UI admin console has a feature to individually update IDrive *installed program version* on each device or make all the same
This enables updating the installed version on remote devices.
Pro The client UI has a backup progress indicator
The progress indicator can show total bytes backed up and remaining, and the file that's being backed up.
Pro The client UI "Backup" tab has a summary list of folders and files and their sizes selected for backup
Pro Reasonably priced subscription plans
It's one of the few options with subscription plans for unlimited devices and tiered backup quotas, and not a ridiculous price.
Pro It's one of the cheapest options
Pro No file size limits
Allows you to store your HD videos, FLAC music files, and large documents.
Pro Lifetime options for storage space
Allows you to subscribe for life instead of paying every month/year.
Pro Desktop app doesn't take space on hard disk
Computers see it as a network drive.
Pro Other users can upload files to your storage
Have others upload files directly to your account from any browser using "Upload links".
Pro Cross-platform
Backup and use your files from any device with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or iOS.
Pro Very reliable
Pro No synchronization speed limits
Sync files as fast as your internet plan allows you to.
Pro Linux client
Support for all file systems and distributions.
Pro Rewind option for FREE
Rewind option is possible for free up to 15 days back in time, 30 days back with Premium plans and you can pay for a whole year of file versioning only 39 EUR!
Pro Easy Sharing
A lot of sharing options between accounts and other non-pCloud-users.
Pro Branding of Download links
Cool branding feature possible for the videos and pictures :)
Pro Free 10gb of storage
Higher than most of the other cloud services except Mega.
Pro 2tb storage and 2tb bandwidth
Unlike all the other clouds this makes it great for sharing large files. To lots of people.
Pro Free bandwidth with ads
This is nice if you don't care about what is people see on the page when you share the file and you have large files to send.
Pro WebDAV access
Files can be accessed using WebDAV (although there is a limitation at the moment that prevents access via WebDAV if two-factor authentication is set up.. hopefully to be resolved in the near future).
Cons
Con Support is slow to respond or non-responsive
They offer same-day responses when emailed feature requests but take days and days and non-helpful responses when inquired on issues.
Con IDrive program does not auto-update to new versions (many other backup programs do)
While not having an automated version upgrade doesn't enable unattended backup (particularly desired for remote devices or for non-techy users), these options exist:
- The web UI admin console has an option to update the version.
- When a new version exists, an "Upgrade" button appears on the client UI.
Con The backup often misses files
While testing it by editing a file, the app missed it for many hours. However, it usually found the file a many runs later/the next day and backed it up. This flakiness is enough to be concerned.
Con The backup regularly "locks up" on a file in OS-specific directory during backup
When including OS-specific directories in the backup, it regularly freezes on a file, and never the same file. It's possible to cancel the backup, run it again, and it almost always works. Support said not to backup OS directories, and this is true for other backup products too; CrashPlan did not have this issue.
Con Requires too much manual monitoring because it is an unreliable product
It's necessary to regularly check if it's working because it can lock-up on some files, or continually say "verifying files". It's a flakey product.
Con Not a well known company
Con Software develoment has bad QA
The fact the mapping issue even exists is a token of bad QA in software development.
Con Adds drivemapping without asking
The desktop app adds a P: drivemapping without asking for confirmation. Dangerous (not to say totally irresponsible) in case you already have a drive mapped.