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Add to SafariWhen comparing CrashPlan vs IDrive, the Slant community recommends CrashPlan for most people. In the question“What are the best cloud backup services?” CrashPlan is ranked 3rd while IDrive is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose CrashPlan is:
You set it up once and from then it runs in the background whenever you are not using your computers (or at specified times).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Unintrusive
You set it up once and from then it runs in the background whenever you are not using your computers (or at specified times).
Pro Supports multiple backup destinations
You can set up different files/folders to back up to specific places.
Pro Differential and incremental file backup
CrashPlan updates only that part of the file that has changed, saving bandwidth and time.
Pro Unlimited online storage
The $5/mo individual plan and the $12.50/mo family plan gets you unlimited cloud storage.
Pro Allows custom encryption keys
Custom 448 bit user-provided encryption key can be used to encrypt the backed up data in the cloud.
Pro Users can order a physical copy of their data
They will send you an external hard drive to your house.
Pro Unlimited revision history
CrashPlan saves all previous versions of a file.
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
Cons
Con Buggy
Con Home edition discontinued
CrashPlan's home edition will be shut down on October 23, 2018. They are no longer accepting new signups or subscription renewals.
Con Popular features (local backup and trusted offsite backup) no longer available
Con Heavy client
The BackupClient is based on Java and therefore a lot more memory-intensive than most other backup solutions
Con Buggy
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.
