When comparing MEGA vs IDrive, the Slant community recommends MEGA for most people. In the question“What are the best cloud backup services?” MEGA is ranked 4th while IDrive is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose MEGA is:
Linux, Windows and Mac.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Cross platform
Linux, Windows and Mac.
Pro Client-side encryption
All files uploaded to Mega are first encrypted on the users side. To access files a decryption key must be supplied. For ease of use, the decryption key can be appended to the URL you share.
Pro 50GB free
50 GB trial for new accounts after registering for a month, then 15 GB. There's also three upgrade plans, starting at 500GB and $110/yr. 15GB may not seem much, but Dropbox only offers 2GB for the free plan. This is better than Google Drive because Google Drive storage is shared with all the Google services you are using.
Pro Functional web interface
Pro Easy to use
Just drag and drop files in the browser window, then create a link for sharing. You will need an account to create a link. To streamline the process for new users you can start uploading as soon as you access the website and create an account while it's uploading.
Pro Respects personal privacy
They will never look through your files unless they ask for permission.
Pro Open source client
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 Slow syncs
Servers are slow, and the new app is terrible.
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.