shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use IDrive?

Online cloud backup for personal, business, and servers - idrive.com

Depends. A strong value pick for individuals and small businesses backing up many devices on a budget. Avoid it if restores are mission-critical or you can't tolerate recurring client-side vulnerabilities.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~18 public sources: expert reviews, Reddit threads, CVE databases, and vendor pages. Several snippets truncated, so exact ratings and renewal prices unverified.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

IDrive Personal

$4.98 first-year promo (per user report); 5 TB tier listed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
IDrive BusinessSee business signup (not listed in sources)
IDrive e2 Object StorageSeparate S3-compatible plans

Best for

  • Budget multi-device personal backup
  • Small businesses with mixed endpoints
  • Bulk storage seekers (5 TB+ tiers)
  • NAS/Synology owners

Not for

  • Anyone needing guaranteed fast, painless restores
  • Teams that can't tolerate client-side CVE risk
  • Buyers averse to first-year-promo renewal pricing
  • Guess: users wanting Dropbox-style sync and sharing

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Patch the Windows client immediately: CVE-2026-1995 enables local privilege escalation.

medium

Promo deals like the cited $4.98 are intro pricing; verify renewal cost before committing.

medium

IDrive doesn't store your private key — lose it and backups are unrecoverable.

medium

Restoration complaints recur on Reddit; test a full restore early.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • PCMag: fast, easy to use, excellent backup with unmatched value.
  • Priced inexpensively per independent reviewers.
  • Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, servers, iOS, Android.
  • Optional private-key encryption keeps data unreadable to IDrive.
  • Broad coverage: device, server, SaaS, Google Shared Drive backup.

Cons

  • Repeated Reddit reports of painful restores and support frustration.
  • 2026 critical privilege-escalation CVE in the Windows client.
  • 2018 breach documented by researcher; security attitude criticized.
  • Hidden fees and cheaper alternatives flagged by pricing analysts.
  • Mixed enthusiast sentiment: 'Is anyone happy with iDrive?'

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/27/2026 - 18 sources - Private-key encryption offered, but a pattern of client vulnerabilities — including a critical 2026 privilege escalation — is a real concern.

official x4review x11security x3
  • CVE-2026-1995 — Windows client privilege escalation, Critical local privilege escalation in the IDrive Windows backup client, disclosed March 2026.
  • CVE-2021-34690 — RemotePC authentication flaw, Improper authentication in iDrive RemotePC before 7.6.48.
  • CVE-2021-34692 — RemotePC high-severity flaw, Vulnerability in RemotePC rated CVSS 7.8.
  • 2018 breach writeup, Researcher documented a breach and criticized IDrive's security handling.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • $4.98 first-year promo (per user report); 5 TB tier listed

    Starting price

  • 18

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Reviewers repeatedly call pricing inexpensive; intro renewals sting.
  • Ease of use: 4/5. PCMag and vendor-page reviews praise fast, easy setup.
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Devices, servers, SaaS, object storage, Google Shared Drive.
  • Support quality: 2/5. Reddit restoration and support complaints recur.
  • Security posture: 2/5. Private-key option, but multiple CVEs including critical 2026 LPE.
  • 2,712 G2 review count Across all IDrive products
  • 4,480+ Users tracked Aggregated review sentiment via checkthat.ai
  • $4.98 (promo) Starting price First-year deal cited by users; verify renewal terms
  • Yes Free tier Dedicated free signup plan

Pricing

IDrive Personal

$4.98 first-year promo (per user report); 5 TB tier listed

  • Personal backup across devices
  • 5 TB tier on pricing page

IDrive Business

See business signup (not listed in sources)

  • Team endpoints
  • Server and SaaS backup options

IDrive e2 Object Storage

Separate S3-compatible plans

  • Pay-as-you-go style storage
  • S3-compatible

Security

Private-key encryption offered, but a pattern of client vulnerabilities — including a critical 2026 privilege escalation — is a real concern.

  • CVE-2026-1995 — Windows client privilege escalationCritical local privilege escalation in the IDrive Windows backup client, disclosed March 2026.11
  • CVE-2021-34690 — RemotePC authentication flawImproper authentication in iDrive RemotePC before 7.6.48.12
  • CVE-2021-34692 — RemotePC high-severity flawVulnerability in RemotePC rated CVSS 7.8.
  • 2018 breach writeupResearcher documented a breach and criticized IDrive's security handling.13

What users say

Reviewers praise the price and feature breadth, but power users repeatedly report restore pain, client bugs, and intro-pricing frustrations.

“Is anyone happy with iDrive?”
Reddit, r/DataHoarder
“I've never liked iDrive.”
Reddit, r/DataHoarder
“The iDrive deal is $4.98”
Reddit, r/synology

Alternatives

Compare IDrive with each alternative.

  • Backblaze

    Simple unlimited computer backup; frequent winner in IDrive comparisons.

  • Carbonite

    Established consumer backup in expert roundups.

  • Internxt

    Markets itself as a stronger-encryption IDrive alternative.

    IDrive vs Internxt

  • Dropbox / OneDrive

    Better fit for sync-and-share than pure backup.

Full analysis

Based on ~18 public sources: expert reviews, Reddit threads, CVE databases, and vendor pages. Several snippets truncated, so exact ratings and renewal prices unverified.

Cheap, feature-rich backup for individuals and small teams; restore pain, client CVEs, and intro pricing make it 'depends'.

Methodology

Based on ~18 public sources: expert reviews, Reddit threads, CVE databases, and vendor pages. Several snippets truncated, so exact ratings and renewal prices unverified.

Sources

  1. IDrive Review — PCMagpcmag.com
    review
  2. IDrive Review — Experte.comexperte.com
    review
  3. IDrive Online Backup Reviews — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  4. IDrive Products — G2 (2,712 reviews)g2.com
    review
  5. Is anyone happy with iDrive? — Reddit r/DataHoarderreddit.com
    review
  6. Restoration/IDrive woes — Reddit r/DataHoarderreddit.com
    review
  7. A serious warning about iDrive — Reddit r/synologyreddit.com
    review
  8. IDrive Pricing (2026) — Cloudwardscloudwards.net
    review
  9. IDrive Pricing: Real Costs & Hidden Fees — CompareSaaScompare-saas.com
    review
  10. IDrive reviews aggregate (4,480+ users) — checkthat.aicheckthat.ai
    review
  11. CVE-2026-1995: IDrive Windows Backup Vulnerability — FRSecurefrsecure.com
    security
  12. CVE-2021-34690 — Rapid7rapid7.com
    security
  13. iDrive security breach writeup — dandreifort.comdandreifort.com
    security
  14. IDrive pricing plans — officialidrive.com
    official
  15. IDrive security page — officialidrive.com
    official
  16. IDrive free signup — officialidrive.com
    official
  17. Best IDrive Alternatives — Cloudwardscloudwards.net
    review
  18. Backblaze vs cloud backup servicesbackblaze.com
    official

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