IDrive Online Backup IDrive news, announcements, tips, tricks, promotions and other articles of cloudy-interest.

We’re making online backup and file sharing easier than ever. With the the latest updates to our Windows, Mac and mobile apps customers can protect and access the files from an unlimited number of computers and mobiles devices with one plan, in one place. See? Easy.

Not using IDrive yet? Sign up here. Your first 5GB are free.

The updates come as we’ve made the final transition of IDrive from its original platform to EVS, our newly-developed cloud technology. As IDrive and our other services grew, so did our knowledge and experience with cloud storage and data-center infrastructure. Over the past two years we’ve been reworking our hardware and software to accommodate the growth. EVS is the result: a scaleable, secure and flexible storage network that’s affordable and quick.

The important new changes are:

• Backup an unlimited number of computers and mobile devices to a single plan
• Universal access between Windows and Mac
• Mobile devices can now backup contact information, photos and videos

IDrive is available for home and server editions of Windows and Mac OS X and for mobile devices in the Apple App Store and Android Market.

Questions? Comments? Send them to askidrive@idrive.com. You can also join us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Hoping you and your computer have a great day,
Stephen Gold, Business Development Manager | IDrive.com

In this week’s Great Inventions In Backup History we take a look at the backup or “spare” tire.

Driving around town in the early part of the 20th century had its drawbacks. You had to crank your engine to get it going, you couldn’t get where you were going very fast and because the first roads were just glorified dirt paths strewn with horseshoe nails, rocks and potholes. Back then tires had inflatable tubes inside (much like a bicycle tire) that, if punctured, needed to be deflated, removed, patched, re-inserted into the tire, the tire re-mounted and then finally re-inflated before anyone could go anywhere again. (Sound anything like trying to restore from tape-based backups?)

The Thomas B. Jeffrey Company added a feature to their 1909 Rambler that no automobile before had included – a full size, fully assembled, ready-to-go spare tire that could be placed on the car in three minutes. The Rambler’s success was driven by this kind of innovation and a progressive advertising campaign that “emphasized the emotional appeal of the car.” (Hyde)

For many of us our computers are just as important as our cars, and though cars today usually come with a spare of some sort, computers typically only come with one of each part: one display, one keyboard, one hard drive. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a spare copy of your data with you at all times just in case your computer failed? Enter IDrive Online Backup – open your own account today and get your first 5GBs of cloud storage totally free!

Using IDrive you can create a privately encrypted backup of your important data that you can access anytime, anywhere with a web browser or supported mobile device and you won’t have to carry around another physical drive!

Read more about spare tires on Wikipedia and stay tuned for more Great Inventions In Backup History!

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One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is talking to our customers. They are the absolute best source for “in the trenches” information and feedback about IDrive. To this end I set up a special e-mail address for customers to send questions and comments to: askidrive@idrive.com.

This morning I was greeted with the following letter:

Hello,

I’ve been using IDrive for years, and like your software interface. I don’t have any complaints; however, I will admit that the 150GB storage cap has influenced what data I have decided to store on IDrive. The business plans with larger capacities are prohibitively priced.

I recently learned of one of your competitors, #########, and gave their service a trial run. Their software interface is inferior to yours, and looks to be targeted at novice users….basically backing up “everything,” with the user having to specify what to exclude. I like the IDrive approach better.

But then there’s the compelling aspect of ######### – unlimited storage. I can see that aspect of their service outweighing the limitations of the software interface, and now find myself considering a switch to ######### when my IDrive subscription is up for renewal next year.

Are there any plans for IDrive to offer unlimited storage plans at a comparable price? Hopefully you are considering this, vs. resting on your laurels thinking that unlimited storage is just a fad and that you won’t have to deal with it. I used to work for a hotel Internet service provider, whose CEO felt that charging hotel guests for Internet access would always be viable, and that the folks giving it way would fade into the background. Do guests have to pay for hotel Internet access these days? Oops!

As for me, the ######### vs. IDrive decision will be made next year. If ######### is still around and offering unlimited storage, and IDrive is still limited, I’m likely going to switch. I’ll take the hit on the software interface in exchange for the ability to back up all of my stuff.

Just my two cents. Thanks for listening!

This customer, we’ll call him John, subscribes to our most popular IDrive Online Backup plan: $4.95/month or $49.50/year for up to 150GB of storage space from an unlimited number of PCs, Macs and mobile devices. John will have to ask himself a few questions when he makes his decision next year on which service provider to go with:

1. What kind of support are you going to get?
   Every IDrive user enjoys 24-hour live chat support and free access to our phone center at (866) 748-0555. Although IDrive for Business plans are more expensive – this is because Business users enjoy priority support and in the rare case of network overload are given priority bandwidth. Also, Business accounts have “soft” limits, meaning backups will always occur as opposed to being “hard-stopped” at 150GB (IDrive Personal) or 500GB (IDrive Family Pack).
2. What kind of control will you have over your files?
   As John mentioned, IDrive has a powerful interface. Users have the ability to manage their backup at a file-level very easily. Users can create ‘exclusion’ file-types or names, use Automatic Selection to protect certain file-types regardless of location on the computer and when logged in to the User Portal at IDrive.com they can delete, copy, cut, paste, rename and create folders; they have complete control over their data in the IDrive cloud.
3. What level of protection will you get?
   Check the Terms and Conditions of your new “unlimited” backup plan, it might be less unlimited than you think. Most of these plans have a limit to how long they will hold files that have been deleted from your computer – usually just 30 days. What use is your backup if you need a file six months after you accidentally deleted it and your backup has since removed the file because it assumed you didn’t want it anymore? Providers do this because “unlimited” storage with no limit to how long files remain in the cloud is simply not sustainable, in fact, some online backup providers have stopped offering unlimited storage plans for that very reason. Even further, IDrive holds the last 30 versions of each of your files indefinitely and versions don’t count toward your storage – that’s long-term security.
4. How many computers and mobile devices do you want to backup?
   IDrive is license and contract free, users can backup as many computers and mobile devices to their IDrive account as they’d like to one plan, simple as that.
5. Do you have Windows and Mac computers? iPhone or Android?
   IDrive plays nice between Windows and Mac OS X desktops and laptops – full access to files via IDrive.com or the IDrive mobile apps for Apple iOS or Google Android mobile devices.

Hopefully, next year when John is deciding to keep his IDrive account, he’ll take these points into consideration and find that IDrive Online Backup is the best-valued online backup service available.

If you have any questions or comments please send them to askidrive@idrive.com.

You can also join us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Hoping you and your computer are having a great day!
Stephen Gold, Business Development Manager

I was recently visiting with my friend, Heather, at her home in Los Angeles. She’s a professional headshot and portrait photographer. We were talking about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II which had been featured in USA Today this week, CompactFlash memory cards and RAW data files.

She started telling me how beleaguered she was becoming with all of the photos she had accumulated over the years and was curious if I had any recommendations for what she could do to better manage her production and ensure a safe backup of all her work.

When I saw her office I could see what she meant by “beleaguered.” Her desk looked like a miniature data-center with a Mac Pro in the center connected to several USB hubs that linked countless external hard-drives, negative scanners, printers and pen tablets. She had placed a label on each hard drive so she could visually identify their contents because she said sometimes she had hard time finding files otherwise.

This was how she stored and backed up her files, all in one place – and it was kind of a mess. Her goals were to create an offsite backup of her photos and reduce the amount of hard drives she had at home since the bulk of the data she was holding onto was for old projects – she only needed access to her most recent work.

I gave her five great reasons IDrive would serve her well:
1. She could store 1TB for only $80/month and not have to worry about failing drives, warranties and setup.
2. IDrive uses “lossless” compression and encryption – meaning no risk to uncompressed photos.
3. IDrive is a true archive – meaning she can store data as long as she likes even if the data is no longer present on her computer – that’s real online storage.
4. She has full, 24-hour access from any web browser in the world by logging in to her account at IDrive.com – we also have mobile apps!
5. She can share any file/folder to anyone with and e-mail address.

It just took a few minutes to get her IDrive account setup and the software installed. I showed her how to select the drives she wanted to backup and we scheduled her backups to run nightly. A few days later she called me and let me know her backups had completed. She said she had eliminated three hard drives from her “data-center” and was happy to know her years of work were safely stored away in her IDrive. I love selling IDrive accounts to my friends!

Hoping you and your computer have a great day,
Stephen Gold, Business Development Manager | IDrive.com

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IDrive will be giving away one new Apple iPad 2 on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 as grand prize for our “IDrive, ITweet, IWin!” blog/essay contest! Also, two runners-up will each receive an Apple iPod touch!

In order to enter the contest:

1. Write a 300-500 word blog/essay covering one of the following topics:

A. “Have you ever used IDrive to recover from a computer crash? Tell us about it.”

B. “What was it like using IDrive Lite to transfer contacts to your new smartphone?”

C. “Why would you recommend IDrive to your friends and family?”

2. Post your blog/essay anywhere on the Internet!

3. Tweet the URL of your blog/essay with the hashtag #IDriveITweetIWin in order to enter the contest!

Rules and Eligibility. Contest is open to all residents at least 18 years of age in the United States with a valid US mailing address. Tweet the URL by December 11, 2011 with the hashtag #IDriveITweetIWin in order to be eligible; the URL must be publicly available. Blog/essay must be author’s own work. Only one entry per person. The blog/essay may not contain links other than to any page on www.idrive.com. If sources are used they should be cited appropriately. Inappropriate content will immediately disqualify the entry. Blogs/essays will be judged on clarity and quality of content. E-mail askidrive@idrive.com with questions.

Prizes. (1) Apple iPad 2 (16GB/WiFi), (2) Apple iPod touch (8GB), Internet access and other additional products, services and warranties not included. Winners will be announced on December 14, 2011 online including name and city. Prize(s) will be delivered within 6 weeks of draw date. Prizes must be accepted as-is and cannot be exchanged or redeemed for cash value. If the prizes are unavailable, IDrive reserves the right to substitute with a prize of equal value.