Google Photos is pretty solid for personal users, though you can’t use it for unlimited personal storage anymore. Still, it is effortless to use, has incredible search tools, and even allows basic photo edits. Plus, the incredibly affordable rates let it easily compete with other cloud photo storage solutions. You can read its review above if you’d like more info.
IDrive is a privately held company that specializes in storage, backup, and remote access solutions. It is one of the most innovative photo and video storage services today.
Here’s what it brings to the table:
Features
IDrive has apps for Windows and Mac and a web client, all working quite smoothly. There is a mobile app letting you automatically upload photos as you snap them. You can connect an unlimited number of devices on all plans, which is great if you have a large number of computers and phones you want to back up.
IDrive doesn’t list supported file format options on the website, but it works with the most common formats like JPEGs, TIFFs, etc. However, the preview features do not extend to RAW files. If you want to back these up, you should have a straightforward folder system. Alternatively, Adobe CC, pCloud, and Google photos have some of the best cloud storage for RAW photos.
Fast Backups
There are quite good options for either backing up files to the cloud or desktop-to-desktop syncing. Block-level sync tools are excellent for speeding up the reupload of edited files. You can even let the application create multiple CPU threads for a speed boost—great for when you need to back up many gigabytes of photos.
And if you need to do a massive backup that would take days, you’ll love IDrive Express. The provider will actually deliver a physical drive to your home address and let you upload the files. The drive is then sent to the IDrive’s facilities for the data to be transferred. And you can use the same thing for data restoration from your digital photography storage.
The service is free once a year for personal users and thrice for business clients. It’s absolutely fantastic if you have terabytes of photos or a limited internet connection.
Security-oriented
IDrive has robust security. It uses the industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption and gives you the option to hold on to your encryption key. That means not even the provider can access your photos, which is about as much privacy as you can get. It makes IDrive an excellent alternative to less privacy-oriented providers of storage for photos.
Ease of Use
Using IDrive feels quite natural. You can just go through your folder system and select which ones you want backed up or stored. IDrive will try to pick out some common folders for you, though you’ll want to deselect these if you’re only uploading photos.
The dashboard is clean, with all the most critical options arranged in tabs on the right. There are no hidden options.
One neat feature is automatically backing up all photos or videos from your mobile device. You can do it in a single click from the backup tab.
Once that’s done, the cloud for photos provides a nice photo gallery view dubbed “timeline.” It displays your photos in the order they were taken, so you can easily find what you need. There is also a tagging system with facial recognition to make the whole process even smoother.
All in all, IDrive is very user-friendly.
Plans
IDrive offers 5GB of free cloud photo storage. The space is tight for storing any serious amount of photos, but it can let you get a feel of the platform.
Fortunately, the paid plans are much more generous. The two personal plans are:
- IDrive Personal 5TB—$59.62 for the first year, $79.50/year afterward
- IDrive Personal 10TB—$74.62 for the first year, $99.50/year afterward
There is no option for a monthly subscription. However, the plans have quite reasonable rates, and even a small initial discount to help you get started. If you want to extend the discount, you can prepay for two years from the get-go and save a few bucks.
There are a few business plans with unlimited employee accounts. These support from 250GB to 12.5TB of storage. They are pretty solid if your agency needs cloud storage for photos. The plans come at a higher cost, though, with the smallest Business plan costing as much as the larger Personal one.
The large storage caps make IDrive very suitable for uploading photos in huge numbers. Even better, the affordable pricing is simply a delight.
Verdict
IDrive is one of the most powerful providers of storage, continuous sync tools, and cloud backup for photographers. It has fantastic options for large-scale photo uploads and the storage capacity to handle them. Plus, no limit on the number of connected devices makes it ideal for multiple machine uploads. The affordable plans are an excellent option for personal users and professionals alike.