IDrive Inc.

Overview

Pro Softnet Corporation was founded in 1995 and is based in Calabasas, California, within Los Angeles County.

Pro Softnet Corporation's initial product was called IBackup, but it acquired the idrive.com domain name from defunct company I-drive around mid-2003.

IDrive products were mentioned by Lifehacker, Macworld, PC World, CNET, Tech Crunch, Notebook Review, PC Magazine and Engadget.

Pro Softnet Corporation has been plagued by patent infringement lawsuits and has spoken out publicly about how they are a drain on the company's resources.

Products

IDrive is an automated backup application that runs on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Once installed, users select folders and files to be backed up at user-specified times. IDrive offers incremental and compressed backups so users only upload modified portions of a backup file, and files may also be updated in real time with a continuous backup option. Users have the ability to limit bandwidth usage during the backup process. The previous 30 versions of a file are automatically retained and IDrive does not automatically delete backup data, even if backup files are deleted on the user's computer. Users can share their files through email, social media sites including Facebook and Twitter, and via a mobile phone application for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone.

IDrive allows a user to back up data from all compatible devices to a single account. The iDrive application runs natively on Windows, OSX, as well as on several models of NAS devices made by Synology, QNap, and Netgear. This broad list of supported devices distinguishes them from some competitors.

IDrive has a flaw in their account creation procedure that allows you to create an account with an email address that may not be your own. It does not require confirmation of ownership of the email address entered via a common procedure of sending a email message with confirmation link, and once created the account name can not be changed. User facing bugs like this give a bad impression of sloppy application design that can make a user wonder about where else they may use shortcuts or not pay attention to programmatic details.

IDrive provides multiple data retrieval options. Backup files can be accessed remotely from any Internet browser or with IDrive’s client software. If a user wants access to all backup files, IDrive can ship all backup files on a 1 TB hard drive.

Files on IDrive are stored using 256-bit AES encryption allowing for an optional user-defined key that is not stored on any IDrive server. IDrive also provides activity reports, backup status reports and shared file reports.

IDrive advertises 24 hours a day / 7 day technical support but it is somewhat of an exaggeration. They have telephone support Monday through Friday from 6am to 6pm PST and online chat support at other times but the online live chat has been found to be offline for several hours at a time and the online live chat operators are unable to resolve all issues like the 12 hours a day / 5 days weekday support people can do.

IDriveSync

IDriveSync allows a user to synchronize files across different devices.

IDrive Portable and IDrive Express

IDrive Portable is a USB hard drive designed for local backup. The hard drive has 1 terabyte of storage space and runs at 5,400 RPM.

IDrive Lite

IDrive Lite is a free application for iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices, which allows users to back up their contacts list online. Users can also restore their backup contacts to different devices, even devices that have different operating systems.

IDrive EVS

In 2012, IDrive released IDrive EVS, publicly available software development kit and API. The kit, which includes built-in encryption and a command-line API, allows users to create applications for use with IDrive’s cloud storage services.