IDrive, like most online backup services, has long focused on keeping the data on your local hard drive safe by backing it up to the cloud. Now, however, the company is launching a new product that expands its services beyond your local drive and deeper into the cloud. IDrive now allows you to also back up your pictures and video on Facebook to its servers.
This backup feature, it's worth noting, extends beyond your own photos and videos. If a friend tags you in a photo, for example, that image will be included in your backup. Normally, those images would be gone if your friend is a drama queen and untags or un-friends you (or – in less dramatic situations – simply deletes the picture).
Facebook, the company argues, has evolved “into such an important part of social interaction that using the media site to store or share pictures / videos is frequently the chosen way of exchanging data.”
The service is now available to all IDrive users (including those on the free 5GB plan) and once all the data from Facebook is backed up, users can access their images and videos from any web browser and the company's iOS app. An Android app, the company tells me, is “coming soon” and all the data is automatically encrypted with what IDrive calls “an NSA-proof private key option.”
It's worth noting that IDrive isn't the only company that offers this kind of backup feature. There are a few tools that allow you to download your data onto your own drive, of course, but services like OwnBackup and Backupify also offer the ability to back up your Facebook data. Chances are that IDrive, too, will add support for other online services in the near future.
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