Apple ’s Services division has been get strong for a couple of years now , and the company likes to tout its power to combine those service with computer hardware and software program to save unparalleled functionality to its drug user . But not all of Apple ’s devices are created adequate when it comes to its primary service , iCloud .
It might be a morsel strong to say that Mac drug user are second - class citizens in term of iCloud integrating , so lease ’s just say instead that there ’s some goodwill for Apple to earn among Mac user — both those who are new to the platform as well as the 1 who have used it for decades — by broadening iCloud ’s pick for those who still prefer laptops and desktop .
In fussy , with the announcement this week thatCrashPlan was discontinuing its consumer - orientate on-line backup man plans , more than a few users found themselves wondering what step to take to make certain their datum remained safely and securely backed up .
There are , of course , tidy sum of options for Mac user who do n’t want to switch to CrashPlan ’s small business patronage plans : Backblaze , Arq , and so on . But it also put into pure relief the fact that Mac drug user miss out on at least one major feature accorded to their iOS - using similitude : iCloud Backup .
Painless backups, but iOS only
iCloud Backup has become a pregnant benefit for iOS users , especially those who change out their devices on a steady basis — which , I would guess , is most of them . Thanks to iCloud Backup , regenerate a phone is generally a fairly painless and astonishingly fast experience .
On the Mac side , Apple has of course offered Time Machine since Mac OS Adam 10.5 , and though it has had its gibbosity , it ’s broadly speaking been amend to the point where it ’s a self-coloured backup option . And as someone onetime enough to remember when you needed expensive third - party solutions to back up your entire ride — much less ply advanced feature like versioning — Time Machine will always be a bit of a marvel . unsubdivided support that happen with minimal need for exploiter interposition ? It ’s hard to overstate how much of an improvement that was over the status quo : Time Machine is a terrific technology , and while backups are far from an exciting issue when it come in to technology , they are one of those features that simply everybody needs to use .
But Time Machine only process for on - site backups . If you require to ensure that you ’re protected in the case of a catastrophic exigency — god preclude your house floods or burn down — then an off - site backup is still a key element of a healthy backup strategy . But though Apple does offer cloud storage , it ’s broadly not sufficient to back up an entire Mac . Not only do they loosely have bigger drives than Io devices but , with an older and more open operating system like macOS , there are more bits and piece to report for than with a carefully controlled system like iOS .
Online options
Appledoesprovide the ability to back up multiple Macs to another Mac on your internet using macOS Server ; I recently specify up the Time Machine Server pick on my Mac mini and have back up both my iMac and MacBook Air to a large international drive on my Mac mini . But , again , that only provides a safety lucre so long as nothing happens to that parkway or the Mac mini to which it ’s attached . The company also offers Migration Assistant , which is close cousin-german to the restore function from iCloud Backup , though it requires either a Time Machine backup drive or the previous Mac , which might again be of picayune aid in the face of a catastrophic event .
So really , what is needed is either some sorting of online - enabled variation of Time Machine or a answer kindred to iCloud Backup . An option like this would go a long agency toward maintain heartsease of nous for Mac users , ensuring that their precious data point is unattackable even should the worse go on . on-line storage seems to keep getting meretricious and cheaper , and Apple sure enough does n’t seem to be slowing down on build data point centers . Even so , nobody would fault the company for charging a little bit extra in society to cater sufficient storage space , as other online stand-in companies do . ( Although I do stay steadfast in maintaining that the company should up its default free 5 GB of storage to something a little more proportional to today ’s datum pauperism , and perhaps even give up backups of Io devices for loose with the leverage of the twist . )
With the preponderance of cloud storage and our ever - increasing trust on our digital applied science , Apple should n’t halt with a half - solution for back up one ’s files on the Mac . Instead , the ship’s company should see it all the way through and provide a foolproof offering , much as it attempts to do on iOS . After all , the data on our Macs is just as valuable as those on our iPhones and iPads .
