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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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A reader sent us this email he received from the "MobileMe Quota Service", informing that he was using 4.2GB of his 5GB of free iCloud storage.

The email notes that once the storage is full, iOS devices will no longer back up or save data to iCloud and mail sent to me.com email addresses will get bounced.

Users are directed to the iCloud settings on their iOS device to buy more storage. The email also notes that more storage can be purchased on a Mac or PC.

Apple has not released details on pricing for additional storage.

Thanks Ben!

Article Link: If You Use All Your iCloud Storage, Apple Sends You This Email
 
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soco

macrumors 68030
Dec 14, 2009
2,840
119
Yardley, PA
Seems reasonable. Much like when your cellular provider warns you about going over your data cap.

I'd imagine quite a few people will upgrade their storage.
 

bigjnyc

macrumors 604
Apr 10, 2008
7,856
6,764
what exactly counts toward the 5gb quota? is it your phone settings, email setup, contacts, calendars etc.... Or is it music, books, movies, podcasts etc... Or both?

if it's the latter then I would imagine most people will fill up their quota really fast.
 

appleguy123

macrumors 604
Apr 1, 2009
6,863
2,541
15 minutes in the future
I hope that Apple starts some kind of promotion where you get more space for free every time you buy an iDevice. Having to buy more space just because you've given Apple more money to buy a device from them seems rather dumb.
 

TheOrioles33

macrumors 6502
Apr 3, 2008
297
0
what exactly counts toward the 5gb quota? is it your phone settings, email setup, contacts, calendars etc.... Or is it music, books, movies, podcasts etc... Or both?

if it's the latter then I would imagine most people will fill up their quota really fast.

Its the latter I believe.
 

soco

macrumors 68030
Dec 14, 2009
2,840
119
Yardley, PA
what exactly counts toward the 5gb quota? is it your phone settings, email setup, contacts, calendars etc.... Or is it music, books, movies, podcasts etc... Or both?

if it's the latter then I would imagine most people will fill up their quota really fast.

No, Steve made it clear that music, photos, videos and the like do not count. Basically, any content that can be re-downloaded from the servers to your device, doesn't count.

Think of iCloud as more of a syncing service rather than an online storage solution.
 

mklaman

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2006
50
0
icloud: mail, contacts, cal, reminders, boomarks, notes, photo stream (different than ALL photos), and find my iphone(geo locations i guess?)...

so i believe that is all that is being synced to icloud...
 

alex.sebenski

macrumors member
May 26, 2010
64
0
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I doubt that number includes anything you've purchased from Apple. This would include photos, videos, documents, settings, and anything else your app lets you upload NOT apps, music, movies, and podcasts. That just wouldn't make sense.

They're already stored on their servers. Your "sync" would just need a reference to their server to download that podcast, app or song when you sync again.
 

QuarterSwede

macrumors G3
Oct 1, 2005
9,785
2,033
Colorado Springs, CO
icloud: mail, contacts, cal, reminders, boomarks, notes, photo stream (different than ALL photos), and find my iphone(geo locations i guess?)...

so i believe that is all that is being synced to icloud...
Photo stream doesn't count toward storage from what I understand. Instead you get 30 days back and/or 1000 photos.
 

ufkdo

macrumors 6502
Oct 30, 2010
344
3
Turkey
No, Steve made it clear that music, photos, videos and the like do not count. Basically, any content that can be re-downloaded from the servers to your device, doesn't count.

Think of iCloud as more of a syncing service rather than an online storage solution.

Musics count if what you try to back up is not match with itunes store since you actually need to upload them, not match.
 

oneofthesedaves

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2011
154
0
Tennessee
I'm still on the fence about this whole iCloud thing. I like the MobileMe sync services for the most part as I prefer for Google to not have ALL of my info. I know I will certainly utilize those services, but I dunno about all of my docs going up to the cloud and down to my iPhone and iPad.

Can you create separate iCloud accounts that all have the same iTunes username? If not, it is a definite no go. My wife and I don't want each other's MBP's to be in sync with each other for documents, but it would be great if we could just sync the pictures and music. However, I would like to pull up documents from time to time on my iPad and iPhone...but I can already do that with Carbonite. If the speed on this thing is as slow as iDisk, then forget it...
 

CSCalciano

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2011
18
0
Stalkers
Anything that YOU make counts to the storage. A few scenarios.
1. I buy Infinity blade (a universal app) on my imaginary iPhone and I don't have it on my imaginary iPad. So I click "redownload." They're not storing anything with apps, music, or movies that they don't already store. It's just a second download. (It can also be configured to automatically download onto the iPad without me doing a thing, but that might fill up storage quickly.)
2. I take a photo. Apple stores it on their servers for 30 days, and I don't have any used storage yet.
3. I make a contact. That uses storage, because apple doesn't already have a copy of that, like they do for apps.

Backup doesn't count your apps. If you restore your iPhone from that backup, then it uses your contacts, etc. but it just registers that you have an app, and doesn't store the actual app.
 
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lazyrighteye

Contributor
Jan 16, 2002
4,097
6,318
Denver, CO
Maybe the $100/yr I've been paying for MM (which included 20 GB of storage) can now be put towards iCloud storage. If so, is it out of line to expect my $100 to garner more than 20 GB of storage since all the other "features" of MobileMe look to be "free" under iCloud?

While aspects of iCloud certainly sound interesting, the devil is always in the details. And in my experience, when Apple (or anyone, for that matter) holds out on the details, it is rarely for the benefit of the end user. In Apple's case, it's typically to avoid an avalanche of bad press from not-so-positive user reaction. You can be sure Steve shared only the details that were sure to get users excited. Now, we sit & wait for the other shoe to drop.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Maybe the $100/yr I've been paying for MM (which included 20 GB of storage) can now be put towards iCloud storage. If so, is it out of line to expect my $100 to garner more than 20 GB of storage since all the other "features" of MobileMe look to be "free" under iCloud?

My question as well.

I have 20 GB storage on MM. I'd expect to be able to get 20 GB with iCloud as well. I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable fee, either. But I'd think the option *should* be there.
 

jason928

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2011
6
10
Musics count if what you try to back up is not match with itunes store since you actually need to upload them, not match.

Unmatched music does not count into 5GB, that limit is 25000 songs. See iCloud fineprint #2

5GB limits only applies to for mail (me.com), documents, Camera Roll, account information, settings, and other app data.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
So does it save only the last backup?

I was wondering the same. I assume it’s just the current state that’s saved, no history/versioning. But what about docs in modern iOS 5/Lion apps that have their own versioning? I’m assuming old versions are Mac-only, but I’m curious.

Regardless, if you do have a Mac/PC, you get a backup there, too (which can even be wireless and automatic). And if THAT machine is backed up with versions/history (as is completely automatic with Apple’s Time Machine software any old external HD or Time Capsule) then it seems that would give you some history-rollback ability: you could retrieve an old backup from any date, and restore the old version via iTunes.

What I want MOST of all, for both local and iCloud backups, is the ability to restore just ONE app’s data. (Say a game crashes and resets my 50 hours of progress... I’ll want to restore that game’s data from backup, but not revert all my work in other apps.)
 

Icaras

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2008
6,344
3,393
It better not be $99 to buy up to 15GB additional storage.

So...why doesn't this article reveal the pricing options? This is what I'm curious about.
 

dukeblue91

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2004
1,222
0
Raleigh, NC
I'm still on the fence about this whole iCloud thing. I like the MobileMe sync services for the most part as I prefer for Google to not have ALL of my info. I know I will certainly utilize those services, but I dunno about all of my docs going up to the cloud and down to my iPhone and iPad.

Can you create separate iCloud accounts that all have the same iTunes username? If not, it is a definite no go. My wife and I don't want each other's MBP's to be in sync with each other for documents, but it would be great if we could just sync the pictures and music. However, I would like to pull up documents from time to time on my iPad and iPhone...but I can already do that with Carbonite. If the speed on this thing is as slow as iDisk, then forget it...
You can have separate iTunes accounts and separate iCloud accounts.
But this will be a little more work then having one for both.
I'm using my main itunes account for purchases and my separate iCloud account for backups on my iPad as you can't use you MM account at this moment under the developer preview.

I can download all previously purchased apps and songs and it will let me use iCloud to back up to with the two different accounts.

However all my sons iTunes purchases and downloads are under my iTunes account since he is only 10 and anything he downloads from the stores will automatically synch to my other devices unless I turn this feature off.

One of us is going to have to start from scratch with a new iTunes ID to get this all sorted out, and I will have to lie about his age as you have to be 17 to have a iTunes account if I choose it to be him.
 

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
I will say that is bad. They really should separate Email storage from iCloud.
It puts it way below the offering from other companies and it is very easy to fill up cloud storage with random stuff. If I had email counting against my 5 gigs in drop box I would be trouble as I have well over a gig in my email and at least 3-4 gigs of stuff in drop box. That does change from time to time but I keep a lot of stuff in my drop box. I would hate to have to worry about keeping it balanced because of my email and calendar ect eatting up to much room.
 

tonys

macrumors newbie
Mar 16, 2011
8
0
Amsterdam
I thought this would happen, I think we will be seeing much more of this. How does apple expect you to have less then 2500 songs? P2P enyone? :cool:
 

ratzzo

macrumors 6502a
Apr 20, 2011
829
35
Madrid
How many dollars per GB is the question. These GBs will turn out to be extremely cheap though, seeing how most media (photos, music ..) do not count towards the storage limit.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
I thought this would happen, I think we will be seeing much more of this. How does apple expect you to have less then 2500 songs? P2P enyone? :cool:

Most media does not count. Music you stole does not count and does not sync through iCloud.
 
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