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Apple Adds 6TB and 12TB iCloud+ Storage Tiers
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My usage isn’t that much, but for peace of mind as the family IT guy I’ve put my parents, sisters, and fiancé on my iCloud+ storage. When I happen to look I’m constantly shocked by how much storage some people use…
I’m definitely excited and surprised not only because they expanded the max storage but that they expanded it so high! 🥳🤓
Backblaze said a few years ago that it costs them about $5 per TB in operating costs, and drive sizes haven't increased much, while other operating costs have due to inflation.
What’s the business case? Apple IS a business, it is all about business. How would a free 100 GB starting teaser generate more income?
just make 200GB as base for Apple One ffs ...
Sounds reasonable. And is competitive with Dropbox for 2 TB.
And there's always google.
People will whine anyway. It's always about wanting "free" stuff.
And there's always google.
People will whine anyway. It's always about wanting "free" stuff.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I've had my own cloud in a Synology NAS for about 10 years now and I guess there is a little bit of expense in an electric bill each month. Occasionally, I've replaced a drive (at ever falling prices), typically resulting in adding to the storage pool at the same time.
While I'm not having to employ anyone to manage/run a server farm serving cloud to thousands or millions of people (I act as my own cloud manager for myself and a small team), I couldn't get close to $5/month per TB in costs.
To anyone intrigued: rolling ones own (cloud) is a viable option, dirt cheap, granting you full control of your data with no for-profit strangers wedged in between you and it, and no ongoing subscription fees. It doesn't take a degree in IT to set one up either. Watch a few YouTube videos on the subject and see for yourself.
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A single NAS at your house ain’t really the same as iCloud storage.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Correct. iCloud comes with deep integration in Apple's various operating systems. iCloud has dedicated tech talent managing it. Presumably there are many mirrors so that an entire farm could go down and user wouldn't notice. Etc.
On the other hand, for the basic stuff people need from shared storage in a cloud, a good NAS can do all of that just fine, without the ongoing fees.
I'm not saying that it is for everyone... but neither is iCloud for everyone. Those not liking iCloud pricing can shop around and find many competitors offering as much cloud storage for less... or run their own personal cloud on a good NAS for pennies on those dollars. Each person should choose what is best for themselves. A good consumer knows they should shop around for about anything... especially if it seems intuitively expensive.
If iCloud is judged as "the one" by some, that's perfectly fine. It works great as one of MANY cloud services. And that deep integration does give it advantages over all other cloud options. It simply requires a relative premium for such benefits. Those who don't want to pay the premium have many other options for most of the core benefits of cloud services.
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User experience. 5GB today isn't the same as 5GB in 2011 creating a frustrating experience. And it doesn't need to be 100GB, even 15 like their competition would be a step up. All other tiers have gained features and/or lowered prices over time.
Six people sharing 2TB via Family Sharing doesn't sound so strange.
Am I assuming right that even with those new 6TB and 12TB plans, iCloud still doesn't have a comfortable way to mark folder as download only on demand and will always try to download everything to my (much smaller) SSD, keeping it unnecessarily full, no matter what?
Simpler (cheaper) accounting and billing. Also more likely a consumer will pay for and NOT use excess storage. The answer is simple, just not very nice.
Well, I'm in Canada so 2TB is $13 CAD. But I have it included with Apple One, so I can add another 2TB for an additional $13 which is a decent option prior to really needing to go to 6TB.
I guess though if you reach that 4TB total and need more, then you'll have to do 2TB + 6TB.
I downgraded from 2TB to 200GB last month. I'm forced to use around 160GB now but I really need 400-500GB. This 2TB option needs to go down to $5.99 or $7.99.
lol people comparing their NAS as if its equivalent to iCloud. When your wife gets her phone stolen and you can get a new phone and restore the phone anywhere in the world w/ your NAS, then we’ll talk. Anything personal, I store on Apple’s servers.
They’re probably going to up the 4 camera HKSV limit that was present @ the 2TB tier too.
They’re probably going to up the 4 camera HKSV limit that was present @ the 2TB tier too.
100 is too much but 5GB can’t even back up a single iPhone. I would imagine they might want people to have a teaser of backing their phone up…