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edtorious

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 14, 2007
1,212
78
San Diego, California
I'm confused, what are the difference? Is it safer and better to backup in iTunes instead of iCloud:confused: Will iCloud backup my musics, apps, iBooks and etc?
 
iCloud can be safer because it's not subject to hardware availability/failure on your computer. But if your backup totals over 5GB you must pay for additional space.

iCloud can back up everything iTunes does, but you can select which apps you want data backed up for and which you don't. For example I have GPS cached maps from MotionX GPS Drive set not to back up, no need to consume iCloud space with those because they will re-download automatically as needed.
 
No, iCloud backup doesn't backup your music, apps and films (and unless you've got a very good internet connection, you wouldn't want it to.

Whether it is worth it or not is largely down to your circumstances. I tend to sync daily to my computer (especially now we have wireless syncing), so my phone is getting backed up regularly. If you can't sync to your computer regularly then it is probably worth using iCloud.

I have heard of quite a few people using iCloud backups to restore from when activating their new phones, so that's an occasional benefit if you can't wait to get home.

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iCloud can back up everything iTunes does, but you can select which apps you want data backed up for and which you don't.

Am I wrong about it not backing up Apps then, or is this just App data?

Edit: To answer my own question, obviously Apps don't need to be backed up as such, as they are on Apples servers anyway. If restoring from iCloud backups then the Apps will be re-downloaded anyway. The same may well be true for music if purchased from iTunes
 
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I'm confused, what are the difference? Is it safer and better to backup in iTunes instead of iCloud:confused: Will iCloud backup my musics, apps, iBooks and etc?

If for some reason you had a break in or a fire, backing up offsite is the only way you'd get your backups back. For that reason alone, I use iCloud backups for all of my :apple: devices. I even have an offsite company backing up my Mac on a regular basis.

iCloud will fully backup your devices. After you restore from a backup, iCloud will re-download all of your apps that were on the devices. It will also put your music back, but it seems it's limited to iTunes music only. I restored Sat morning from iCloud and I was missing the one album that wasn't from iTunes.
 
Can I back up to both? I know not at the same time but individually. for instance, I am away from home and have a problem and need to restore I would have that option if I backed up to icloud but wouldn't if I only backed it up locally. Any thoughts?
 
Yes, you are. iCloud backs up your apps and their data. An iCloud backup is just like if you backed up in iTunes.

Yes and no. iCloud does not backup your apps to your iCloud account, it relies on iTunes to just re-download them when you need to restore (same thing goes for music and videos). iCloud does backup your app data, so any game progress etc is stored.

Similarly, your backup on your computer does not include applications but just app data (in addition to everything else a backup file includes). Doing a restore from your computer (iTunes) will restore the backup then install the apps that iTunes has on the computer.

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The nice thing about iCloud is that it's hands-off. Once you set it up your phone will backup automatically when connected to wifi. That's right, you must be connected to wifi to use iCloud. As others have stated, if you don't sync using iTunes very often then using iCloud is probably the right way to go for you.

Also, depending on how many photos and videos you've taken with your device you can save space on your computer by using iCloud for backup. For example, I take a lot of photos and video with my phone but don't always sync my device. So my backup is 2.4gb. That's stored in iCloud and is accessible anywhere I may need to do a restore, so long as I'm on wifi. No PC required.
 
just back up to both!

I have icloud set to auto back up, which it does overnight usually. and every so often, maybe once a week, ill do a back up with itunes as well. Best of both worlds :D and you can restore from either

iCloud does not back up your ripped music yet (i bet it will when itues match comes out though), but it does redownload any itunes purchases you made (music/apps/vids all included) if you had them on your phone when you backed up.
 
Can I back up to both? I know not at the same time but individually. for instance, I am away from home and have a problem and need to restore I would have that option if I backed up to icloud but wouldn't if I only backed it up locally. Any thoughts?

Yes you can and this is what I do. iCloud automatically and manually in iTunes once a week or so. Just plug the device in to USB and right click on the device in iTunes and select backup.
 
See my edit above.

It was edited after I posted. :D

Backup to cloud costs money for storage, so I use itunes on my computer.

I have an iPad 2 and iPhone 4S backing up to iCloud and I haven't even used 500 MBs. Still have 4.5 GBs free.

Yes and no. iCloud does not backup your apps to your iCloud account, it relies on iTunes to just re-download them when you need to restore (same thing goes for music and videos). iCloud does backup your app data, so any game progress etc is stored.

That's what I said in my original post.
 
Mine backs up to iCloud AND iTunes automatically (wifi). It does both without any manual intervention from me.

No, it will be backing up to icloud, but only syncing to itunes. You can't set it up to do backup to both automatically.

Watch the steps it goes thru for your syncing to itunes, there is no backup step with icloud backup enabled, switch icloud off and you will then see the backup step comes back to itunes.
 
Mine backs up to iCloud AND iTunes automatically (wifi).

How do you make this happen? When I set my 4S to backup to iCloud (to try it out), it syncs to iTunes automatically but doesn't do a backup unless I explicitly perform a backup (control-click the iPhone under DEVICES in iTunes and choose "Back Up").
 
I am sooo confused. :confused:

If you go into iTunes and right click on the iDevice and choose restore, it says it only restores contacts, calendars, notes, settings and text messages. It says nothing about music, apps, or app data. What am I missing? :confused:

Looking at my iCloud app on my PC (Windows not Mac), it tells me my iPhone backup is 300.7MB and my iPad backup is 137.3MB. So how do I do a full backup to iCloud?

I know if you are starting from zero, the data on iCloud (notes, email, calendar, contacts, bookmarks, and iWork) will automatically sync with your iDevice. And if you wanted to sync fresh to your iDevice from iTunes, you hook up your iDevice and choose what music, books, apps, video, etc., you want to sync with it.

Am I getting it? If not, please enlighten me. Thanks! :)
 
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It sounds like some are confused. I'm pretty sure that iCloud doesn't backup copies of apps and iTunes-purchased music over the network: Why would Apple do that?? They already have copies. They simply keep a record of your iTunes purchases so they can be downloaded again...

In any case, I use iCloud to backup and manually backup locally once every week or so like others who have posted above.
 
No, it will be backing up to icloud, but only syncing to itunes. You can't set it up to do backup to both automatically.

Watch the steps it goes thru for your syncing to itunes, there is no backup step with icloud backup enabled, switch icloud off and you will then see the backup step comes back to itunes.

This has been my observation also. With iCloud backup on the iCloud backup is automatic and it syncs to iTunes when I plug it in, but does not backup unless I manually right click the device in iTunes then select backup.
 
It sounds like some are confused. I'm pretty sure that iCloud doesn't backup copies of apps and iTunes-purchased music over the network: Why would Apple do that?? They already have copies. They simply keep a record of your iTunes purchases so they can be downloaded again...

I think we've all pretty well agreed on that.
 
This is exactly what iCloud Backup does backup on iCloud:

PhotoNov0744904PM.png
 
No, it will be backing up to icloud, but only syncing to itunes. You can't set it up to do backup to both automatically.

Watch the steps it goes thru for your syncing to itunes, there is no backup step with icloud backup enabled, switch icloud off and you will then see the backup step comes back to itunes.
Oh My bad.. I was interchanging syncing and backing up.

It still does download the apps and know what's on my iphone/ipad when I sync, but I guess only icloud backs up the app data, etc...
 
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