Cloud Backup

[ColG]

Have been looking at ways to back my documents (Mac based) up in the cloud (I have a backup via Time Machine but want something sort of off site). Thought of iCloud Drive but this seems to be more of a syncing medium than a backup. For instance if something is deleted in error from the iCloud desktop folder it goes from the cloud as well. Also there is duplication of storage space it seems for if iCloud holds, say, 10 gig then so does the desktop folder.

MS Onedrive is pretty much the same except that it does allow you to select which folders are synced and only shows those in the desktop folder. So if I set up a Backup folder and elect not to sync it it will aappear on Onedrive in the cloud only. The only problem is backing up means accessing Onedrive and doing it manually.

Any suggestions on a way forward. Is it possible to make iCloud do what I want or maybe I should get an Office subscription from MS which is cheaper than the top end iCloud service and includes 1TB of space. Or maybe there is something better?

Thanks
Colin

 

[rctlr]

I did this.
Open terminal and at the prompt type in

ln -s ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs ~/iCloud

This makes your iCloud Space available easily by scripts.
I have the following in a crontab

0 3 * * * rsync -avz --delete ~/Documents ~/iCloud/Backups/

at 3am rsync copies everything from my Documents folder to a Folder in iCloud called Backups

It works for me, and the files are accessible from Dropbox, OneDrive - anything with "Manage Storage Providers" access in iOS

 

[jdechko]

Have been looking at ways to back my documents (Mac based) up in the cloud (I have a backup via Time Machine but want something sort of off site). Thought of iCloud Drive but this seems to be more of a syncing medium than a backup. For instance if something is deleted in error from the iCloud desktop folder it goes from the cloud as well. Also there is duplication of storage space it seems for if iCloud holds, say, 10 gig then so does the desktop folder.

MS Onedrive is pretty much the same except that it does allow you to select which folders are synced and only shows those in the desktop folder. So if I set up a Backup folder and elect not to sync it it will aappear on Onedrive in the cloud only. The only problem is backing up means accessing Onedrive and doing it manually.

Any suggestions on a way forward. Is it possible to make iCloud do what I want or maybe I should get an Office subscription from MS which is cheaper than the top end iCloud service and includes 1TB of space. Or maybe there is something better?

Thanks
Colin

There are cloud syncing/ storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive and GDrive which can sort of do what you're asking for, but they're more hacks than anything. But like you said, they're more for file syncing and not really backups.

If you want a true cloud backup, (like TimeMachine for the cloud) have a look at CrashPlan or Backblaze. These services cost about $5 for unlimited backup. You create an account, install the client software, select which files to backup and let the service do the rest. No hacks or terminal commands.

Personally, I use CrashPlan because it can do local backups as well as Cloud backups (I use it for local backups instead of TM, so I'm only running the CP client instead of both CP & TM). Both my wife's and my laptops back up to my home server and to the CP cloud. I also have my mom's and mother-in-laws computers set to back up to my home server. Person to person backups are free so they don't pay a monthly fee. So that's why I picked CrashPlan over Backblaze.

However, Backblaze is also a highly recommended service from people that have used it. If I weren't already a happy CrashPlan customer, I'd almost certainly be using Backblaze.

 

[ColG]

There are cloud syncing/ storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive and GDrive which can sort of do what you're asking for, but they're more hacks than anything. But like you said, they're more for file syncing and not really backups.

If you want a true cloud backup, (like TimeMachine for the cloud) have a look at CrashPlan or Backblaze. These services cost about $5 for unlimited backup. You create an account, install the client software, select which files to backup and let the service do the rest. No hacks or terminal commands.

Personally, I use CrashPlan because it can do local backups as well as Cloud backups (I use it for local backups instead of TM, so I'm only running the CP client instead of both CP & TM). Both my wife's and my laptops back up to my home server and to the CP cloud. I also have my mom's and mother-in-laws computers set to back up to my home server. Person to person backups are free so they don't pay a monthly fee. So that's why I picked CrashPlan over Backblaze.

However, Backblaze is also a highly recommended service from people that have used it. If I weren't already a happy CrashPlan customer, I'd almost certainly be using Backblaze.

Many thanks.