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idisk questions

M

macdumb

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 27, 2008
55
0
Now is idisk simply a back-up to whats on my MAC or is it a way to store and not be on my MAC?

I tried to put some short vids on idisk and it seemed a little hard to do and once on the idisk, if I erased them from the MAC then they are gone off of idisk as well.

I guess I don't understand what idisk is for.

Now say I want to download whatever from the www and I want to put it on idisk, should I down load to idisk direct or to my MAC first and then move it?

Also if it is on idisk, does it also have to be on MAC also?

I am confused!!
Thanks for the help!!
 
macdumb said:
Now is idisk simply a back-up to whats on my MAC or is it a way to store and not be on my MAC?

I tried to put some short vids on idisk and it seemed a little hard to do and once on the idisk, if I erased them from the MAC then they are gone off of idisk as well.
Click to expand...

When you have iDisk sync on, you should see the purple cloud disk thing on your desktop. You can just drag files to that icon, and they will sync to your iDisk. If you delete a file from the iDisk window in finder, it will be deleted of the the iDisk ONLY, not your computer too.

iDisk is essentially an off site hard drive. It CAN be used to backup information using a program called backup. But the files on iDisk are separate from the files on your computer, so if you put a video on your iDisk and delete it from your computer, you will be fine.

If you delete a file from your iDisk on the MobileMe web app, that file will be removed the the iDisk that shows up in finder on your mac (the idisk that shows up in finder/on you mac is a mirror of what you see on the iDisk web app). But it won't be removed from the computers hard drive.



hope that helps
 
so what is the easiest way to download to idisk and skip my MAC.

And I deleted the test movies from my MAC that were in the idisk category on my harddrive screen and it took them off of actual idisk also.

I am still a little confused.
 
macdumb said:
so what is the easiest way to download to idisk and skip my MAC.

And I deleted the test movies from my MAC that were in the idisk category on my harddrive screen and it took them off of actual idisk also.

I am still a little confused.
Click to expand...

first i would suggest doing the same thing you did with the video test files again, but using a word document instead (just so its quicker).

If you delete a file off of your mac that is also on your iDisk, the file should ONLY be removed from the computer. NOT the iDisk.

The easiest way to put files on your iDisk is by just dragging them over to the iDisk icon on your desktop. But if you want to skip using the drag and drop, you can upload a file using me.com/idisk.
 
Also check to see if in system preferences (system prfs, MobileMe, iDisk) you have iDisk sync on and set to automatic...if its not set to that, change your settings to that. that may help with the problem you are having.
 
I just tried it again with a pic. I dragged it and dropped it on my idisk icon and it went. Now I went to the actual idisk on apple.mac and viewed it. I clicked it and had to "download" it and then the pic opened. Now I went back on my MAC and deleted that pic and it is GONE off of the actual idisk.

I gotta be doing something wrong.

thanks for hangin and helping me so far.!!!
 
macbookairman said:
Also check to see if in system preferences (system prfs, MobileMe, iDisk) you have iDisk sync on and set to automatic...if its not set to that, change your settings to that. that may help with the problem you are having.
Click to expand...


I did this ( i think) but it said that it will keep a copy of my idisk on my comp.

isn't that what I disk is for so it DON"T have to be on my comp?

thanks so far!
 
yup, did it again. I deleted from my idisk section on my comp. and it also deleted from the actual idisk.

weird!
 
macdumb said:
isn't that what I disk is for so it DON"T have to be on my comp?
Click to expand...

yes, it will keep a copy of your iDisk on your computer (a local copy). That allows you to be able to access your iDisk even when you aren't connected to the internet.

Picture the iDisk as a... flash drive. When you have it plugged in, you can see all the files. But when its unplugged, obviously you can't access the files. When you delete a file from a flash drive, it doesn't erase it from you macs hard drive. And if you delete the file of the mac, it won't delete it off the flash drive.
You can drag file to the iDisk in the same way as a flash drive as well.
 
macdumb said:
yup, did it again. I deleted from my idisk section on my comp. and it also deleted from the actual idisk.

weird!
Click to expand...

OHHHHH....i think i may have been missunderstanding you. yes, if you delete something from the iDisk in that shows up on your mac in finder, it will be deleted from the me.com iDisk.

Say you have finder open to iDisk and another finder window open to the documents folder, and that you have a document named "example" in your iDisk and in the documents folder on your hard drive. when you delete the file off of your hard drive it will stay on your iDisk. If you delete the file from the iDisk, the file will be gone forever from the iDisk (both mac iDisk and me.com idisk--because they are mirrors of each other, they stay synced together).
 
ok now we are on the same page. SO if I want something on idisk (external) the MIRROR has to be listed under idisk on my comp.

So If I wanted to put music and vids on idisk (external) but don't want them listed on my comp to avoid clutter and whatever, it ain't happening!

it HAS to have a mirror on my comp.

I get it i think.

THANK YOU
 
macdumb said:
ok now we are on the same page. SO if I want something on idisk (external) the MIRROR has to be listed under idisk on my comp.

So If I wanted to put music and vids on idisk (external) but don't want them listed on my comp to avoid clutter and whatever, it ain't happening!

it HAS to have a mirror on my comp.

I get it i think.

THANK YOU
Click to expand...

yep. thats right. glad we got that figured out :)

just to clarify a bit more, if you have your iDisk set to automatic sync, it will take up room on your computer (because it is accessing the iDisk server online and downloading those files to your computer so that you can view them even when you aren't connected to the internet) . But if you don't have it set to automatic, it won't take up room (because its just accessing the iDisk server online and showing you the files that are stored there)
 
yes, I have to set to auto sink.

I thought I could store stuff without having a link to it on my pc. like once it is uploaded I didn't need it to be on my comp in anyway.

I am kinda bummed, I thought it would be a good way to store stuff without having clutter on the comp. We take alot of vid and pics of our little ones.

this mac stuff is weird!
 
macdumb said:
yes, I have to set to auto sink.

I thought I could store stuff without having a link to it on my pc. like once it is uploaded I didn't need it to be on my comp in anyway.

I am kinda bummed, I thought it would be a good way to store stuff without having clutter on the comp. We take alot of vid and pics of our little ones.
Click to expand...

Confusion strikes again lol...

ok. If you have auto sync on, it will store the files on your computer as well for offline viewing. If you go to System Prefs>MobileMe>iDisk and turn off Automatic iDisk sync, the files won't be stored on your computer anymore. (Thus not taking up any room.) It will still show what is on your iDisk though...but again, they won't actually be on your computer. It is just accessing me.com/idisk and showing what is there. When you drag stuff into it, it will just upload it.

iDisk Sync on (Automatic or manual) = Files stored on computer as well as on me.com You have full functionality (offline viewing, adding files to iDisk, viewing). If you delete off of iDisk in finder, its gone on the me.com/idisk too, as they are mirrors.

iDisk Sync Off = iDisk still shows up in finder. The files are not stored on your computer, only on me.com/idisk. You have most of the idisk functionality. (adding files, viewing). Things will take a bit longer to do, because since the files aren't stored on your computer as well as me.com/idisk, it has to access the idisk web server whenever you open something, etc. If you delete something off of iDisk in finder, it will be gone off of the me.com/idisk too, as they are mirrors.
 
From what I understand, iDisk is basically for people who may need to access files on their hard drive, but don't have their computer with them.
So the files that they put in the iDisk, can be viewed from almost anywhere.

But, for what you want, I would suggest an external HD so you can get all of that "clutter" off of your Mac. I wouldn't call your kids, clutter haha, but that's just me. :p
 
you may want to try talking to an apple mobileme support rep. you can chat with them online here: http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/. Just choose a subject (iDisk) and then iDisk in Mac OS X Finder. An option will show up that says chat now at the bottom of the page. The support reps will help you understand the way it works. They are very helpful.

but i'm not saying that you should stop posting on here...keep the questions coming.
 
Chandler Adaway said:
From what I understand, iDisk is basically for people who may need to access files on their hard drive, but don't have their computer with them.
So the files that they put in the iDisk, can be viewed from almost anywhere.

But, for what you want, I would suggest an external HD so you can get all of that "clutter" off of your Mac. I wouldn't call your kids, clutter haha, but that's just me. :p
Click to expand...
I am not calling my kids clutter. lol. I am just saying it would be good to load them and delete the "mirror" to make room for new stuff and have less to go through.
 
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