iPad Pro Moving from a MacBook but...

[MrCookieMonster]

trying to get onboard with only have iCloud as the back up for Photo's.

At moment I have iCloud storage but also store all things locally and backup to a local (external) drive.

Is there an alternative when only using an iPad or is it just to rely on iCloud as the only backup?

Think this is the only thing I need to come to terms with before making the move, but in the same thought would also likely drive the spec that I go for.

Any thoughts?

 

[mystery hill]

Is there an alternative when only using an iPad or is it just to rely on iCloud as the only backup?

You can export all photos from the Photos app to an external drive.

 

[MrCookieMonster]

Ok, so I can still have a local copy and backup external! I wasn't aware that could be done.

That takes away my only blocker I think.

 

[MrCookieMonster]

Would that require a full library copy each time rather than the Time Machine difference only approach?
\

 

[mystery hill]

Would that require a full library copy each time rather than the Time Machine difference only approach?

Yes, it would require a full copy each time.

 

[MrCookieMonster]

I really like Time Machine, guess its just a different work flow with an ipad

 

[Night Spring]

Yes, it would require a full copy each time.

I don't understand, Apple's User Guide says you can select which photos you want export. Why do you say we need to copy everything each time?

 

[mystery hill]

I don't understand, Apple's User Guide says you can select which photos you want export. Why do you say we need to copy everything each time?

You can select photos that you want to export, but you would need to keep track of which photos had already been transferred. Photos that have been deleted from the iPad would also need to manually removed from the iPad if you want the libraries to be in sync.

Time Machine handles this on macOS.

Doing a full copy each time is simpler if you want the photo library on the external drive to be exactly the same as the one on the iPad.

 

[bondr006]

trying to get onboard with only have iCloud as the back up for Photo's.

At moment I have iCloud storage but also store all things locally and backup to a local (external) drive.

Is there an alternative when only using an iPad or is it just to rely on iCloud as the only backup?

Think this is the only thing I need to come to terms with before making the move, but in the same thought would also likely drive the spec that I go for.

Any thoughts?

This seems to be a good alternative to Time Machine for the iPad.

iMazing | iPhone, iPad & iPod Manager for Mac & PC

iMazing lets you transfer music, files, messages, apps and more from any iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer, Mac or PC. Manage and backup your iOS device simply without iTunes. (was DiskAid)

imazing.com

 

[klasma]

You can use a second cloud service like Dropbox for redundancy, and/or a local NAS (like Synology) or something like Nextcloud with an associated photo-syncing app. Photo syncing with iOS is a common feature of such storage solutions.

 

[Apple_Robert]

This seems to be a good alternative to Time Machine for the iPad.

iMazing | iPhone, iPad & iPod Manager for Mac & PC

iMazing lets you transfer music, files, messages, apps and more from any iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer, Mac or PC. Manage and backup your iOS device simply without iTunes. (was DiskAid)

imazing.com

I have been using iMazing for years. It is excellent with a plethora of features.

 

[JamesMay82]

I think it’s incredibly risky relying solely on iCloud Photos.

1. It’s not really a back up
2. If you lost your password it’s gone
3. There are a few experiences with iPads and external hard drives corrupting. It happened to me. Plus it’s also incredibly time consuming exporting to photos all the time on an iPad in bulk.

 

[MrCookieMonster]

I have been using iMazing for years. It is excellent with a plethora of features.

Doesn’t this need a Mac though or am I missing something?

Ideal would be an iPad, external drive and Time Machine functionality.

 

[bondr006]

Doesn’t this need a Mac though or am I missing something?

Ideal would be an iPad, external drive and Time Machine functionality.

It's available on Windows PC and Mac.

iMazing | iPhone, iPad & iPod Manager for Mac & PC

iMazing lets you transfer music, files, messages, apps and more from any iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer, Mac or PC. Manage and backup your iOS device simply without iTunes. (was DiskAid)

imazing.com

 

[Publicstaticvoid]

If photos and videos are the only files you want to back up, you could always use the Shortcuts-App. Here's my idea:
Use the action "Find photos" to get all photos, filter by "last modified date is after 1.1.1900", and save every found photo/video with a "Save File" action to the external hard drive. Gives you all the control instead of using a third party software.
As an advanced tip: Have the shortcut store the date as a variable, and use it for the filter of photos/video in the "Find photos" action. As the shortcut's last action, save the current date and time to some file in iCloud called "savedDate" or whatever. Read from that file at the beginning of the shortcut and use the value as your new "last modified date after" value. If a value is found in the file, use that as the new filter. If not, use 1.1.1900.
Your first run will included all current photos and videos, and save the current date and time to the file. Everything gets backed up. Next time you run it, only the newly added stuff will be included.
Why use "last modified date"? If you edited a photo, the newer version will also be included in the next backup.

 

[Soccerrick10]

I use Adobe Lightroom and it automatically makes a cloud (non-iCloud) backup of all my photos. Once the files have been processed to a state for printing, I save a copy manually as a tiff file to my attached external ssd.

 

[HDFan]

I think it’s incredibly risky relying solely on iCloud Photos.

1. It’s not really a back up

Yes. It doesn't count as one of the 3 backups in the recommended 3-2-1 backup strategy. Only 1 of those backups should be in Time Machine as it tends to fail.

 

[MrCookieMonster]

If photos and videos are the only files you want to back up, you could always use the Shortcuts-App. Here's my idea:
Use the action "Find photos" to get all photos, filter by "last modified date is after 1.1.1900", and save every found photo/video with a "Save File" action to the external hard drive. Gives you all the control instead of using a third party software.
As an advanced tip: Have the shortcut store the date as a variable, and use it for the filter of photos/video in the "Find photos" action. As the shortcut's last action, save the current date and time to some file in iCloud called "savedDate" or whatever. Read from that file at the beginning of the shortcut and use the value as your new "last modified date after" value. If a value is found in the file, use that as the new filter. If not, use 1.1.1900.
Your first run will included all current photos and videos, and save the current date and time to the file. Everything gets backed up. Next time you run it, only the newly added stuff will be included.
Why use "last modified date"? If you edited a photo, the newer version will also be included in the next backup.

Nice idea 👍

 

[ThailandToo]

I really like Time Machine, guess its just a different work flow with an ipad

It’s a stupid ass workflow with an iPad. If Tim had any ideas on how to grow the company other than services, he would let users run full apps on the iPad Pro at least. Have a chance to get Windows and Chrome users to switch also.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Ok, so I can still have a local copy and backup external! I wasn't aware that could be done.

That takes away my only blocker I think.

i.e. see Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper for possible backup solutions

 

[mystery hill]

i.e. see Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper for possible backup solutions

They wanted to get rid of their Mac, and only use an iPad.

 

[Larsvonhier]

They wanted to get rid of their Mac, and only use an iPad.

Sorry, tldr; you are right.

 

[Ctrlos]

How much storage do you need? You can take out multiple cheap subs to Google Drive and Onedrive for a combined total of about $4 a month. 100Gb on Google is $1.30 or thereabouts. This would give you 3x cloud storage options. If you don't have that many images then a free account on them all expands your options. Amazon also include backup with a Prime sub.

Whilst there are other 3rd parties like Dropbox and Mega I've never been too confident of the financial health of them. It sucks to have to rely on the big three but honestly, do you trust anybody else?

 

[johnmacward]

For those who suggest Dropbox / Google Drive - does this backup the database of photos (and differentially) or each photo individually meaning their albums, tags, classification would be broken in the case of a restore ?

From what I can see if you're looking for an easy life - stick with the MacBook and Time Machine. Individual photo backup will break the database structure of Photos and while you'll have all your photos (hopefully) you'll lose ANY organisation you had done to them - albums, smart albums, faces, locations, memories, tags etc.

 

[johnmacward]

If photos and videos are the only files you want to back up, you could always use the Shortcuts-App. Here's my idea:
Use the action "Find photos" to get all photos, filter by "last modified date is after 1.1.1900", and save every found photo/video with a "Save File" action to the external hard drive. Gives you all the control instead of using a third party software.
As an advanced tip: Have the shortcut store the date as a variable, and use it for the filter of photos/video in the "Find photos" action. As the shortcut's last action, save the current date and time to some file in iCloud called "savedDate" or whatever. Read from that file at the beginning of the shortcut and use the value as your new "last modified date after" value. If a value is found in the file, use that as the new filter. If not, use 1.1.1900.
Your first run will included all current photos and videos, and save the current date and time to the file. Everything gets backed up. Next time you run it, only the newly added stuff will be included.
Why use "last modified date"? If you edited a photo, the newer version will also be included in the next backup.

Your proposal is a nice idea but its just a basic file backup that just results in a massive folder full of random photos and videos. If the OP uses Photos to any extent of its basic functionality the albums info would be lost, any tags created, faces data is gone and would need to be rebuilt over weeks (for me it really takes that long) and any other form of database structure that makes the experience pleasant and organised would no longer be there causing the OP to put in hours of time to put this back in place. Preserving the Photos database, in my opinion is crucial - hence Time Machine and stick with the MacBook. iPad just doesn't do proper backup yet.