If you want to back up your Mac to a point where if it gets destroyed you can restore your settings, programs, and other iCloud-ineligible data to a new computer, you'll need to use a more thorough solution like Time Machine. That said, iCloud isn't for creating a complete backup of everything on your computer.

You can use it for basic things like backing up certain data on all of your Apple devices to prevent losing your important information, files, photos, and other media, and it doesn't require you to purchase a high-capacity external hard drive like Apple's Time Machine or other external backup options. iCloud is Apple's proprietary cloud-based data storage service. Web-based storage eliminates this risk, or at least minimizes it as much as possible, as reputable cloud storage vendors (like Apple) go to extreme lengths to protect your data from loss. If a drive that's holding your data is ruined, bye bye data.

There are a lot of benefits to this. First and foremost, cloud storage means your data is safe and secure, and not in danger of being lost if your iPhone, computer, or external hard drive is damaged by water, fire, a tornado. When you store data 'in the cloud,' what you're doing is utilizing a web-based storage solution to avoid having to store your data locally on your device or on an external hard drive.

Can I Use Dropbox or Google Drive Instead of iCloud?įirst, it's important to understand what cloud-based storage is.It sounds complicated, but it's actually one of the simplest services you can use, and among the most secure as well! We'll go over how to use iCloud, and the many benefits of doing so. ICloud is the free data storage service provided by Apple to help users prevent data loss and free up iPhone storage, along with that of their other Apple devices.

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