All in with iCloud but need supplemental cloud advice...

[B60boy]

I'm all in with iOS and iCloud. However, there is some work stuff that I cant sych with iCloud. I'm a paying 2TB iCloud customer. Plus, iCloud for Windows does not have selective sync, it want to put your whole iCloud on a Windows (for work)notebook. So, I'm trying to figure out what to use for other cloud service to supplement my iCloud drive. I also have a gmail address since the inception that I use with my iCloud email, but I have the same feelings as most Apple users about using Google Drive. Dropbox is the next alternative, but pricey for one only plan of 1TB for $10/month. Final option is OneDrive, even through I have a personal 365 account, it does not really fit my workflow since I only use it to access Excel and Word.

So, my options for supplemental cloud storage to tie into my iOS workflow is Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. I'm looking for fellow Apple first Ecosystem users on what they would recommend in my situation. Many thanks!

 

[Tech198]

The worse case is having all sorts of cloud services and paying for all of them because you can't decade which is better.

My favorite is still Dropbox, but iCloud is cheaper data storage....

I tried iCloud drive once, but the minus of "selective sync" put me off, so i stayed with Dropbox.

My assumption is Apple doesn't wanna offer selective sync because they introduces an automatic way to may to optimize storage. with icloud. (hardly a substitute because user doesn't have full control anymore, compared with selective sync)

Most other cloud service have their plans, but usually desktop/client type model.. (so u have to have install client whichever u use to sync to/from)

Some care more about privacy, like SpiderOak, as well... (probably second best) to Apple, but i think Apple beats then all in terms of the price of cloud storage.

Or perhaps the Drobo transporter (previously called File transporter)

 

[B60boy]

After thinking about this over the weekend, I think my backup cloud server is OneDrive. Cheap with an Office 365 Personal account, most of my stuff is in Office, iOS compatibility and I can get my work files on it from the Work Windows notebook. Side bonus is to avoid the Google scanning of everything. I don't think that I can ever get rid of my gmail address for now, but at least the information the scan is minimal.

 

[CLS727]

The worse case is having all sorts of cloud services and paying for all of them because you can't decade which is better.

This is where I am.

I have all Apple Products.... and all a lot of my music is iTunes store purchased.

But I use Gmail instead of iOS Mail (my gmail "send as" aliases don't work in Apple Mail).... Google Photos instead of iPhoto (thousands of photos in hundreds of albums)..... and Chrome instead of Safari (cloud bookmarks/passwords).

I am currently paying for iCloud and Google Drive.... and I can't figure out a clean way to drop either.

 

[B60boy]

CLS727, good post. I have a gmail address too since day 1 and I cant get rid of it. I thought about Google Drive but I get a burr up my butt about privacy issues knowing every move you make. Maybe your right that a dual usage/Ecosystem of iCloud and Google makes sense and use what works.

What really bothers me about Google is that I get emails from others that is close to my gmail address. Like my gmail is firstnamelastname@gmail.com and I get emails from others who has an email firstname.lastname@gmail.com and I get this guys emails. How can a Google who is preaching about AI cant distinguish between a dot. How can I trust Google with my files?

 

[Sital]

CLS727, good post. I have a gmail address too since day 1 and I cant get rid of it. I thought about Google Drive but I get a burr up my butt about privacy issues knowing every move you make. Maybe your right that a dual usage/Ecosystem of iCloud and Google makes sense and use what works.

What really bothers me about Google is that I get emails from others that is close to my gmail address. Like my gmail is firstnamelastname@gmail.com and I get emails from others who has an email firstname.lastname@gmail.com and I get this guys emails. How can a Google who is preaching about AI cant distinguish between a dot. How can I trust Google with my files?

You own all dotted versions of firstnamelastname@gmail.com. From Google:

 

[B60boy]

You own all dotted versions of firstnamelastname@gmail.com. From Google:
View attachment 751074

I hear ya on this. But I can confirm that I'm getting emails from first.last@gmail.com who is based in London. I got an email from a realtor in London about a flat that he was going to show. I reached out to the realtor who confirmed that his client had first.last@gmail.com. I'm not arguing the point, but to me its scary with Googles "AI" that emails get crossed. This is what concerns me about using Google Drive as my secondary cloud storage.
[doublepost=1519051109][/doublepost]I'm still open on thoughts on this. I wish iCloud would let me control "selective sync" of folders on my own.
[doublepost=1519051599][/doublepost]There has to be some iOS/Apple diehards like me that need some secondary cloud storage that can also use secondary ecosystem for bits and pieces for stuff. IE, O365 I can use for OneDrive and OneNote and have access to Excel/Word.

Final thoughts on this would be great.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I am leaving Google for different reasons - their Youtube seems to be anti-free speech. That and nothing is ever free. There is always a cost. If it is free then you are the product being sold.

I like Apple's iCloud because Apple is a very green (environmentally friendly) company but their cloud services are definitely in the dark ages (no selective sync, sharing isn't easy, etc...). At least I know my data isn't being scanned by bots (or humans) for ad purposes.

"In 2016, 96 percent of the electricity used at our global facilities came from renewable energy, reducing our carbon emissions by nearly 585,000 metric tons. We’re 100 percent renewable in 24 countries—and all of Apple’s data centers." - https://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2017.pdf

Not having selective sync is a huge negative. I'd love to store a 20GB "archive" folder on Apple's servers without having it be synced to my 128GB Macbook Air unless I want it to be. Till then, like you, I'm using my Office 365 subscription as a work/archive/backup storage. Also my gmail, since I've had near day one, is way too used - but I've purchased a FastMail account and am slowly moving to that.

But my personal, private data is iCloud only.


My wife is the same way. I'm fed up with Cloud Storage in a way because I use Windows and Mac - so I use Arq (https://www.arqbackup.com/) and Backblaze B2 to do "another" final backup of all my data (and my wife's data) on top of OneDrive and iCloud.

 

[B60boy]

I am leaving Google for different reasons - their Youtube seems to be anti-free speech. That and nothing is ever free. There is always a cost. If it is free then you are the product being sold.

I like Apple's iCloud because Apple is a very green (environmentally friendly) company but their cloud services are definitely in the dark ages (no selective sync, sharing isn't easy, etc...). At least I know my data isn't being scanned by bots (or humans) for ad purposes.

"In 2016, 96 percent of the electricity used at our global facilities came from renewable energy, reducing our carbon emissions by nearly 585,000 metric tons. We’re 100 percent renewable in 24 countries—and all of Apple’s data centers." - https://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2017.pdf

Not having selective sync is a huge negative. I'd love to store a 20GB "archive" folder on Apple's servers without having it be synced to my 128GB Macbook Air unless I want it to be. Till then, like you, I'm using my Office 365 subscription as a work/archive/backup storage. Also my gmail, since I've had near day one, is way too used - but I've purchased a FastMail account and am slowly moving to that.

But my personal, private data is iCloud only.


My wife is the same way. I'm fed up with Cloud Storage in a way because I use Windows and Mac - so I use Arq (https://www.arqbackup.com/) and Backblaze B2 to do "another" final backup of all my data (and my wife's data) on top of OneDrive and iCloud.

Same situation here. My prime and personal stuff is iCloud. iCloud drive NEEDS to have selective sync. I load files and then my MBA is out of space till I get a prompt to "Optimize storage". I think that I know how to do that. I heard good things about Backblaze and I think that I'm going to implement that as a piece of my backup/archive strategy.

You made good points and thanks for sharing.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Yeah agreed - if iCloud is missing something BIG that needs to be fixed ASAP it is selective sync.

Right now I'm using Unison https://www.seas.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/ - WOW this thing is amazing. I am just amazed how fast it works (requires a bit of know how tho). I'm using this to sync selective folders from OneDrive (for my work) to my iCloud drive - so I can get important Work files to my iCloud on my Mac Mini that is always on.

But yeah, I'm going to stay iCloud because Apple is great on privacy, renewable power, and what not. I'm pretty happy with my Arq + Backblaze backup. I have almost 185GB backed up and it's only costing me about $.92/mo.

iCloud speeds have significantly improved over the last year. It utilizes my FIOS 95/95 connection which is nice.