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Ztormie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2009
119
5
Up until last week I've kept a backup for my iPhone on my harddrive, as have everyone else. I have the 16GB iPhone 4 and my backup is about 10 gigs in size. But now since there is iCloud backup in "the cloud", could I just remove that old backup on the hard drive and free up that space or how does it work? 10 gigs is not much on my 1TB iMac but I've been thinking about selling it and just sticking with a 128 GB macbook air, and then 10GB certainly is a lot more. Am I correct or how does it work?
 

Zincous

macrumors 6502
Nov 21, 2008
255
0
Sacramento CA
You are correct, if you back up to iCloud, and trust it, you can remove the back up from your computer.

Eventually it'll be far enough out of date that you won't even want to back up to it anyway. And I've restored from iCloud twice now, I've removed all my computer back ups.
 

d21mike

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2007
3,320
356
Torrance, CA
I started to test backing up to iCloud and it is taking about 2GB of the 5GB Available (for FREE). As a paid MM member I get 25GB for FREE until June 2012 (I think) and then I have to pay $40 for the extra 20GB. If you are using 10GB are you willing to pay the $40 per year for the extra iCloud Storage? Just interested in what people are thinking in this regard.
 

goforaj

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2011
6
0
I have been trying to figure out the same question. When doing an upgrade from the iPhone 4, it asks me whether I want to backup to the computer or to iCloud. I understand that backing up to iCloud means that I won't be able to restore my music without using the iTunes Match program (which I really don't find necessary at this point for myself). On the other hand, using iCloud, I'd be able to back up my photos to my computer instantly using photostream. What do I do?
 
Up until last week I've kept a backup for my iPhone on my harddrive, as have everyone else. I have the 16GB iPhone 4 and my backup is about 10 gigs in size.

what?? How is that possible? I haven't checked my backup size on my Mac, but it iCloud my backup size is only 1GB and I have hundreds of apps on my 32gb iPhone.

You are correct, if you back up to iCloud, and trust it, you can remove the back up from your computer.

And I've restored from iCloud twice now, I've removed all my computer back ups.

How DO you restore from iCloud on your iPhone? Also, can you restore from backup for individual apps? I've noticed that if you delete an app the backup is still stored in the iCloud, but if you redownload the app you don't have your backup data... So is there any way to get that app data back without doing a restore on your whole iPhone?

Also, is there a way to easily delete all iPhone backups for apps that you have deleted?
 

d21mike

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2007
3,320
356
Torrance, CA
I have been trying to figure out the same question. When doing an upgrade from the iPhone 4, it asks me whether I want to backup to the computer or to iCloud. I understand that backing up to iCloud means that I won't be able to restore my music without using the iTunes Match program (which I really don't find necessary at this point for myself). On the other hand, using iCloud, I'd be able to back up my photos to my computer instantly using photostream. What do I do?
I think when they are talking about Backup they are talking about the Backup you currently do in iTunes. Look at the iTunes Summary Page for your device. You will see Backup and Options. Under Backup you can backup your device to iCloud or your Computer. This is not the same as "Sync" (under Options) of your Apps, Music, Movies and Pictures (and Photo Stream). If you have Sync over Wifi you do not need to plug your device into your computer to Sync with iTunes. If you Backup to iCloud you do not need to plug your device into your computer to Backup to your Computer. That is the main reason for these options.
 

PNutts

macrumors 601
Jul 24, 2008
4,874
357
Pacific Northwest, US
what?? How is that possible? I haven't checked my backup size on my Mac, but it iCloud my backup size is only 1GB and I have hundreds of apps on my 32gb iPhone.

My backup folder was also large and had backups stretching back for months. I deleted it and performed a manual iTunes backup before backing up to the cloud.
 
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