iCloud help

[azfalcons]

Ok so I have never used iCloud for anything ever. We have lost hundreds of pictures in the past when we were on PC. Having this iMac for a year now I want to put all my pictures, maybe music as well in the cloud. I have over 30 gigs so I need to buy more.

A) if I pay the 99 a month for 50 gigs and then quit paying do I lose all my pictures? Can I download them all before I cancel? ( i don't see this happening just curious)

B) I turned the pics on in the cloud and now they aren't on my phone but all the folders are. When I try to add it via iTunes it says "pictures are stored in cloud and I can access them via wifi anytime. Ok how do I do that?

sorry this is all new to me sadly

 

[Julien]

A: iCloud is NOT a backup solution. It is a cross device file syncing and file convenience storage service. All backups should be maintained independently regardless of iCloud use.

 

[azfalcons]

Yes I understand that now.

Just confused. Does time machine backup photos as well or I should put them on an external hdd (which is what I'm doing now) it's a TB so room for my pics and songs

 

[Julien]

Yes I understand that now.

Just confused. Does time machine backup photos as well or I should put them on an external hdd (which is what I'm doing now) it's a TB so room for my pics and songs

TM will backup everything on your HD and iCloud data is stored on your Mac under the (hidden) Library/Mobile Documents/ folder. However it is also advisable to have at least one other backup. You can never have too many backups, especially if the data is important to you like photos and music.