iOS 11 upgrade wipes out iCloud

[Colaba]

This is a cautionary tale. iCloud is not reliable storage. You must backup all your photos and documents to your own machine. Do not rely on iCloud.

When my iPhone upgraded to iOS 11.4 three years of photos and all my documents vanished, on the phone and on iCloud. I spent an hour with tech support trying to resolve the issue, which was kicked up to Apple's engineers. In the end, Apple said my files were just gone and there was nothing they could do about it.

It is inconceivable to me that iCloud lost my files. But that's what happened.

Tech support at an Apple store had told me that iCloud was a valid and reliable backup for my phone and that I didn't need to backup to my computer. (My iphone was having problems and unable to back up to any computer.) Not only was I given bad advice by Apple staff, I've lost irreplaceable pictures of my children.

Don't let it happen to you.

 

[960design]

First, welcome to MacForums.
Second, very sorry to read of your misfortune.

I currently manage over 7000 iOS devices that have updated to iOS11.4 without losing any data to iCloud.
I currently use iCloud to backup proprietary source code without any issues and have done so for the last seven or so years.

There are ways to lose your photos, but that typically involves a misunderstanding of the differences between iCloud and Photo Stream. Apple initially did a pretty poor job on educating the end user on the differences, but has stepped up with very clear documentation lately.

 

[Colaba]

First, welcome to MacForums.
Second, very sorry to read of your misfortune.

I currently manage over 7000 iOS devices that have updated to iOS11.4 without losing any data to iCloud.
I currently use iCloud to backup proprietary source code without any issues and have done so for the last seven or so years.

There are ways to lose your photos, but that typically involves a misunderstanding of the differences between iCloud and Photo Stream. Apple initially did a pretty poor job on educating the end user on the differences, but has stepped up with very clear documentation lately.

--

Thanks for your reply. I did backup my phone to iCloud, but thousands of photos and dozens of documents were lost, perhaps due to lack of ability to backup to physical computer. Apple did try -- and failed -- to get my data back. They advised that I make a separate backup my iCloud data and photos. This to me calls into question the whole purpose of saving data to a cloud, which I thought -- and Apple staff -- had assured me was secure.

May I ask if you backup iCloud data separately and if so how you do so? Also, are Google Drive or Microsoft Drive more reliable than Apple? I need to figure out a strategy so that I don't lose data again.


Here's the email from Apple's tech support:

"I am following up to ensure the issue with case photos been worked by the engineers and are not able to recover the photos. For the future I recommend to use this article for all of your iCloud data, see below. If you have further questions, need additional assistance with this issue or have additional feedback on your overall experience, please feel free to contact me.

iCloud Archive or make copies: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204055

many thanks

 

[960design]

I did backup my phone to iCloud...

I do not use iCloud backup.
Settings > iCloud > iCloud Backup = OFF

I do use iCloud to store important documents and photos.
Settings > iCloud > iCloud Photos = ON
Settings > iCloud > Upload to My Photo Stream = OFF

...perhaps due to lack of ability to backup to physical computer

I have not used a cable to connect any of my devices to a computer since iCloud came out. This is error prone and easy to accidentally delete images on device by replacing images on computer. I remember in the past you could be signed in to an iTunes account ( a test one, in my case ) accidentally, instead of your primary account. Plug in a device and if you did not read very carefully, Agree to the backup which would wipe your device ( erasing all of your photos ) and push the saved backup on the computer to your device.

My photos are saved on a device ( x1 ) and saved to the cloud ( x2 ). Documents are the same, on device ( x1 ) and iCloud ( x2 ). For some proprietary source code, I store in two additional locations: remote development server ( x3 ) and local development server ( x4 ), not to mention the live server ( x5 ), which also does hourly backups ( x6,7,8.... )

But most of my data is only saved at two locations, locally to device and remotely to iCloud. When I update phones ( every year ) or iPads ( every new device ). I wipe the old device. Start the new device and Set Up as new device. Then I log into iCloud and iTunes using my account. All pictures, documents, movies, etc become available.

May I ask if you backup iCloud data separately and if so how you do so? Also, are Google Drive or Microsoft Drive more reliable than Apple?

I have had zero issues with iCloud in the 6 or 7 years that I have used it. Google Drive and Microsoft Drive are equally reliable and safe.

It has been my experience that any issues with 'lost' documents or photos was caused by the user. Typically, signing in with a different account and being surprised the photos or documents were missing, or Turning Off Photo Stream before turning on iCloud Photos and allowing the device to fully move images over.

 

[cynics]

While iCloud (or any cloud storage) can be used as a back up it shouldn't be used as your only back up. I would say this applies more to iCloud than some other services because iCloud focuses more on syncing data. So if you delete all your photos from your phone then that action can be synced across all your devices and your iCloud.

 

[Honza1]

None of the cloud storages should be used as the only and permanent backup. They are not reliable - I heard about even the big guys (Dropbox, Box) loosing accidentally data, which shoul be nearly impossible but somehow happens. Rare, but happens. They are also businesses and as such, can fail. Simply, one needs off line backup on medium one controls = hard drive, tape, usb media... Those can fail also (hardware), so two independent and different type hardware are better.

 

[xovolarjem]

Sorry to hear this, but that never happened to me, I have two iOS devices at my home, one of my sister and one of mine. And we do store data and even photos on iCloud but never lost data or photos.

But Still I would suggest you to take 2-3 more backup of same on different companies, like one if you are keeping at iCloud, then another at a drive, Mediafire and so on...there are thousands such cloud storage. I normally use iCloud + Mediafire for extra security in case one get lost we still have one.

 

[HDFan]

Simply, one needs off line backup on medium one controls = hard drive, tape, usb media... Those can fail also (hardware), so two independent and different type hardware are better.

3 backups on 3 different media types in 3 locations is one golden rule. Cloud backups can be a problem (depending on the vendor) if you have very large datasets (>1GB) as they may limit download bandwidth so restores can takes days, weeks or months.