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tejaykay

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 22, 2008
279
53
Edinburgh
Is it possible to put the Dropbox folder in your iCloud Drive? This would ensure that you have multiple backups of all documents.

As much as I like Apple, I trust the Dropbox cloud servers more. It's just safer to always have multiple backups.

TIA
 
If reliable backup is your goal, that seems like a bad idea. If, say, files disappeared on iCloud Drive due to a bug or a mistake on your end, the local file would be deleted, which in turn would delete it from Dropbox as well. These services are designed for syncing, not backups.
 
If reliable backup is your goal, that seems like a bad idea. If, say, files disappeared on iCloud Drive due to a bug or a mistake on your end, the local file would be deleted, which in turn would delete it from Dropbox as well. These services are designed for syncing, not backups.

Great point. I hadn't considered this. Then it becomes a question of Dropbox vs iCloud Drive.
 
Great point. I hadn't considered this. Then it becomes a question of Dropbox vs iCloud Drive.
If you are only going to use one or the other, at this point to me DB is the clear winner. Even if you mess up and delete files, you can go to the DB web site and undelete them. Plus they have nice iOS apps.
 
If you are only going to use one or the other, at this point to me DB is the clear winner. Even if you mess up and delete files, you can go to the DB web site and undelete them. Plus they have nice iOS apps.[/QUOTE

Agreed. I've been using Dropbox since year dot. If Apple's history of cloud solution is anything to go by, I'd be better off with DB. Shame to have to pay twice though considering I use Apple's other cloud features.
 
Dropbox works very well for me too. I also use Spideroak, which supports true end-to-end encryption (only on the desktop though, the mobile application potentially exposes the encryption keys to Spideroak), and has multiple sync/backup modes. It's a bit more complicated to set up, but also more powerful.
 
Dropbox works very well for me too. I also use Spideroak, which supports true end-to-end encryption (only on the desktop though, the mobile application potentially exposes the encryption keys to Spideroak), and has multiple sync/backup modes. It's a bit more complicated to set up, but also more powerful.

I guess the one appeal of iCloud Drive is the file integration on iOS devices as of version 9.

Would you locate your photos and iTunes libraries in your Dropbox folder?
 
Would you locate your photos and iTunes libraries in your Dropbox folder?
iTunes library no, for that Match works much better for me. I don't upload photos to the cloud, but if I did I would probably prefer Dropbox, because it works more transparently and is not locked into the Apple ecosystem. Also take a look at Carousel.
 
Match destroyed my iTunes library so I won't go there for music. 15 years of music curation undone with one click!

I'll take a look at Carousel. I prefer the integration with the OS, which is why I am looking at iCloud Drive and Photo Library.
 
Match destroyed my iTunes library so I won't go there for music. 15 years of music curation undone with one click!
Really? Do you have Apple Music as well? I have Itunes Match only (almost since the start) and it has never touched my local library.
I'll take a look at Carousel. I prefer the integration with the OS, which is why I am looking at iCloud Drive and Photo Library.
Photo Library seemed very convoluted and intransparent to me when I tried it, like many of the Apple cloud services.
 
Really? Do you have Apple Music as well? I have Itunes Match only (almost since the start) and it has never touched my local library.

There are hundreds of posts on this forum of people who have lost years of their OCD tagging by activating match against their local libraries.

The general consensus/hope is that Apple finally resolve this in future updates, or when they finally retire iTunes!
 
There are hundreds of posts on this forum of people who have lost years of their OCD tagging by activating match against their local libraries.
As far as I can tell most of this affected only Apple Music subscribers. While people were sometimes unhappy with inaccurate matching results, I don't remember wide-spread reports of corrupted libraries with Match alone.
 
As far as I can tell most of this affected only Apple Music subscribers. While people were sometimes unhappy with inaccurate matching results, I don't remember wide-spread reports of corrupted libraries with Match alone.
You're right. It was the interplay between Match and AM. Match was ok on its own.
 
Just let Dropbox grab your photos off your device and use Carousel. Seamless...

If you want to back all your stuff up with end to end encryption, Look at Arq. https://www.arqbackup.com/
Wished I had of found it sooner. Simple and effective. You can choose where you want to back your stuff
up too. And you always keep the keys!
 
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