Still hoping Apple will come around before June 2012 and create either a paid or free file storage option as it exists on iDisk. I do know all about Dropbox and other alternatives. I prefer the option within the Apple ecosystem. I assume if iCloud had this storage capability, then converting from iDisk to iCloud would be seamless. Wondering if others have heard anything encouraging on this front?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Will iCloud ever provide storage like iDisk?
- Thread starter olkhovp
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This would be nice. What I would like to at least see is a way to backup Macs to iCloud. I haven't heard anything along these lines though.
Im really not sure that this is ever going to happen. Aren't Apple trying to move away from the conventional file system and have everything app specific?
Not supported method...
A Hint from AppStorm (works great for me and as fast as dropbox):
Bring back the iDisk: With the introduction of iCloud Apple axed its iDisk offering from its cloud package, but with a little Finder know-how you can gain most of that functionality back. Once youve signed in with an Apple ID on your Mac, inside your Library youll find a folder called Mobile Documents, simply right click it to create an alias and and drag it to wherever you like.
With the introduction of Mac OS X Lion the Library folder is now hidden by default. To easily access it, open Finder, hold down the Shift+Command+G keys and type in ~/Library/ (without the quotation marks, of course).
Now, whenever you want to keep a file in the iCloud, just drag it into the alias and let the syncing magic begin. Its worth noting that this space will count towards your free 5GB of storage, so use it wisely unless you want to shell out a bit of extra cash.
A Hint from AppStorm (works great for me and as fast as dropbox):
Bring back the iDisk: With the introduction of iCloud Apple axed its iDisk offering from its cloud package, but with a little Finder know-how you can gain most of that functionality back. Once youve signed in with an Apple ID on your Mac, inside your Library youll find a folder called Mobile Documents, simply right click it to create an alias and and drag it to wherever you like.
With the introduction of Mac OS X Lion the Library folder is now hidden by default. To easily access it, open Finder, hold down the Shift+Command+G keys and type in ~/Library/ (without the quotation marks, of course).
Now, whenever you want to keep a file in the iCloud, just drag it into the alias and let the syncing magic begin. Its worth noting that this space will count towards your free 5GB of storage, so use it wisely unless you want to shell out a bit of extra cash.
Macsterguy -- thank you, this is very helpful. I guess my hope, then, is that Apples will make this an "easy" function with a folder included in iCloud. What you describe is a very good work around. To another comment, perhaps Apple does want to move to a model where material is connected to applications rather than general folder storage. Maybe I'm an old guy, but I like the idea of having a folder where you can easily add material of one's own choosing. From what you describe, Apple could easily do this.
And as I mentioned, Dropbox works well, it's just not a natural part of Apple. I'll be curious if Apple receives enough of a demand signal to restore an iDisk-like function and include it in iCloud, and, importantly, makes transitioning iDisk files to iCloud an easy process.
This is such a help. I found it so cumbersome to open up iCloud on Safari, log in, click to the correct window, then slide files over to the browser. This is much much cleaner. Thanks!
Once I'm in that, where would I drag a file? For example, if I have a Pages or Microsoft Office file I want to share/sync on iCloud, where would I send it? I saw the iWork folders, but they aren't just the single file.
Also, is it possible to drag other files, like .mp4 and such into it to sync?
Thanks!
You need to put your file in the documents directory of the appropriate program file. For example for Pages you'd open "com~apple~Pages" and put your Pages file in the documents directory. Once you slide it in there, it will take just a bit but it will be *magically* expanded into the necessary sub-folders. Actually, now that i think about it, it might take me opening the appropriate app on my iPad for the expansion to take place, but I'm not exactly sure.
I have put the "com~apple~Pages" in my sidebar so the document directory is easily available. (Though it looks mighty cumbersome sitting there with all its tildas! I sure do wish all this functioned as visually pleasant as good 'ol iDisk. I regret my grumbles of the past!)
That I am not sure, but if you find out, I'd love to know.
--Immy
This hint seems possible due to the changes in iOS 5 to move the User data out of the AppsBundle into the Ubiquitous Store. It seems to me like they could have done iCloud in it's current form without that transition. So they must be setting up for something in the future. Something that could be iDiskish.
But I'm only guessing.
But I'm only guessing.
Interesting. I guess that makes sense in a senseless sorta way; meaning that it MUST be setting up for something because it seems so unbelievably cumbersome. It all feels very Windowish, which is rather fun when one enjoys tinkering to makes things work (and I do), but I'm so unaccustomed to having to do this in a mac environment. Though, I do have to say that I often find 10.7.X very puzzling . . .
i was using Dropbox instead of iDisk anyways since its faster for the most part. it would be nice to have a more comprehensive tool that worked more in unison with the iOS/Mac platform but i'm more than happy with what Dropbox offers so they'll keep my business.
I was using this workaround and it was working perfectly, until the recent Lion 10.7.3 update. No longer works on my Mac, though maybe it's still working for others?
At first it looked like it didn't work for me either after updating to Lion 10.7.3.
But after a while, everything I put into the directory on my iMac was synced to iCloud. However, after I did edits on my iPhone, these were not synced back to my iMac.
So it is kind of working half.
Last edited:
I like using Dropbox now as an iDisk alternative. A few programs that used to use MobileMe for syncing preferences and data, now have Dropbox support. That's added value to Dropbox that I like.
That said I was never too fond of iDisk anyways; it was always slow and felt limited.
That said I was never too fond of iDisk anyways; it was always slow and felt limited.
I absolutely LOVE iCloud, and I'm using every single part of it, including iTunes Match. I have now cut Google almost completely out of my life because I've switched all my mail, calendars, and contacts to iCloud and sync seamlessly with all my devices. I sold my iPad 2 so I could pay for my iPad 3 (if they ever announce it), and I love the fact that my iPad backup is sitting up in iCloud waiting to be restored to new hardware with the tap of a button.
That being said, it's not a solution for everything. I have a 3 TB external hard drive at home that is hooked up to a PC. It runs a backup every night of all my home movies, important files, pictures, etc. It's only about 5% full, but 5% of 3 TB is a lot of data. I wish there was a way to get all this stuff to iCloud as an off site backup. Right now, I'm only covered if a hard drive fails. If the house burns down, I still lose all my data except for what is on iCloud right now.
I know there are other services that do what I'm looking for, but I want something iCloud integrated. The whole rest of my life is on there now, so why can't all my old backups be there too? I think the service has been a success already, at least for me, and I would pay a fee to have more versatile storage and more of it. If you started your life out on iOS, you could probably get by just with iCloud because it's all already there, but when I was in school, got married, had kids, etc., I was still using camcorders and non-digital cameras.
That being said, it's not a solution for everything. I have a 3 TB external hard drive at home that is hooked up to a PC. It runs a backup every night of all my home movies, important files, pictures, etc. It's only about 5% full, but 5% of 3 TB is a lot of data. I wish there was a way to get all this stuff to iCloud as an off site backup. Right now, I'm only covered if a hard drive fails. If the house burns down, I still lose all my data except for what is on iCloud right now.
I know there are other services that do what I'm looking for, but I want something iCloud integrated. The whole rest of my life is on there now, so why can't all my old backups be there too? I think the service has been a success already, at least for me, and I would pay a fee to have more versatile storage and more of it. If you started your life out on iOS, you could probably get by just with iCloud because it's all already there, but when I was in school, got married, had kids, etc., I was still using camcorders and non-digital cameras.
I'm moving to iCloud soon (fingers crossed!) Im hoping that there will be a way to do large backups within iCloud at some point, but when I saw that it wasn't going to be an initial part of the service, I looked into alternatives. I've been using Crashplan and it seems pretty great so far.
In theory all my needs for the foreseeable future could be handled by iCloud, Crashplan and Dropbox. Oh, and GoDaddy to host my websites.
In theory all my needs for the foreseeable future could be handled by iCloud, Crashplan and Dropbox. Oh, and GoDaddy to host my websites.
Still No Good News On Apple's iDisk Cancellation
I still haven't read any good news about an Mac-sponsored ecosystem-friendly iDisk alternative or reconsideration of cancelling iDisk. I am posting my first-ever email text to Apple hoping to add one more voice.
I still haven't read any good news about an Mac-sponsored ecosystem-friendly iDisk alternative or reconsideration of cancelling iDisk. I am posting my first-ever email text to Apple hoping to add one more voice.
Mr. Cook,
As an Apple customer for almost 20 years, I want to add my voice to those who want and appreciate an iDisk-type solution to store and retrieve all types of files from a cloud-based system that is woven into the Apple ecosystem.
While Dropbox, Wuala, SugarSynch and other services do provide alternatives, iDisk operated well as an integrated part of the Lion OS system.
I hope that Apple either reconsiders discontinuing iDisk in June -- a great,
paid system many of us thought worked well for our cloud storage needs -- or develops a reliable alternative. ICloud works well, but does not provide
storage for non-Apple created files.
Thank you for all the years of great computing!
As an Apple customer for almost 20 years, I want to add my voice to those who want and appreciate an iDisk-type solution to store and retrieve all types of files from a cloud-based system that is woven into the Apple ecosystem.
While Dropbox, Wuala, SugarSynch and other services do provide alternatives, iDisk operated well as an integrated part of the Lion OS system.
I hope that Apple either reconsiders discontinuing iDisk in June -- a great,
paid system many of us thought worked well for our cloud storage needs -- or develops a reliable alternative. ICloud works well, but does not provide
storage for non-Apple created files.
Thank you for all the years of great computing!
FWW I've been messing around with Microsoft's SkyDrive (using the terribly named "Windows Live Mesh" - they really need some arts and humanities people at MS) and find it to be fairly good. My only complaint thus far is that you can't see or manage the up and down streams. Pretty minor really. I like dropbox, but I have no chance of expanding my storage through referrals. I don't know anyone who doesn't use it already!
I too will miss iDisk and wish they would have kept it around. My favorite part of iDisk was checking the box to allow it to be public and for anyone to be able to write to it. It made it easy to share files with others who were not MobileMe users.
Unless Dropbox or SkyDrive has a similar feature that I've missed, this function is not found in anything else but iDisk.
Unless Dropbox or SkyDrive has a similar feature that I've missed, this function is not found in anything else but iDisk.