Dana was able to help Ashley find her missing data that was lost in iCloud. Read her review of MacMedics (Dana’s company) regarding the extra time and effort Dana put in to help her bring this data loss situation to a close. The 2022 Backblaze Backup Survey (A link to this is in our post) found that 44% of Americans who own a computer lost access to their data when a shared or synced file was deleted. Don’t be part of this statistic! iCloud is not a true backup. It’s a syncing service. Please read the attached MacMedics Blog post to learn more, but we recommend adding a Time Machine backup to your Mac! You can bring your external hard drive or buy one from MacMedics, and either way, we’ll set it up with you for free!
I am so happy and pleased with the customer service I received from Dana, the owner. I took my Mac there for a bad screen, the repairs were more than the machine was worth, and I should purchase a new Mac instead of going with the repair. Not what I wanted to hear, but I was happy with the upfront honesty. I decided to have them do the backup since the screen was not working. When I got the external hard drive back and ran the migration assistant on my new Mac, I noticed I no longer had ANY of my documents; they were gone. I called MacMedics in a panic – Dana took my call and assured me the documents were somewhere, and I should not panic. He looked, I looked, and then he got the help of some colleagues – none of us could figure out where all my documents were. I called Apple and spent HOURS on the phone with them – I emailed Dana late at night telling him what I was told by Apple (Microsoft documents don’t back up to the cloud, they were gone). Dana emailed me the next morning and said he didn’t believe that. Later that afternoon, Dana emailed me some instructions that he came across on an Apple chat… he helped me find my documents!
Without him, I would have never restored my documents, and they would have been permanently deleted. I am so grateful for Dana’s determination to help me recover and restore what I thought was gone forever. He could have easily told me they did what they were paid to do, and it wasn’t his problem, but he didn’t. I highly recommend MacMedics for any and all help with your Apple needs 🙂 Thank you, Dana!!!
iCloud Doesn’t Back Up Your Computer!
Why do people get confused about iCloud backing up their Mac? There are several reasons. The chief reason is that the iCloud brand name implies that data is being backed up, iCloud, at its heart, is a syncing service, and “syncing” data is not the same as a “backup” of your data!
Apple does offer a service called “iCloud Backup.” iCloud Backup backs up ALL of your critical data on an iPhone or iPad to an iCloud data file. But it’s only for mobile devices! Your data on your Mac is not backed up by iCloud Backup. It also doesn’t back up anything already stored in iCloud. This includes contacts, notes, voice memos, calendars, bookmarks, reminders, messages in iCloud, iCloud photos, and shared photos.
Apple offers a free 5GB of space with a new iCloud account. People who start using the free 5GB on their iPhones often forget to pay for more, they don’t know how to pay for more storage, or they just assume that when iCloud is switched on (even if it’s out of space), their data is still being somehow backed up. They are partially correct data from apps like Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, News, Stocks, Home, Wallet, and Game Center do not count against your 5GB free iCloud storage space.
I LOVE the iCloud backup for iOS devices, as it’s a REAL backup! If you’re not already using that service, it’s only $1 a month for 50GB (one of the best deals from Apple!). It will automatically back up your iPhone or iPad when it’s connected to power, the screen is locked, and it’s on WiFi.
Don’t forget that when you’re traveling, join the hotel WiFi and force a backup to ensure your vacation pictures are backed up. If traveling with a strong cell signal, you can now force that backup via your cellular data!
More importantly, iCloud doesn’t back up your Mac. It’s a widespread misconception that it does. So while data may be synced between devices while using iCloud, the content on your Mac isn’t getting backed up directly. This is why you need Time Machine! Time Machine is one of the strongest features of the Mac OS. It’s free and straightforward to set up!
Services like iCloud, Dropbox, and OneDrive are sync services, and sync services are not backups. The Backblaze 2022 Backup Survey found that 44% of Americans who own a computer lost access to their data when a shared or synced file was deleted. This almost happened to our customer, Ashley. She had no idea where her data went. She had specific folders a few days ago, but they just disappeared! We looked in her trash and the “Recently Deleted” section of her iCloud account, and there was not one single file there! If Ashley had been running a Time Machine Backup, she would not have needed my help to back up her data in the first place (since her MacBook Pro screen was broken and no longer visible). Plus, she could have purchased a new Mac (Which she did) and restored her data from her Time Machine backup. This would have saved hours of tech support time and several sleepless nights!
We all know how reliable Macs are, and your data is super safe on the hard drive inside your Mac, but things can go wrong with your Mac (or it can be lost or stolen), or you might accidentally delete something. This is where Apple’s Time Machine is so powerful! It will have your data protected for all users of your Mac. Time Machine is your BEST first line of defense against data loss. Don’t forget that you should always have your data backed up before running a major Apple OS upgrade!
Use the Golden Triangle of Data Protection to your advantage:
1. Automatic backups – Time Machine gives you that!
2. Redundant data – Again, Time Machine has you covered!
3. Off-Site backups – I Like Backblaze for this, which I use!
Also, since 2018, the “hard drive” on Mac laptops has been part of the main logic board. So, for instance, let’s say one drop of water got in and fried the logic board; I can’t “remove” the hard drive as I could just a few years ago. It’s why it’s SO important to back up your data with newer Macs.
