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points by Schiendelman 2 days ago | 0 comments

Isn't icloud backup on by default??

I'm not aware of any control over what gets backed up.

I'm assuming that all of my local work would be lost. But I'd still have the sixteen million duplicate photos.

iCloud's priorities are not a great fit for preserving my source code repos. Fortunately those aren't very big.

But when my son's Mac dies, his huge Logic Pro projects are toast. And he is a few thousand miles away now.

In Windows, by default, Microsoft tools put projects in ~/source/repos, which OneDrive, in turn, by default won't touch so they'll be lost if the SSD fail and they're not in git.

However, OneDrive doesn't seem to even know how to handle source files (it doesn't even attempt to honor the gitignore), so rebuilding a project in folders covered by OneDrive results in flurries of temporary files being uploaded/updated to the cloud, hogging the bandwidth, with a bonus of locking files, crashing builds, or even reverting changes silently.

One would think backup tools, even if primarily for normal users are still literally made by programmers, at least consider the use case of programmers instead of just ignoring them entirely.

[–] ihateolives 2 days ago

OneDrive, Dropbox etc are not backup tools, they're file sync tools. This really should be common knowledge.

[–] KPGv2 1 day ago

i'm so tired of seeing this discouraging crap - "that's not a backup, LOSER"

file sync is backup against the things most people have to deal with (hardware breaking, theft, house fire, residential lightning strike)

[–] BSDobelix 1 day ago

>file sync is backup against the things most people have to deal with

I would say accidentally deleting a file is more common than a house fire, so NO, file-sync is not a backup nor is RAID (block-sync) or clustering (data/state-sync).

A backup is/should be a non-modifiable snapshot of data/files maybe even a state.

I give you an example:

You have a password-safe (as a file). Your computer blows up, but you are safe, because your password-safe is synced on Dropbox....but oh my god what was the password to Dropbox??? Your restore is gone because you forgot to "backup" your password-safe.

However you are not a Loser, being a Admin is a ~lost art and a really good paid one (again).... ;)

[–] KPGv2 1 day ago

> I would say accidentally deleting a file

It goes to your trash can/recycle bin for a while. That's literally what it's for: to guard against accidental deletes. Very few people accidentally delete files from their computer's drive anymore. The only time people do this in 2026 is accidentally formatting an SD card that had their camera's pictures on it or something.

[–] Schiendelman 1 day ago

I guess I'm not tracking. I put all my source folders in my Documents folder on the Mac, and check the checkbox to have that sync to iCloud. It works quite well.

I also do a bunch of video work with Da Vinci Resolve, and those project files are in the same folder. I don't keep the clips there, those are on an external disc, but that's just because I haven't gone from the two terabyte iCloud plan to the six terabyte plan.

[–] simonh 2 days ago

Kind of, but without a sub you only get a trivial amount of storage.

[–] Schiendelman 1 day ago

Sure, if there's anything worth subscribing to, it's that first $1 a month for your critical files.

[–] kalleboo 2 days ago

There is no iCloud Backup for Macs, only iOS devices.

There is iCloud Drive sync, but that only syncs your Documents and Desktop folders, but any other files are not synced.

[–] frxx 2 days ago

Surprising somehow, to me. One would imagine Apple could make a good amount of money by selling storage and thoughts-off safety for normies? And catch up to what Google offered like then years ago already with ChromeOS.

[–] kalleboo 1 day ago

Yeah I've always thought it was weird, especially after they cancelled the Time Capsule, leaving no official Apple product to back up your Mac. I figured it was because the max iCloud plan was 2 TB and Apple sold Macs bigger than that, but then they increased the iCloud plans and still didn't do it...

[–] paulschreiber 2 days ago

iCloud will sync your contacts, Notes, Keychains, and other data on macOS.