Q: photos backup
We have an icloud account we use with the iPhone. Can we use icloud as online backup storage tool for photos and music on our iMac that did not original from the iPhone?
iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12)
Posted on Oct 1, 2016 4:25 PM
There is an option to backup an iPhone and other iOS devices to iCloud but iCloud is not designed to backup a Mac. There are features where you can sync data to iCloud via settings in Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > (e.g., Contacts, Photos, etc) but they are NOT a backup. One major and potentially fatal difference between sync and backup is that if you accidentally delete something on the Mac it will also be deleted on iCloud (although if you notice what you have done within 30 days you may be able to recover it.)
You may want to investigate iCloud Photo Library iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support but again, note that it is primarily designed to sync all of your photos to all of your devices.
For backup you may want to consider using an external USB hard disk and for further protection in case of fire or theft also have some type of offsite backup. I use a cloud-based solution for the offsite backup (http://mozy.com/product/mozy/personal ) but another option is to rotate an external hard disk to an offsite location.
Posted on Oct 1, 2016 4:35 PM