iCloud, Apple’s cloud service, has been tightly integrated with Mac OS X Mountain Lion. You can sync your documents, photos, mails and much more between your Mac and iCloud account.
But is it possible to do a full backup of your Mac data and transfer it to iCloud? The answer is, surprisingly, no.
It’s Impossible to Backup Mac Data to iCloud Account
Apple doesn’t allow you to move Mac’s system files or the whole hard drive (HD) to the iCloud. When I first learned about this, I had to question myself whether iCloud was really useful for me, in case my Mac HD is damaged in the future.
Apple’s iCloud offers free 5GB storage, and anyone can upgrade iCloud to 55GB by paying a yearly fee of $100.
Let’s think about it. Our Macs require more than 55GB sometimes; we all have songs, videos and tonnes of files and photos that can easily take over 100 GB disk space or more.
Apple must have settled for 55GB maximum space for several reasons a) Apple wants to test the waters with iCloud b) to avoid Mac users from syncing every files and folders from their Mac to the cloud.
A lot of Mac users should know that it is not possible to upload files to iCloud. Do not go about buying additional iCloud storage space, only to learn that there’s no way to transfer “any” material to the cloud.
How to Backup Full Mac Hard Drive
Fortunately, every Mac comes with a built-in Time Capsule tool, which allows you to protect your whole HD for a rainy day. Check out our complete guide to backup Mac using Time Machine.
Apple surely may know how important it is, for any user, to have a backup. We definitely expected iCloud on Mountain Lion would bring a full backup or transfer feature onto our Macs — nope, it’s not possible yet. Given giants like Google is already going cloud, we certainly hope that Apple will improve its cloud service in the days ahead.
