iCloud - anyone use it

BillN

Hall of Famer
Location
S W France
Name
Bill
iCloud seems OK in that it keeps my contacts and calendar in sync between my MacBookPro and iMac

but how do you bloody reinstate all your contacts and calendar if it goes down OR you do not want to use it anymore

The only way I have found to back up the Calendar is to back up EACH Calendar separately ....... which is really a bind if you are running say 8 calendars within the same iCal

also I am finding it impossible to reinstate my Contacts and Calendars to non iCloud apps as even if I export and import the files they come back as iCloud files

My worry is that if iCloud goes down I will loose all

Also the only way I now seem to be able to get Calendar and Contacts info onto my ancient ipod is to (buy another) as the OS X on the thing is so out of date and because all my Contacts are now in the Cloud when I try to sync the ipod with my MBP using iTunes there is no data there that it can find, (it is all "on the Cloud" and presumably "hidden" somewhere in the Apple money making machine)

I wish that I never started with the bloody thing

Any comments, of the useful type, would be appreciated

(as usual any help on the Apple web site is as obtuse as ever)
 
Official Apple Support Community
MacTalk - The Front Page

Both useful places.

I use iCloud but haven't fretted over whether it would go down. I just expect that it won't. I don't keep copies on my computer because you end up with duplicates.

Contacts: export as vCards, not as a contact archive (you'll need to highlight all your contacts to get all cards in one file: see screenie)
Calendars: All 8 will have to be exported individually as .ics files.

Both these can be imported to (for example) google.

If you dislike icloud that much, you can (after you have exported everything you need) disable it and choose to keep everything local to your machines, and sync your ancient iPod with the machine, not the cloud. It really isn't that difficult to make the change. I happen to enjoy the sync capabilities, and keeping all 3 of my devices in sync. I also use icloud for streaming photos... I didnt at first, because I became all anxious about having too many there but I am now finding it extremely useful, being able to pick and choose from the stream, what I want to keep on my iPad. iCloud has many benefits.
 
Thanks Sue

It is not that I dislike iCloud ....... what I dislike is that I am unable to make a "conventional" back up of iCal and Contacts reasonably quickly - it is new to me - I have lots of valuable data stored in both and I just do not want to take any chances - (if I was sceptical I could say that it is another plot to get you hooked into a big computer software manufacturer)
 
Thanks Sue

It is not that I dislike iCloud ....... what I dislike is that I am unable to make a "conventional" back up of iCal and Contacts reasonably quickly - it is new to me - I have lots of valuable data stored in both and I just do not want to take any chances - (if I was sceptical I could say that it is another plot to get you hooked into a big computer software manufacturer)

Try to think of it as a convenience, rather than a plot :) In the meantime, the point of icloud is that it *is* the backup. However... if you are really worried, you could probably use something like idrive or Mozy to do backups instead. I used to back up my keychain there, but don't anymore.
 
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