Alright, so you have a backup plan for your Mac. Time Machine, an external cloned disk, and maybe even some files on Apple’s iCloud; just to get critical files out of the house or office.
Therein lies the new battlefield. Cloud backup services; those locations on servers scattered all over the internet that securely store your most valued files. iCloud gives you 5GB of storage free, 200GB for $2.99, and 2TB for $9.99 per month, enough for any Mac, iPhone, and iPad user to keep everything safe and sound somewhere. What’s Google doing?
Backup. Sync. Battle.
With very little fanfare, Apple has become competitive with cloud backup via iCloud. Open System Preferences on your Mac. Select iCloud. Click on Option next to iCloud Drive and Photos to view some very good backup and sync capabilities. Not only can you keep all your photos from the Photos app in iCloud, you can keep data from various Apple apps, third party apps, and your Desktop and Documents folders.
That’s plenty of backup options that protect you from local catastrophic loss; theft, fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, sink holes, or changes in presidential administrations.
What’s Google doing?
Google Drive has been around a few years, and Google isn’t exactly a newcomer to online storage. Unlike Apple’s measly 5GB of free iCloud storage, Google offers 15GB for free. Need more, 100GB comes in at $1.99 a month, a dollar less than Apple gives iCloud customers with 200GB for $2.99 per month. That’s where it gets messy and storage rates start to flatten out.
Google says their most popular Google Drive storage plan is 1TB for $9.99 a month, which does not compare favorably to iCloud’s 2TB for the same amount. Need 10TB of online storage? That’s not a bargain at $99.99 per month, but Apple doesn’t have a comparable answer.
Using Google Drive isn’t quite as automatic as using iCloud, either, but it covers some basics, but leaves a huge gap. Google’s new Backup and Sync app has options to store your Mac’s Desktop folder, Documents folder, and the entire Pictures folder (where Photo Library lives). All those files are backed up much like iCloud backs up the same files.
What’s the problem, Google?
In the Mac’s System Preference, in iCloud, you’ll see a list of applications, starting with Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, Notes, and more. Those you select are backed up automatically in iCloud and made available to sync for other devices; Macs, iPhone, iPad. Google does not have that function in Google Drive or the new Backup and Sync app for Mac.
Even better, click on iCloud Drive in System Preferences > iCloud and you will see options to store data from third party apps so they will be backed up and available to sync with iPhone, iPad, or another Mac. That includes Messages, iMovie, Garageband, Script Editor, and TextEdit on your Mac, but others, too, including Numbers, Keynote, Pages, Mail, and more. For third party apps, my list includes Notability, 2Do, Numi, TWiT.tv, Due, Together, SnippetsLab, Copied, CalcTape, Airmail, and others.
Google’s new Backup and Sync app helps to remove some of the backup blues, but these days Apple seems to be doing a better job caring for its customers with iCloud.
Who would of thought, amirite?
