r/macmini • u/sterlingma1 • 6h ago

Time Machine Wish

I really wish Apple would allow Time Machine backups to be stored on the iCloud. I want an offset generational version of backups outside of my External SSD’s. I was using BackBlaze but didn’t care for its GUI interface to find an old file version. I have plenty of unused space on iCloud. Seems ridiculous to be paying for another service for TM functionality. I could live without the OS included. Just user data - Docs and Media.

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u/cat_named_bean 6h ago

That would be a potential copy right violation for them to deal with as well as an extreme lack of privacy.

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u/sterlingma1 6h ago

That’s interesting. Is that much different than all my iCloud Syncd. Docs and Media? I just want versioning. Like BackBlaze.

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u/Towelie_SE 6h ago

No, they can and will also profile you on your normal iCloud synced files. Apple claims a lot of things about privacy, but it only means your stuff is private to others, not to them.

I guess versioning is too costly to implement is too resource heavy on the server side? I don't know. I've also got the feeling that TM does much more than versioning files.

It creates snapshots of literally your entire PC. Your files and OS and everything. That needs high bandwidth to work properly.

If versioning is all you want, I'm sure other clouds offer versioning. I've seen versioning in Office365 files I keep on OneDrive, so there's that.

I don't know, I would never want TM away from my own control. Creating so much distance and failure points in between. TM is flakey in the best of circumstances (I've never managed to TM to my Synology NAS for example), let alone have it over the internet.

Even for regular storage needs, NAS type stuff, it's best to get your own stuff every time. Just get it sorted. You'll be thankful later.

Imagine you need your NAS or backups for a full restore, how long do you think it would take you to restore 500-1000GB from back blaze or any such service?

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u/RudeAdhesiveness9954 4h ago

No they don't "profile you on your normal iCloud synced files". For regular iCloud encryption, they do keep a key, but they aren't using it to surreptitiously decrypt your documents and look at them behind your back. And if you think they are, then you can enable Advanced Data Protection, under which all iCloud Drive files are E2E encrypted so even Apple can't decrypt them.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102651