Should important files in iCloud also be backed up elsewhere?

Solution 1:

The new paradigm is…

"Any data which is stored in fewer than three distinct locations ought to be considered temporary."

Late Edit:
Don't use a sync solution as a backup.
iCloud is not primarily a backup solution, it is a sync solution. It will come back to bite you hard if you accidentally delete a file from one device… the helpful sync service will then dutifully delete it from every device.

For 'distinct locations', personally, I use 4, in degrees of 'distance'.

1. My Mac, which has not only my Mac data but also my iDevice backups.
2. Time Machine, containing all of 1.

1 & 2 are both in the same building, so if the house burns down, I need another location, off-site.

3. iCloud, containing only a subset of 1 & 2 [primarily iPhone backups, just because they happen automatically] which is not enough to recover everything in case of disaster.

4. Backblaze [other offsite backup structures are available] which has copies of everything in 1, 2, & 3 above.

I also have my boot drive cloned, for rapid recovery in case of drive failure, but that is also in the house, so classes as part of 1 & 2.

I consider iCloud to contain my keychain in case of catastrophe. I don't consider it as any kind of 'storage', per se. I don't trust it with my photos or my music, for instance, I have all that data stored in 1, the Mac. I consider my Mac to be the primary location for all my data. It has 13TB of storage & nearly 20 years of unbroken historical data.

Solution 2:

iCloud is not a backup. It is a synchronization service.

There is a fundamental difference between the two. When you accidentally delete a file, then

• a backup makes sure that you can restore the file again, whereas
• a synchronization service makes sure that you can never again restore the file because it synchronizes the deletion event everwhere.

As you can see, this makes the synchronization service in some sense the exact opposite of a backup.

The same applies to RAID, by the way.

Solution 3:

Yes. I have one mac that I set to download originals - no optimizing space. This way I have a guaranteed local copy of my Music (formerly iTunes) Library and content, my Photos (formerly iPhoto) Library and content and all containers and app-data and files stored in iCloud.

I back these up to Time Machine. I have two drives that Time Machine backs up to - one that’s connected for 3 months and another that’s off-site. Each quarter, I disconnect the drive that’s online and swap it out with the off-site one that comes back and stays connected for the new quarter.

I limit my lossage to the new files only should I lose both iCloud and my home to a fire or accident.

I know some other people use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner or Arq but I haven’t needed these excellent tools for personal use (I use each of the above professionally and can vouch for how well engineered they are - spend money with one of them if you don’t trust Time Machine).

Here are my truths:

• iCloud is not a backup I trust for irreplaceable items like photos, legal documents, important files.
• RAID is not a backup for anything
• I’m more likely to mess up than Apple is. I am primarily protecting me against myself losing control of my account or messing up.
• I gladly outsource backup tools to the professionals (just like I outsource music syncing and photo syncing to Apple).

Every time the bill comes due, I have a drink and appreciate I’m not spending hours fixing my hacked together scripts to back up or sync. I’m then refreshed to earn more than enough money to pay someone to manage these tasks for me. The time I save is way more valuable than the cost of one time backup service or $13 a month to Apple for iCloud storage and music service.