Questions about Cloud backup

[Shephard]

Ok I don't have any apple products but a few friends have iphone and ipad.

a few of them brought me them because they were corrupted or wouldn't start. I read there were some problems with ios 6 update and the update never finishes and gets stuck.

so I plug in with USB and iTunes says the iPod needs to be reformatted or reset to factory specs. It said WARING you will lose everything.

I asked my friends and they said they had it backed up to cloud.

Well we reset, did ios 6 update and it worked this time, but they lost everything. lost there photo, contact, music, you name it.

So I don't think they had the cloud set up right.

I don't use apple so how exactly does the cloud work?

Your stuff is backed up to a server online? so its there forever. i am guessing my friends just sync'd the stuff to their computer and thought it was the cloud?

would you say the cloud is the best way to backup?

thanks

[FoxFifth]

If they synched to their computer and they aren't using iCloud they should have a backup on their computer as iTunes will automatically backup before doing the synch (although there may be some option that I'm not aware of to turn that off).

I've backed up both using iTunes (as an automatic step in synching) and I've also tried iCloud. The iCloud backup is run automatically on a daily basis if the iCloud backup option is on and the phone is connected to wi-fi, connected to a power source and the screen is locked. The iTunes backup requires connecting to iTunes on the computer via USB or via wi-fi. Restoring from iCloud will allow you to choose from the 3 most recent backups while iTunes only maintains one (but could be backed up as part of backing up the computer).

The following from Apple Support cover backing up and restoring using both methods and may help you find a backup:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4036

[Shephard]

well this was a while ago but I remember looking at the storage on the phone and I saw no backup at my house. So I guess they did not have cloud backup. I told them to check their computers. They don't live near me so I don't know if they checked or gave up.

Can you get iCloud backup anywhere?

Also since iCloud is hosted on a server is it safe? I don't know of any cloud for Windows.

[FoxFifth]

iCloud is accessible anywhere there is an internet connection.

Microsoft has a service called Skydrive; not sure if it is used to backup Windows phones and I'm not up to date on making a comparison between it and iCloud: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/skydrive/download

Regarding storage on a server being safe, I use Dropbox, LastPass, Mozy backup (all of which involve cloud storage) and am perfectly comfortable while many others won't use any form of cloud storage.

[sabahm]

You will need an internet connection to access iCloud and it is absolutely accessible from anywhere and at anytime with an internet connection as mentioned above. Your friends must have backed up all the files on the cloud server which will definitely going to take out the data loss issue as it has been proven that cloud backup services store all your important data on the cloud server which is safe, sound and secure as well.

There are a lot of options available in the market. Just as like mentioned above, Dropbox and Mozy. Both of them are good enough to rely upon. I have used SOS Online Backup and My PC Backup as well. They offer military grade encryption and secure podium to store data online.