Yes, absolutely, 100% agreed. But in real life accidents happen and it's nice to at least have an option of emergency recovery. I'd trade that possibility for extra security, but I suspect most people would not. I think doing it like iPhones do it, where all storage is non-recoverable BUT everything is backed up by default is the best user experience.
It isn’t backed up unless you opt-in for iCloud backup (which is largely encouraged) or perform a regular manual backup using iTunes.
This is largely similar for MacOS with Time-Machine backup (largely encouraged) or iCloud backup (still recent and for now advertised as secondary backup) or a full disk dump by any software you deem appropriate.
I both case the iCloud back-up seems to be the backup method Apple want to promote moving forward. And while I was very reticent for a while, this ultimately is a good move on their part IMHO (tho I’ll personally never stop full disk physical backup). Yes it’s pricy but keeping external hard-drive to date with tech also have a cost beyond initial buying cost (FW->USB2->USB-C HD->SSD) also it’s off site wich need some discipline if you do it yourself. For most users paying a monthly fee to have you mind worry free will be a blessing.
This is pretty much my setup, and one of these days I'll convert the rest of the family.
The odds of your local backup and cloud provider going down simultaneously are slim to none, and at that point I'd start looking out for the Four Horsemen.
But I suspect most of the file types that land in iCloud Document containers, Photo Library, and the rest cover 90% of what most people consider important.
So the thinking goes, You can always re-download the OS and applications if necessary. Internet Recovery is a godsend on a machine that fails to boot.
(Insert 80-90's Mac user rant about the Startup "chime" going away - because POST - and Target Disk Mode being more obscure than it should be)
The fact that home internet connections are just now getting to the point now where this is viable makes iCloud backup less of a pain in the butt than it used to be. Still, I don't trust it entirely because of the hacking risks and the fact that it doesn't grab everything by default.
Notably it’s a per-user backup which can be a no go for shared computer.
But it’s the logic Apple is pushing for years now. iOS devices never got the possibility to be shared because they are considered "personal". And this is also a no go for some people (I think this logic is ok for phone but more discutable for iPad).
By this logic a backup fall into the personal category for Apple so you need an undividual account. Which again make senses in some way. Because with physical backup, if not encrypted, anybody that put his hand on the disk get access to all the data of all the users.
Usually you trust people you share a computer with more that any company, so maybe it’s pushing the logic too far to force use to get an iCloud account.
But from a practical standpoint you can’t either say it’s useless. Kid grow and get his own computer? Just setup iCloud on the new one and he get back all it’s stuff painlessly. Your shared computer crash and you decide to buy two laptops to replace it? Easy to split accounts.
Everything is already easily doable using the migration assistant, assuming you have a backup, but can be easier in the futur for the proverbial layman.
If there is an option for emergency recovery, there is also an option for compromise / theft of data, of leaking personally identifiable data - if you as a company were to throw away a hard drive containing user data and it's recoverable, under the GDPR you could face a €20 million fine. These are very serious concerns.
Encrypt and back-up your data, and don't lose the key.
Same goes for 2FA, if you lose your 2nd factor thing and didn't store the recovery in a safe place, your data should be lost. If there's an option to recover it anyway, your data was insecure anyway and 2FA was a waste of effort.
Again, I don't disagree. But I don't think it's hard to understand that I'm not talking about company policies here - I'm saying that if my grandma spills water on her computer I'd much rather pay someone some money to recover her family pictures than say "sorry grandma, can't do it, but at least no one could steal your data either!". Obviously everyone "should" have backups, but you know, we can sit here and name things that people "should" be doing all day long - that doesn't lead us anywhere.
