What are my alternatives to Apple MobileMe iDisk?

In the most recent iPhone update, iOS5, Mac offers a conversion from Mobileme to iCloud. With the discontinuation of iDisk and iWeb, many MobileMe users are looking for alternative options.

What is iCloud?

iCloud basically allows mac users to sync their photos, contacts, mail and calendar between iphone, ipad and computer. Until recently, many Mac users were using the Mobileme iDisk to sync files between iPhone App and multiple computers. Many of us believed that the iDisk would naturally be included with the iCloud conversion, but this is simply not the case. While iCloud still allows for our calendar, photos and mail to sync, we're left with a need for online file storage that's integrated with our systems in an efficient way.

iDisk Alternatives for Online File Storage?

Dropbox - After quite a bit of research, dropbox looks like a great solution. The disk is accessible on the mac desktop just like iDisk, and this makes it so simple to save new files. Dropbox is compatible with iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Mac, PC and Linux. All files are accessible on the cloud at www.dropbox.com. I am currently using the Pro plan which allows for 50 GB of file storage for $9.99 per month.

Box.net - This solution has a few more bells and whistles including Google Apps integration, but they priced themselves out of the running with a higher monthly fee. They claim $15 per user per month for their Business plan, but they require a minimum of 3 users. So, actually it's $45 minimum per month to utilize their business option even if you're only one person.

Syncplicity - I considered Syncplicity as well. They have Google App integration at the same price as Box.net. You can use up to 2 GB of storage for free as a personal user and upgrade to 50 GB for $15 per month.

Backup Elf - Looking for a simple solution to backup files by email? The guys at Young Entrepreneur launched a solution called Backup Elf that basically gives you an email address to send files to. Everything is organized and easily accesible for multiple parties whenever you login to your account online.

There are many other options, but these appear to be the most popular that I've seen. Please let me know if you're using one of these or a different solution. Share your experience with the community.

Converting from MobileMe iDisk to Dropbox:

As I mentioned, I chose Dropbox since there's enough storage for a business account but the packages are limited enough that they can be used with just one user.

Sign up for an account at www.dropbox.com.

Download the software. This is all pretty straightforward and they have a great FAQ area for questions. The process should take about 5 minutes or less to sign up and install the software.

Locate your Dropbox. On a Mac, the dropbox automatically shows up in your top right bar and in right sidebar of the Finder. If you'd like to move the folder to a new location, click on the Dropbox in your upper right menu bar, and select preferences. You can select a new location here. You can also drag your Dropbox folder to the right side of your dock.

Transfer MobileMe iDisk files to Dropbox. Open both iDisk and Dropbox. Drag and Drop files from one location to the other. I would do this in small patches of files at a time to make sure that everything is moving over appropriately. Check periodically to see that all files are converting correctly and that they're showing up in your online directory as well. This process went very smoothly for me.

Where is my iDisk? If you've already selected the option to convert to iCloud, your iDisk may appear to be missing. Don't worry, it's not gone. I have converted to iCloud, and I can still access my iDisk files on my desktop. MobileMe does not expire until June 30, 2012, so your files will be available until that point.

If your desktop cloud icon is missing, go to System Preferences > MobileMe > iDisk. Simply navigating to this file was enough for my iDisk to show up on my desktop. If you continue to have issues, you may want to turn on the feature to sync offline so you can save a copy of your files on your hard drive.

If you have additional questions or experience with Dropbox or other iDisk alternatives, please comment below. For more information on topics like this, you can visit my blog at http://www.jsncafe.com.