New IPad Air!!

[anmanwar]

I was able to get $200 from my local Apple store for my iPad 2 today & I upgraded to the Air! I really like the look and feel but was shocked to have to immediately purchase a new cloud storage plan. I had only used 2.5 of my allotted free 5.0 GB on my iPad 2 but once I activated the Air and tried to back up I had to spend the $20 to purchase a new plan. Is it just the new operating system?? Thanks!!!

 

[J. A.]

When I purchased my iPad Air in January, I didn't have to purchase backup space. I don't think this changed since then. I'm backing up two iPads to iCloud.

Are you sure you had to purchase it, or were you just offered to purchase backup storage?

 

[jwt873]

I kept my iPad 1 when I upgraded to the Air.

Both are working OK... I didn't have to pay for any extra storage. (But I don't have that much to store. I'm still well under the limit my 'free' cloud space.

 

[anmanwar]

When I purchased my iPad Air in January, I didn't have to purchase backup space. I don't think this changed since then. I'm backing up two iPads to iCloud.

Are you sure you had to purchase it, or were you just offered to purchase backup storage?

Yes I had to purchase it. It was trying to complete an update to ios 7.2 but wouldn't start because it said I didn't have enough space to complete a backup

 

[anmanwar]

When I purchased my iPad Air in January, I didn't have to purchase backup space. I don't think this changed since then. I'm backing up two iPads to iCloud.

Are you sure you had to purchase it, or were you just offered to purchase backup storage?

This is strange, on my new iPad under settings it's showing my new iPad air AND my old ipad 2! I had used up half of my free storage on the old ipad but it was erased at the apple store. Im confused. I barely have anything on my ipad. I don't feel like I should have had to purchase storage

 

[J. A.]

iCloud can differentiate between both devices. If you set up your new iPad using the backup from the "old" iPad 2, there should only be one device visible as backing up to iCloud.

This is strange, on my new iPad under settings it's showing my new iPad air AND my old ipad 2! I had used up half of my free storage on the old ipad but it was erased at the apple store. Im confused. I barely have anything on my ipad. I don't feel like I should have had to purchase storage

 

[twerppoet]

This is strange, on my new iPad under settings it's showing my new iPad air AND my old ipad 2! I had used up half of my free storage on the old ipad but it was erased at the apple store. Im confused. I barely have anything on my ipad. I don't feel like I should have had to purchase storage

You did not need to purchase more iCloud storage. Instead you should have deleted the old backup so that you would have enough space for a new one.

When you added the new device to iCloud it saw it as a new device. You can restore it from the other device's backup, as you probably did, but the new device can not continue to backup to the old file. It has to start a new one.

Since the old file took up 2.5 GB, adding the new one would probably have exceeded your 5 GB limit.

This is normally what you want, since you can have more than one iOS device connected to the same iCloud account, and you don't want them all trying to use the same backup file.

If you call Apple and explain what happened, I'm willing to bet they will refund your iCloud storage fee.


Some thoughts:

In a few months we will be transitioning to iOS 8. This will make iCloud space more useful, and make upgrading the storage a lot more tempting. Along with this Apple will be making iCloud storage much cheaper, at about 99 cents a month for 20 GB (if memory servers).

I'm not sure what Apple will do for those of us on the older plan, but if history is any indicator they will grandfather you into a larger amount of free storage for some year or years.

That's what happened for those who had the older MobliMe accounts.

 

[anmanwar]

You did not need to purchase more iCloud storage. Instead you should have deleted the old backup so that you would have enough space for a new one.

When you added the new device to iCloud it saw it as a new device. You can restore it from the other device's backup, as you probably did, but the new device can not continue to backup to the old file. It has to start a new one.

Since the old file took up 2.5 GB, adding the new one would probably have exceeded your 5 GB limit.

This is normally what you want, since you can have more than one iOS device connected to the same iCloud account, and you don't want them all trying to use the same backup file.

If you call Apple and explain what happened, I'm willing to bet they will refund your iCloud storage fee.


Some thoughts:

In a few months we will be transitioning to iOS 8. This will make iCloud space more useful, and make upgrading the storage a lot more tempting. Along with this Apple will be making iCloud storage much cheaper, at about 99 cents a month for 20 GB (if memory servers).

I'm not sure what Apple will do for those of us on the older plan, but if history is any indicator they will grandfather you into a larger amount of free storage for some year or years.

That's what happened for those who had the older MobliMe accounts.

That's why when I look at my iCloud it's showing the new iPad Air AND the iPad 2! The apple genius who got it going for me said to pick the option that said backup new device from iCloud. I know I can call Apple for a refund of the $20, but how do I fix it so the cloud only recognizes the iPad Air?

 

[J. A.]

You can delete the backup of the iPad 2 in Settings - iCloud - Storage & Backup - Manage Storage - the name of the iPad 2 - Delete Backup.

The genius should have told you to use the backup from your iPad 2 when setting it up. Then you'd only have one backup in iCloud and no problems with iCloud backup space.

 

[anmanwar]

You can delete the backup of the iPad 2 in Settings - iCloud - Storage & Backup - Manage Storage - the name of the iPad 2 - Delete Backup.

The genius should have told you to use the backup from your iPad 2 when setting it up. Then you'd only have one backup in iCloud and no problems with iCloud backup space.

Thank you!!! It worked!

 

[J. A.]

You're welcome.

 

[twerppoet]

You can delete the backup of the iPad 2 in Settings - iCloud - Storage & Backup - Manage Storage - the name of the iPad 2 - Delete Backup.

The genius should have told you to use the backup from your iPad 2 when setting it up. Then you'd only have one backup in iCloud and no problems with iCloud backup space.

Using the old backup to restore does not make it the backup file for the new device. Nor should it. After all, Apple doesn't' know whether you are replacing the old device or just adding a new one, and want to start with the old one's setup.

Anytime you add a new device to an iCloud account it always gets it's own backup file. If you wan't to remove the old device's backup file you must delete it.

Ideally the Apple tech should have mentioned that. Though you definitely want to keep the old backup file until you are sure the new device was restored properly; incase you have to try again.

When I used my old iPad 3 backup to restore the iPad Air, the old backup file stayed around until I deleted it. That wasn't a problem for me, because I already had extra iCloud storage.

 

[J. A.]

I have a different experience. I also used the backup of my iPad 3 to restore the Air. I don't have extra storage, and I still use the old iPad's "identity" (name, partially settings as well). There was no third iPad in iCloud when I set it up, and I didn't have to delete the old backup. It was replaced when it was backed up again.

 

[twerppoet]

Hmm.

Now I'm wondering if my memory is going bad, again. It is possible that I've got my iPhone and iPad backups confused; as I use the same iCloud account for both.