Put iDisk on Your Desktop

When you sign up for a .Mac account, you automatically get 250 megabytes of hard disk space on a computer at Apple. This storage space is called your iDisk. You can "mount" your iDisk so it appears on your Desktop just like any other hard disk, then copy files between your Mac and the iDiskyou are really copying files from your Mac to Apple's computer (or vice versa). Once files are on your iDisk (on the Apple computer), you can access them from anywhere in the world.

To open your iDisk

1.

If you haven't already connected to the Internet, do so now.

2.

From the Go menu in the Finder, choose "iDisk," and then choose "My iDisk" from the submenu, as shown below. If you don't see the Go menu, you are not at the Finderjust click on any blank space you see of the Desktop and that will take you to the Finder. If you've never logged in to your .Mac account before: The Mac will ask you to enter your member name and password before you can mount your iDisk. After the first time you log in to your .Mac account: When you choose "My iDisk" from the Go menu, a window opens that displays your iDisk, as shown below. Amazing. Don't get confused with these folders that are named exactly the same as the folders in the Home folder on your computer. The icon in the iDisk title bar (the crystal ball) indicates you're looking at folders on Apple's servers.

When this icon appears on your Desktop (named with your .Mac membership name), double-click it to open a window showing the folders stored there. See page 260.

How does your Mac know which iDisk to open?

How does your Mac know which iDisk is yours? After you set up an account, your member name and password appear in the .Mac System Preferences. Click the "System Preferences" icon in your Dock, then click the ".Mac" icon. You can see below the .Mac member name and password.

The System Preferences icon in the Dock.

The .Mac icon in System Preferences.

If you have more than one .Mac account, you can go to a different account: Change the member name and password in this .Mac preference pane. In the Finder, when you choose "My iDisk" in the Go menu, it opens the --account that is entered here.

Here's an even quicker way to access a different iDisk without changing your .Mac preferences: At the Finder, choose "iDisk" from the Go menu; then choose "Other User's iDisk..." in the submenu (see previous page).

You can set or change your .Mac account information.

Other ways to open your iDisk

• Click the iDisk icon in a Finder window Sidebar (shown to the right). An iDisk icon appears in the Sidebar of all Finder windows, giving you quick access to your iDisk at all times.

  

  If the iDisk icon does not appear in the Sidebar: From the Finder menu, choose "Preferences…." Click the "Sidebar" icon. Make sure that "iDisk" has a check next to it.

• Use iDisk Utility, explained on page 263264.