Chapter 3. Using iDisk

Network storage of one kind or another has been around for decades. Back in the day, if you wanted to move files to a file server, your computer had to be connected to the same network as that file server via Ethernet, Token Ring, LocalTalk, or some other network. If your computer wasn't physically connected to that specific network, you couldn't connect. Most often, that meant the computers that were connecting were in a sort of closed arena able to talk to each other but not able to connect with other sets of computers.

The Internet changed all that by allowing different kinds of computers running different kinds of operating systems to connect to each other around the world and that includes transferring files to and from file servers. Thanks to the Internet, you can access files stored online from just about anywhere in the world a boon for business travelers especially.

iDisk is a .Mac utility that lets you store your files on servers maintained by Apple. These servers store files for thousands of .Mac subscribers. When one of those subscribers connects to his or her iDisk using a Mac, the iDisk appears on the Desktop as if it were a network volume on a file server sitting in a closet down the hall. Users can treat the iDisk almost as if it were a hard drive connected directly to their Macs.

In this chapter, I'll cover how to use your iDisk how to connect to it, how to copy files to it, and how to use the folders stored on it.