Yes, as a single file. The local iDisk is stored as a sparsebundle file in your user directory:

//Library/FileSync//< .MobileMeusername>_iDisk.sparsebundle

The above file will be backed up by Time Machine just like any other. If you have a problem with your iDisk that is the file you’d restore.

I’ve been using MobileMe on and off since it was .Mac and even prior to that when it was known as iTools and I remember that I and many others decided that iDisk syncing wasn’t worth the risks. Hopefully it can be relied upon now but I’d advise against storing important documents only on the iDisk. As long as syncing works correctly it’s fine but when it goes wrong it can be messy. I’ve known people to lose files because they relied on iDisk sync.

I found this page which has some useful info:
http://homepage.mac.com/rfwilmut/notes/idisksync.html

I think I’ll continue to use my iDisk for backing up documents etc but will use the local copy sync feature to see how reliable it is over time.

So, the “local” iDisk I thought I was accessing this whole time was really just still in the cloud.

I’ve turned local copy on and I’m just waiting for everything to sync up now, then I’m sure Spotlight will work like I thought it would before, and I’ll be ready to make the full time switch.

Spotlight works fine, with one twist: When doing a Command-F, I found my iDisk “hard drive” was not listed for searching. All I got was “This Mac” and my Home directory. I searched “This Mac” and was OK with that since Spotlight is so fast anyway. Still, I wondered if there was a better way…

The trick was to change the Finder preference for new Windows. By default it’s set to your Home directory. I changed it to iDisk, and now a Cmd-F provides “This Mac” and my iDisk volume. (By the way, my iDisk and Home folder have the same name. If yours do too don’t let it confuse you; a quick search will convince you which is being used.)

If you don’t want to change the above default, you can still search the iDisk:

- After a Cmd-F click the iDisk’s icon and start typing a search.
- In the Finder do a Cmd-Shift-I to open the iDisk and then type a search.
- In any Finder window navigate to any iDisk folder and then type in a search.

In all the above, you’ll see “This Mac” with whatever iDIsk folder you navigated to.

Finally, the command-space menu search lists iDisk matches as well.

Yes, that’s correct. If I simply used iDisk as Cloud storage, then it wouldn’t provide the comfort level I get from making the local copy. And, as pointed out, I’d also have the performance lag when reading/writing data.

I’m not sure what advantage (except from saving local disk space, I guess) one would get from NOT creating the local copy. To me it removes one of the primary advantages of MMe’s syncing.

What some people may not realise is that there are two main ways to use iDisk. If you use the standard method which requires a live connection to the net then you may notice delays. If you opt to store a copy of the iDisk on your computer then you’re always working with the local copy so you don’t get the delays. You can set the local copy to sync with the cloud automatically or manually.

MobileMe help pages say this:
“You can use iDisk syncing to create a copy of your iDisk on your computer and make changes to it at any time, even when you’re not connected to the Internet.

Changes you make to the iDisk on your computer are synchronized with your iDisk on MobileMe while you’re connected to the Internet. If you log out, restart, or shut down your computer while your iDisk is syncing, synchronization continues when you log in again.”

I’ve got everything set up, just one last kink to work out, which I’m assuming will need to be answered by the software creators, unless you just happen to use Mars Edit for your blogging?

I’m trying to copy the “MarsEdit” folder which contains my “LocalDrafts” from the Library>>>Application Support in my home folder to the Library>>>Application Support on the iDisk, so I would be able to keep my drafts synced and edit them on my MacBook and iMac, but when copying, it says:

“The item “MarsEdit” contains one or more items you do not have permission to read. Do you want to copy the items you are allowed to read?”

I click continue, and it looks like it copies something, but nothing new is in the Application Support folder at all.

When I actually open the iDIsk hard drive (it appears as a hard drive in the Finder and on the desktop), it opens immediately, then sometimes you can see it check for anything it needs to sync. I’ve never known that to cause any noticeable delay when doing my work, however.

The only time there’s any noticeable delay for me is when I reboot, or log out and back in. I think the Mac wants to make a connection so that it’s free to sync automatically, so there’s a few seconds there.

If I use the iDisk on my PC, there’s always a “delay”, but that’s because it’s actually reading/writing across the net (on PCs the iDisk is not local). But on my Mac I’ve honestly never noticed any delay beyond when I reboot or login.

If an app automatically goes to my home directory, I just click the alias of the folder I want, i.e., my Words (word processing) folder, and I’m taken there directly. Keep in mind some apps remember where you saved your files, so it’s always easy to get to the iDisk directory.

Yes, aliases are best thought of as similar to shortcuts on Windows, though in practice they’re a lot smarter.

You get that delay too for about 5 seconds, right? Or do you just leave it connected all the time?

And last question: Being a recent Mac convert, I don’t remember ever using “aliases” or if they were even a part of Windows, but are they basically kind of like shortcut folders? So, if a program is predisposed to saving to the Home directory like you said, it would save to the alias, thereby also saving to the iDisk automatically?

Well, “dragged” is such a, well, drag. :-)

By the way, I started this all slowly, so I’m comfortable with it all now. But at first I moved just one text file (the one I use to write blog drafts) to the iDisk. After seeing it synced OK, using it from both machines, and was available even without a connection, I moved a few other files. Only after being comfortable with all of them on multiple machines did I finally decide to bite the bullet. And even then I copied the Doc directory and hung on to it (even though some files were getting out of date) for a month before I really let go.

You may very well want to try this “slow” approach for yourself as well. I can only speak from my own experience.