Sync Your Obsidian Vault For Free With iCloud By All Means, But Don’t Stop There

With a short review of the new app I’m using to keep my precious files safely backed up

I’m watching you, iCloud — Image by Author

I have an uneasy relationship with iCloud — we smile and nod at each other, but there’s some creeping distrust behind that pleasant façade. It’s often slower than it should be to load changes between devices, and on rare occasions I’ve seen files duplicated — or vanish — for no apparent reason.

This is why I don’t rely on iCloud alone to keep my vault safe. Currently I’m also using BackBlaze to backup my entire hard drive, and ChronoSync Express (1-month free trial offer below) to mirror my iCloud vault to Dropbox.

Obsidian vault backup options

Obsidian users have a fair number of options for backing up notes, including — 

1. Obsidian Sync at $10 a month or $96 US per year — the most reliable choice

2. iCloud — free but slooow, with potential sync issues

3. GitHub — free, great for version control, but requires technical know-how

4. Other cloud or sync services — free, if you’re already paying for them

5. Hard backups onto external drives — free, but only as secure …