MacBook® All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 4. Expanding Your Horizons with iDisk

In This Chapter

• Setting up iDisk

• Using files and folders on your iDisk

• Using public files

If you ask the average MacBook owner about what's available on the Internet, you likely hear benefits, such as e-mail, Web surfing, RSS feeds, Google, and instant communication via iChat. What you may not hear is "Convenient, trouble-free storage for my files and folders."

You might have tried to use one of the dozens of storage sites on the Internet that allows you to upload and download files from a personal file area via your Web browser. Unfortunately, these Web-based storage sites are slow in transferring files and lacking in convenience, and they typically offer only a small amount of space. As a result, most computer owners decide that the idea of online storage is neat ...but impractical.

In this chapter, I show you what real online storage is all about. I'm talking about iDisk, which is the online storage feature that's integrated into the Mac OS X Finder. No jury-rigged Web site is necessary (although you can use one if you're not on a Mac running Snow Leopard). I admit that online storage doesn't replace the hard drives on your MacBook, but with a MobileMe subscription, you can easily make use of online storage for backups and sharing files with your friends ...from anywhere on the planet, road warrior!

So how do you actually use iDisk? That's the simple part! To use iDisk within Mac OS X, just do what comes naturally — it works the same as ...