Skydrive and Zune

[bevt]

Using Skydrive is not simple and has some real shortcomings.
In Office on Windows Phone you can't password protect Skydrive. In the Skydrive app you can sign out making it necessary to login again but there is no such setting in the Office app.
You can't open password protected files through Skydrive! WHAT? There are documents I would like to keep on Skydrive for easy access but the docs are and have to be password protected.

Zune
Your backups of your phone are useless if you have to replace your phone. You can't use the backup on another phone. My husband had to get his Lumia900 replaced and the backup was not available to install on the new phone. There doesn't appear to be any way to backup your data and settings so that you can reload them on another phone in case of theft or damage.

There are huge holes in this system. This certainly isn't well thought out.

 

[HeyCori]

If you lose your phone you can still remote lock.

And really, if someone steals your phone and also figures out how to get past your lockscreen password (I assume you're using one if you're worried about security) then they're going to have access to a lot of personal info.

You can also re-download apps using My Phone. Unfortunately, it doesn't save settings.

 

[canesfan625]

Using Skydrive is not simple and has some real shortcomings.
In Office on Windows Phone you can't password protect Skydrive. In the Skydrive app you can sign out making it necessary to login again but there is no such setting in the Office app.
You can't open password protected files through Skydrive! WHAT? There are documents I would like to keep on Skydrive for easy access but the docs are and have to be password protected.

Zune
Your backups of your phone are useless if you have to replace your phone. You can't use the backup on another phone. My husband had to get his Lumia900 replaced and the backup was not available to install on the new phone. There doesn't appear to be any way to backup your data and settings so that you can reload them on another phone in case of theft or damage.

There are huge holes in this system. This certainly isn't well thought out.

What do you mean by password protect skydrive exactly? As for their being no office functionality for that its because your phone is logged into your live account. It would be like complaining that when I log into live it doesn't ask me to log into live again. Keep a password on your lock screen. If something happens to phone and your password is easy to guess then be quick on the remote lock/wipe.

Not sure what you mean about opening protected files either. Maybe this will help

Can I open a protected Office document on my phone?
Yes, here’s how:

1
Press the protected document.

2
In the Need credentials message box, press Yes to use the username and password from the specified email account.

The document will open in the appropriate Office Mobile application after your credentials are verified.

The Zune backups aren't intended for replacing your phone and for good reason. They are intended for if an update fails.

 

[bevt]

After even a few months my phone has a history that includes pictures, messages, and other data that I wouldn't want to lose. Most of us backup our computers for the same reason. If a hard drive fails we want to be able to import all of our stuff onto the new hard drive. Not being able to backup and recover the data is huge. The data should be associated to the person/account and not to a physical piece of hardware. That would be like having your backups of your hard drive only be recoverable if you can manage to fix the old hard drive. That's not a backup.

 

[bevt]

What do you mean by password protect skydrive exactly? As for their being no office functionality for that its because your phone is logged into your live account. It would be like complaining that when I log into live it doesn't ask me to log into live again. Keep a password on your lock screen. If something happens to phone and your password is easy to guess then be quick on the remote lock/wipe.

Not sure what you mean about opening protected files either. Maybe this will help




The Zune backups aren't intended for replacing your phone and for good reason. They are intended for if an update fails.

When I attempt to open a password protected word document I get the following message:

Can't open

Password-protected files can't be opened.

The only thing to click is "OK"

 

[HeyCori]

After even a few months my phone has a history that includes pictures, messages, and other data that I wouldn't want to lose. Most of us backup our computers for the same reason. If a hard drive fails we want to be able to import all of our stuff onto the new hard drive. Not being able to backup and recover the data is huge. The data should be associated to the person/account and not to a physical piece of hardware. That would be like having your backups of your hard drive only be recoverable if you can manage to fix the old hard drive. That's not a backup.

Why not backup the pictures to your computer?

 

[canesfan625]

After even a few months my phone has a history that includes pictures, messages, and other data that I wouldn't want to lose. Most of us backup our computers for the same reason. If a hard drive fails we want to be able to import all of our stuff onto the new hard drive. Not being able to backup and recover the data is huge. The data should be associated to the person/account and not to a physical piece of hardware. That would be like having your backups of your hard drive only be recoverable if you can manage to fix the old hard drive. That's not a backup.

The backup/restore functionality that's coming in Apollo will be way better. What exists now was never meant for these purposes. It was introduced for the mango update just to prevent issues from borked updates. Its not just a backup. It ghosts the device. Most everything that's not stored in the cloud can be backed up via zune

 

[Fleon]

Using Skydrive is not simple and has some real shortcomings.
In Office on Windows Phone you can't password protect Skydrive. In the Skydrive app you can sign out making it necessary to login again but there is no such setting in the Office app.
You can't open password protected files through Skydrive! WHAT? There are documents I would like to keep on Skydrive for easy access but the docs are and have to be password protected.

Zune
Your backups of your phone are useless if you have to replace your phone. You can't use the backup on another phone. My husband had to get his Lumia900 replaced and the backup was not available to install on the new phone. There doesn't appear to be any way to backup your data and settings so that you can reload them on another phone in case of theft or damage.

There are huge holes in this system. This certainly isn't well thought out.

I agree that there are things that need to be updated. The backup/transfer system to a new phone is the main one, and I agree.

On the issue of being able to open pw protected docs. Yeah, would be nice, but I don't see that as a huge priority for MS. On the issue of being able to log out of skydrive completely- you can, just delete your password in accounts. Not really optimal, but if you are that concerned, put in a phone password.

Skydrive isn't perfect yet, but it's significantly better than the non-existent G-drive and the laughable expense that is iCloud.