OS X Yosemite Launch Brings Fully Functional iCloud Drive to Mac and iOS

[ProVideo]

I just don't trust it, and iDisk never worked reliably or quickly compared to Dropbox or Google Drive. iDisk would often crash the Finder.

I forgot all about that. That was so frustrating when I was paying for MobileMe and extra iDisk storage to send clients large files.

The progress bar never progressed correctly either when copying files. It would often just hang at a certain point. Since my ISP's upload speeds were a fraction of the download speeds, uploading a large file was a huge risk and often resulted in failed uploads and sometimes hours wasted. If the upload failed, it would often give the spinning beach ball of death with the Finder unresponsive for a few minutes before popping up an error message. It was sometimes better to just upload files through Safari's iDisk page. Hopefully they did something to address this, otherwise I'm sticking with Dropbox.

 

[Serban]

for those that icloud drive doesn't do anything when you click on it...just go to force quit and reluanch Finder...DONE

 

[HenryDJP]

First reaction to Yosemite running on my 2007 iMac ?

Looks ****.

What did you expect from almost 8 year old machine?

 

[vartanarsen]

I've been using Dropox across my Mac, PCs, and iOS devices for 3 years. Can someone explain to me why I would go over to iCloud drive now?

 

[jdawgnoonan]

This would be cool if I could view my drive on iOS. I do not want to have to view it from the iCloud enabled app. Looks like I will continue to not use iCloud.

 

[3282868]

Access is a bit more limited on iOS where there is no iCloud Drive app allowing access to all files, but the service still allows users of iCloud Drive-enabled apps to view and save files related to that app that are stored and synced with iCloud Drive.

So it's not like Dropbox and other services that do offer access to files on mobile devices.

 

[Keerock]

I don't understand why you can't access your iCloud Drive on iOS without going through an app.

There is no Finder.

 

[sklettke]

Is it correct that iCloud Drive syncs everything you store there back to your macs?

It certainly seems like it.

My Mac only has a 128 Gig drive, what am i gonna do? I purchased 200 GB of iCloud storage to be able to store a lot of documents and other stuff I don’t need frequently on there.

But after moving them to iCloud they are still taking up space on my MacBooks HDD?

What gives?

That's a good concern. The same thing happens with my Dropbox. I update that and the changes are reflected on my computer. However, at least with Dropbox, you can turn off that syncing feature. Not sure if you'll have the ability to choose individual folders to store locally with iCloud Drive.

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4 things to improve to compete with Dropbox

1) Ability to share files/folders via a link (similar to Dropbox) and allow specific people to be invited. Also, allowing the link to be phased out after a certain period of time or by a specific date would be great. I can do this on my Synology NAS and Dropbox already.

2) Improve Mail Drop: If I am sending a file that is already on my iCloud Drive, then why do I have to wait until a new one gets uploaded? Can't it just link to the file that's already on there? Also, where does it get uploaded? There should be an email attachment folder or something accessible on iCloud Drive. What if I want to send that same file to a different person; do I have to upload that same file again?

3) Improve icloud.com website: You can't drag and drop. Moving files around is much nicer in Dropbox. For how well-designed Yosemite is, the website feels old and slow...needs overhaul with HTML5 and javascript. I also would like to use my iCloud email more often, however, the web interface is horrible. I should be able to pick attachments to send on the web version of email that are already on the cloud. From a bandwidth and time standpoint it seems stupid to have to re-upload a large file in order to attach it if it is already stored online.

4) Improve integration of components on iCloud website: I just emailed myself a message with a name of a restaurant and a date and time. It should at least allow you to quickly add that event to your calendar or look up the restaurant's address from within the web email interface.

I guess that last one isn't really an iCloud Drive issue. These are the things that are holding me back from upgrading to the 200GB plan and moving away from Dropbox. Would love to make the switch and consolidate with a single cloud provider.

 

[Rossatron]

$0.99 is pretty good for 20GB.

 

[3282868]

There is no Finder.

In other words, Apple won't let you (or they just don't want to bother).

 

[Boomish69]

Apple once again never seeing the potential in things, iDisk could have been Dropbox years ago..what happened to them making the future rather than catching up all the time..

 

[sputnikv]

There is no Finder.

You can't even mail a file from your iCloud Drive, much less see or rename what you have. It's insane. Maybe that will come in that mystery 8.2 or 8.3 update before or after watch support comes out.

 

[ryannel2003]

reboot did it for me

I've rebooted a few times with no success. I'm thinking the .1 update is probably going to fix the issues i've having right now. Not a biggie just annoying.

 

[JoeLr]

I finally upgraded to Yosemite a few hours. iCloud Drive shows up in Finder, but it's been "setting up" ever since:

 

[WilliamLondon]

First reaction to Yosemite running on my 2007 iMac ?

Looks ****.

Couldn't disagree more, and what's more is that if one doesn't focus on "what the glass is lacking in volume" and instead looks at the fact that a 7 year old machine is running the latest and greatest operating system (for free, btw), one might see how incredible a situation it is.

I speak from experience, I am amazed that my 24" mid-2007 iMac is running the latest OS. I thought it wouldn't get last year's (Mavericks) upgrade, but it did and it's running this year's too, and it's running it well - how effing cool is that? Well, it appears you and I think very differently on that one.

The one oddity I've found is that when Safari isn't downloading anything to the Downloads folder, it has a blank progress bar under the file in the Dock. It's minor and it goes away if I reboot - I figure it's a bug (and doesn't happen on my 2012 MBA), they'll fix it in an update soon, who cares, my 7 year old iMac is running Yosemite (for free)!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I've been using Dropox across my Mac, PCs, and iOS devices for 3 years. Can someone explain to me why I would go over to iCloud drive now?

If you worship at the alter of the Apple, Dropbox is now entirely obsolete, "stupid", "99.9% don't need Dropbox" and so on.

More seriously, I see no good reason. Dropbox "just works". It's polished, proven, secure and focused almost entirely on making its "iDisk deluxe" the best it can be.

 

[Zxxv]

Couldn't disagree more, and what's more is that if one doesn't focus on "what the glass is lacking in volume" and instead looks at the fact that a 7 year old machine is running the latest and greatest operating system (for free, btw), one might see how incredible a situation it is.

I speak from experience, I am amazed that my 24" mid-2007 iMac is running the latest OS. I thought it wouldn't get last year's (Mavericks) upgrade, but it did and it's running this year's too, and it's running it well - how effing cool is that? Well, it appears you and I think very differently on that one.

The one oddity I've found is that when Safari isn't downloading anything to the Downloads folder, it has a blank progress bar under the file in the Dock. It's minor and it goes away if I reboot - I figure it's a bug (and doesn't happen on my 2012 MBA), they'll fix it in an update soon, who cares, my 7 year old iMac is running Yosemite (for free)!

Free? I doubt that. It's s push to get people paying for storage and app developers will start to charge for updates so apple will get their cut of those sales. It's not free. It's same as ios. They just shifted the money making off shore into app land.

 

[WilliamLondon]

Free? I doubt that. It's s push to get people paying for storage and app developers will start to charge for updates so apple will get their cut of those sales. It's not free. It's same as ios. They just shifted the money making off shore into app land.

I understand your point, but to say it's not free is utterly silly.

It is free. I bought an iMac 7 years ago and the past two years I've not had to pay for OS upgrades - it's a machine I never imagined would last this long and I haven't spent any money on it in years (software or otherwise), but it's running the latest and greatest (that's what I call a smart investment, something I'm not normally very good at<sigh>). That's what I was discussing, and you're trying to change what I was discussing into something else of your choosing having nothing whatsoever to do with what I was discussing, like there's some sort of capitalist conspiracy going on. Fine, perhaps even an interesting conversation, but have that conversation with yourself, thanks.

 

[SonicSoundVW]

whenever i go to upgrade to iCloud drive it tells me that unless i upgrade my macbook to Yosemite, i won't be able to access my iCloud drive files. Which is funny, because I'm upgrading to iCloud drive while using Yosemite on the laptop in question... The app store also shows the "download" text on the button for Yosemite, but its already installed... so idk what to do. heh

 

[kplayaja]

Now where's Photos? I want my iCloud Photo Library!

Monday

 

[3282868]

why? you still have access to all of your iCloud Drive files from iOS, you just access them from inside an app. apps like DropBox or Transmit, which work w/ any file type, can browse all of your iCloud Drive files absolutely perfectly.

That requires a middle-man. Users would like to access the folder in iOS as they do in OS X. There was an iDisk app (and Photo Gallery, etc) loooooong ago that allowed access to files like Finder's list view. Around that time, MobileMe retired iDisk and thus the app.

So there is precedent. Apple needs to release a builtin "core" app for iOS iCloud Drive. Users can select a file and choose how they want to use it; view it, open it with xxxxx app, share it, AirDrop it, email it, etc. Requiring numerous app's to open specific iCloud Drive files defeats the purpose. What if I don't want to open Keynote to view a PPT, but rather view it quickly a la "Quicklook", email it, print it, etc?

Basically, it needs an iOS "Finder" app for icloud Drive.

 

[hellosil]

3rd party + iCloud Drive data

There is an app called Cloud Drive Explorer. It's free and works like a first party app should, in that it gives you access to your cloud drive, much like Dropbox or Box.

Give it a shot, may solve your issue.

Probably a great app. Personally I'm VERY hesitant to give a 3rd party access to ALL my iCloud Drive data.

 

[zengod]

What did you expect from almost 8 year old machine?

The machine age has nothing to do with the look which looks like it was done by some kid in primary school - e.g. the "traffic lights" in the top left just look silly - can't see any reason why they only have the X and minus when you hover over them. Default fonts look something out of playskool as well it's just a poor looking OS that seems to be a step back in time and to be honest given the reduced amount of graphics processing required to process this look (I do have newer machines as well to be honest) I would expect my old machine to run a lot faster but I doubt it will.

I think the Apple designers have lost the plot but I suspect they are the saw morons that seem to think that the public want thinner phones and tablets with each release - No we don't we want products that feel like a vintage quality Leica camera such as the iPhone4 rather than something we are to terrified to put in our pockets in case we bend it accidentally.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

as opposed to what? Apple doesnt build its solutions w/ jailbroken apps in mind.

Wat? You do realize that not ALL apps come from the AppStore right and some never can as the requirement to be sold in the AppStore is limiting (for instance, any drive utility that does high-end functions wouldn't be allowed, or programs like Little Snitch which function at a system level, or Drive Genius, etc).

1Password can be purchased from the AppStore or from the developer's website. If you buy it from the AppStore, it can use iCloud Drive to store your data. If you bought it from their website (we're talking hundreds of thousands of people that have if not in the millions as it's the most used password manager in the world), you can't use iCloud Drive.

This has NOTHING to do with people jailbreaking.

 

[Sy7ygy]

Mac OS X Yosemite; welcome back to 2008.