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Does iCloud have files on demand feature like onedrive or google drive??

K

Kraizelburg

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 10, 2018
437
113
Spain
I was wondering whether icloud has any kind of functionality similar to onedrive or google drive files on demand, where you can keep your files in the cloud rather than downloading them to my hard drive.

Thanks
 
If you turn on Optimise storage in icloud preferences it will download iCloud Drive files on demand as you try to access them.
 
Stephen.R said:
If you turn on Optimise storage in icloud preferences it will download iCloud Drive files on demand as you try to access them.
Click to expand...
Yes I knew that but files on demand feature means that you can choose which files to keep in you local drive, and those you dont want stored locally still remain in the cloud. So if you don't need to use any specific file anymore you can uncheck it so it is deleted from your local drive but not from the cloud.

One drive and google drive both have this feature long ago in windows and recently in their mac apps.
 
I'm sure there are those who would appreciate a "Delete from my device, leave in the cloud" function for both iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos, rather than leave it to an automated function like Optimize Storage. Control is everything (or perhaps old habits just die hard). In terms of usability for hundreds of millions of users, most of whom do nothing to organizer/manage their storage until they run out of it... such an option could add complexity that leads to confusion and errors.

This is probably one of those things that Apple has considered but discarded in favor of simplicity/"it just works."
 
ApfelKuchen said:
I'm sure there are those who would appreciate a "Delete from my device, leave in the cloud" function for both iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos, rather than leave it to an automated function like Optimize Storage. Control is everything (or perhaps old habits just die hard). In terms of usability for hundreds of millions of users, most of whom do nothing to organizer/manage their storage until they run out of it... such an option could add complexity that leads to confusion and errors.

This is probably one of those things that Apple has considered but discarded in favor of simplicity/"it just works."
Click to expand...
Yep probably, or maybe apple just want us to purchase more cloud storage :D
 
Kraizelburg said:
So if you don't need to use any specific file anymore you can uncheck it so it is deleted from your local drive but not from the cloud.
Click to expand...
That’s effectively what macOS does automatically. It just doesn’t rely on you remembering to tell it that you don’t need the file - it knows when you last opened it.

Kraizelburg said:
Yep probably, or maybe apple just want us to purchase more cloud storage
Click to expand...
I get that you’re kind of joking but how does manually or automatically removing local copies affect how much remote storage you need?

Surely the google/Microsoft ones don’t delete the remote file when you have a local copy?
 
Stephen.R said:
That’s effectively what macOS does automatically. It just doesn’t rely on you remembering to tell it that you don’t need the file - it knows when you last opened it.
Click to expand...

As far as I know mac OS doesnt do that,only if you run out of space. If you upload something to iCloud Drive is always synced, a copy is always on your computer and in iCloud for everything listed.

This is files on demand:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17896018/microsoft-onedrive-files-on-demand-macos-mac-feature
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Stephen.R said:
I get that you’re kind of joking but how does manually or automatically removing local copies affect how much remote storage you need?
Click to expand...
It means that basically you have files and folders duplicated, in your mac and in the cloud. With files on demand you dont have any duplicades if you don't want.
Lets say I'm working with a huge spreadsheet or whatever big file that I uploaded to the cloud previously from work, then if I need to work with my mac on this file I can sync it and once I've finished delete it from my mac but it is still in the cloud.
 
Kraizelburg said:
As far as I know mac OS doesnt do that,only if you run out of space
Click to expand...
It doesn’t download all files by default - only those you access. How/when it removes the local copy again (besides space constraints) is not clear though, I agree.

Kraizelburg said:
With files on demand you dont have any duplicades if you don't want.
Click to expand...
But are you suggesting that ticking the box or whatever to download the file locally means it gets removed from the other end?
 
HDFan said:
Very dangerous having just one copy of a file. A good backup strategy needs 3 backups in 3 different locations.
Click to expand...
Cloud storage is not a backup when it is used to synchronize files between your local device and the cloud!

@Kraizelburg iCloud Drive is as rudimentary as it gets, and there are tons of features missing. Selective sync is one of them, other features include sharing folders with other iCloud users/accounts, sharing folders/files read-only with non-iCloud-users, convenient access from non-Apple-devices, and more.
 
From the original question:

Kraizelburg said:
where you can keep your files in the cloud rather than downloading them to my hard drive.
Click to expand...

This implies to me 1 copy of any particular file unless is has been currently downloaded/synched.


mj_ said:
Cloud storage is not a backup when it is used to synchronize files between your local device and the cloud!
Click to expand...

Don't understand your response. If the file exists on your hard disk and in iCloud then you have 2 copies of the needed 3. If I understand the original question, however, they only wanted to keep one copy of the file in the cloud to be retrieved on demand.
 
HDFan said:
Don't understand your response. If the file exists on your hard disk and in iCloud then you have 2 copies of the needed 3. If I understand the original question, however, they only wanted to keep one copy of the file in the cloud to be retrieved on demand.
Click to expand...
Indeed you do have a copy of the file but not a backup copy, that's a huge difference. If you delete said file from iCloud it is also deleted on every single device associated with that iCloud account and vice versa. Same if you modify a file locally but realize you've made a crucial mistake and need to revert to an older version thereof. You can't do that since it's already been sychronized to iCloud and all associated devices. With Dropbox you can actually access a file history and restore an older version of your modified or deleted files - yet another feature iCloud Drive does not have.

That's why a Cloud service is not a backup: if I delete or modify a file on my harddrive my backup remains untouched.
 
Hi all again, I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to start the 3rd World War here about cloud services. I just wanted to move some of my files from google drive or onedrive to iCloud but as I mentioned I need that feature as I usually work with big files and I dont want to eat all my macbook HD, also file permission is important for me.

At this point it is clear that iCloud doesn't offer any of this features yet so I'll keep onedrive and google drive as my main cloud services and iCloud as a third backup for some files non important personal files.

thanks all

Peace :cool:
 
Kraizelburg said:
Yep probably, or maybe apple just want us to purchase more cloud storage :D
Click to expand...

How does deleting files from your local HDD affect the amount of cloud storage you use?

The amount of cloud storage doesn't change, whether you keep a copy of everything on your HDD, or whether you keep just a few documents locally. Every cloud service has you keeping everything in the cloud, with some variation on whether you store copies on your local device, or not, and to what degree.

Sure, Apple, Google, DropBox, etc. all want to sell you more cloud storage. However, the particular feature we're discussing (managing the amount of cloud-stored data duplicated on a local device) exists to reduce the cost of the local device, specifically Flash storage-equipped mobile devices and computers.

A $1/month (US) 50 GB storage plan (costing $36 over a three-year period) can help a person avoid a $100 storage capacity bump-up on their iPhone. Even the $3/month 200 GB plan delivers a break-even over three years. And increasing the storage to a higher tier when it fills may still be cheaper than buying a new, higher-capacity iPhone now, rather than continuing to use the same phone for another year or more. Arguably, if people are keeping their smartphones longer, the availability of comparatively inexpensive cloud storage may be one of the reasons. In that case, Apple may be doing themselves more harm than good. ;)

Although the price of Flash will inevitably fall, its higher cost (relative to HDDs) has disrupted the price/capacity status quo in PCs. Historically, there's been no price penalty paid for doubling the amount of internal storage with each replacement PC - The price-per-byte of HDD storage tended to drop faster than the replacement cycle of a PC. People moved the contents of a full 250 GB HDD-equipped PC to a new, 500 GB HDD-equipped PC. When that filled up, they moved to a 1 TB HDD-equipped PC... but then how could they affordably move from that to a 2 TB SSD-equipped PC? It's very likely that the cost of Flash is the reason you need to manage the number of files you keep on your local PC.

But getting back to your original question... If you prefer the way Google allows you to manage local storage, by all means, use it. It's not a matter of "better" or "worse," because each user has their own idea of what's optimal. I happen to like Apple's automatic management. That's why we have choices.

Historically, all cloud storage services began by caching the entire contents of your cloud account on your PC/mobile devices. The theory was, everyone wanted access to all files all the time, even when they lacked an Internet connection. That's changed over the years - the more we put in the cloud, the higher the price of carrying around a duplicate of it on our mobile devices and PCs, and the more we realized 24/7 access may not be essential for everything.
 
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ApfelKuchen said:
But getting back to your original question... If you prefer the way Google allows you to manage local storage, by all means, use it. It's not a matter of "better" or "worse," because each user has their own idea of what's optimal. I happen to like Apple's automatic management. That's why we have choices.
Click to expand...
I never meant to say I prefer this cloud service or that one, I just only asked whether iCloud has a feature I find really usefull in my daily routine because I've never used icloud even though I own an iPhone for a long time now.

I have 30GB in onedrive and standard 15GB google drive and I wanted to move some files from these 2 clouds to icloud.
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ApfelKuchen said:
Historically, all cloud storage services began by caching the entire contents of your cloud account on your PC/mobile devices. The theory was, everyone wanted access to all files all the time, even when they lacked an Internet connection. That's changed over the years - the more we put in the cloud, the higher the price of carrying around a duplicate of it on our mobile devices and PCs, and the more we realized 24/7 access may not be essential for everything.
Click to expand...
I agree
 
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