Global question about iCloud (scary evevnt) on macOS Ventura 13.1

[ste20man]

Hi.

I am new to Mac so I didn't really grasp this and I thought I was being clever but I wasn't which is typically usual.

I got a message on my Mac telling me I am halfway through my iDrive allowance that they give you as a start for free.

It said (roughly) you can have 50GB i think of new space for approx £0.50? a month.

I don't want any cloud storage to be truthful. I come from Windows so I use Google Drive for what little needs I have through the chrome browser.

I stupidly turned off iDrive thinking that was ok. It said it would delete stuff but I assumed I had all my important stuff like FL Studio and Kontact software actually on the Macbook M1 64GB 16".

I really don't understand the file structure and how Macs work still and I've had this thing for 3 months (my fault I guess).

When I canceled the link to iDrive nearly EVERYTHING went. I lost all my FL projects and Kontakt stuff. I nearly had a heart attack.

200+ hours at least of work is gone. I had a fit.

I turned the iDrive back on but no joy. Everything was gone. I managed to get to iDrive on the web and found a way to download 23250 files. Thank god! I set them to download and it came back "can't do it, try later". I tried it again for all files but it said the same. I had given up when I think, all of them actually came down. Or did they reestablish the link between the cloud?????

Where is all this stuff??

I ideally don't want any cloud stuff but where are the files saved?

On a PCP they would be C:/.......which I understand.

Here with downloading lots of VSTs and stuff, I don't know why everything is 'on the cloud' if you get me.

Is that what it is?

I am LOST and don't want to have that happen again. FL IS working now, it seems to have put 2K+ files back to where they were.

Or synced? them at least.

Can someone explain to me what is going on and can I say to the Mac "I want it all on the hard drive - talking to it is not working"

I have some screenshots of what is left in the cloud I believe.

I can deal with them being there or even being deleted.

I just don't get it.

thanks for the help if you guys can, cheers, ste.

 

[fisherking]

you're talking about icloud, not idrive. idrive is a (non-apple) online backup system (i use it). icloud is more like google drive, or dropbox.

i personally hate 'desktop and documents' in icloud, but it's useful if you work on more than one mac; ie keeping a word doc (for example) up-to-date on both devices.

call apple, they can walk you thru this. but you probably want to get all your files onto your mac, then perhaps disable 'documents and desktop' in the cloud. get help from apple with this.

your apps and vsts are on your mac, not in icloud. and your time machine drive (make sure you're doing that, BACKING UP your mac!) has everything as well.

but i strongly suggest you call apple, and get someone to screenshare, and walk you thru how things work.

you might want to change the title of this thread too; again, you're talking about icloud drive, not 'idrive'.

good luck! 👍

 

[kitKAC]

Hi.

I am new to Mac so I didn't really grasp this and I thought I was being clever but I wasn't which is typically usual.

I got a message on my Mac telling me I am halfway through my iDrive allowance that they give you as a start for free.

It said (roughly) you can have 50GB i think of new space for approx £0.50? a month.

I don't want any cloud storage to be truthful. I come from Windows so I use Google Drive for what little needs I have through the chrome browser.

I stupidly turned off iDrive thinking that was ok. It said it would delete stuff but I assumed I had all my important stuff like FL Studio and Kontact software actually on the Macbook M1 64GB 16".

I really don't understand the file structure and how Macs work still and I've had this thing for 3 months (my fault I guess).

When I canceled the link to iDrive nearly EVERYTHING went. I lost all my FL projects and Kontakt stuff. I nearly had a heart attack.

200+ hours at least of work is gone. I had a fit.

I turned the iDrive back on but no joy. Everything was gone. I managed to get to iDrive on the web and found a way to download 23250 files. Thank god! I set them to download and it came back "can't do it, try later". I tried it again for all files but it said the same. I had given up when I think, all of them actually came down. Or did they reestablish the link between the cloud?????

Where is all this stuff??

I ideally don't want any cloud stuff but where are the files saved?

On a PCP they would be C:/.......which I understand.

Here with downloading lots of VSTs and stuff, I don't know why everything is 'on the cloud' if you get me.

Is that what it is?

I am LOST and don't want to have that happen again. FL IS working now, it seems to have put 2K+ files back to where they were.

Or synced? them at least.

Can someone explain to me what is going on and can I say to the Mac "I want it all on the hard drive - talking to it is not working"

I have some screenshots of what is left in the cloud I believe.

I can deal with them being there or even being deleted.

I just don't get it.

thanks for the help if you guys can, cheers, ste.

I'm assuming you clicked on Recover All from the 2nd screenshot?

 

[Mike Boreham]

You might want to invest in the excellent Take Control of iCloud.

In fact all the Take Control series are excellent for experienced and new users, and not expensive.

Take Control books catalog

 

[ste20man]

I did click on Recover All which told me it could not do it two times. But ten seconds later I realized it actually had reinstated everything kitKAC. I am just so glad it did. There were a few files sit did not download but none of the were critical so I have just let them be. Thanks.

 

[ste20man]

You might want to invest in the excellent Take Control of iCloud.

In fact all the Take Control series are excellent for experienced and new users, and not expensive.

Take Control books catalog

I have looked into this Mike and it's a comprehensive look at iCloud for free, an excellent resource I am going to look at. First of all I'm going to follow Fisherking's advice and get in touch with Apple itself. I have the chat window open as we speak. Thanx to all for such ace advice and to macOS for realizing there are new people out there like me that might make such mistakes. It's great to be able to reverse things. This has forced me to really get to know the important pats of the OS I haven't so far. thanx again, ste.

 

[ste20man]

Thanks for all advice.

Got in touch with Apple on the phone and they walked me through a new folder on my Mac drive.

I then downloaded all the stuff I needed into this folder and then pointed FL Studio to this newly created folder.

Works like a charm, I've turned off iCloud.

Thanks for all your help, ste.