iCloud Drive and Time Machine

[mjohansen]

Hi all

I have tried searching for the answer to my questions since Sierra was released, but cannot seem to find definitive answers.

Does anyone know how exactly iCloud Drive and Time Machine works together?

Will Time Machine only backup files stored locally on a device and will files be deleted from the Time Machine backup when uploaded to iCloud Drive? Which essentially mean that you only have 1 copy of your files.

Is it possible to download all your files from iCould Drive later on if you want to revert back to traditional local storage?

 

[Julien]

iCloud files are stored locally on your Mac in the Library>Mobile Documents folder.

 

[deany]

Hi all

I have tried searching for the answer to my questions since Sierra was released, but cannot seem to find definitive answers.

Does anyone know how exactly iCloud Drive and Time Machine works together?

Will Time Machine only backup files stored locally on a device and will files be deleted from the Time Machine backup when uploaded to iCloud Drive? Which essentially mean that you only have 1 copy of your files.

Is it possible to download all your files from iCould Drive later on if you want to revert back to traditional local storage?

My understanding is files are only deleted from TM backups when the storage device reaches capacity:

"as your backup disk fills up, Time Machine deletes older backups to make room for new ones." apple

So deleted files on your mac on iCloud drive and other files will still be there until the above apple quote occurs. I have seen folks quote ideally the storage device(s) should be x2 or > than the macs storage.
Mine is x4 - 500GB mac 2TB TC which is future proofed, I hope.

Ps
Always worth having a clone of your TM backup with say CCC kept 'off-site'.

 

[mjohansen]

Is there a way to sync documents and desktop to iCloud drive and make sure that all files are saved locally on 1 specific mac?

 

[Julien]

Is there a way to sync documents and desktop to iCloud drive and make sure that all files are saved locally on 1 specific mac?

As I already stated (and posted location) all iCloud files are stored locally on your Mac too. iCloud is a syncing service and NOT a backup or file replacement service.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Is there a way to sync documents and desktop to iCloud drive and make sure that all files are saved locally on 1 specific mac?

Yes there is, I do this on my Mac Mini (so that all iCloud Drive files are locally synced and therefore backed up in Time Machine). System Preferences > iCloud click the Options button for iCloud Drive, make sure Optimize Mac Storage is not checked. See screenshot.

Then on my MacBook, I have Optimize enabled - and I also have, in Time Machine preferences, excluded the Desktop and Documents folder from Time Machine on the MacBook (since all those files are already being backed up by my Mac Mini)

I also do the same with my iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Music Library - the Mini is set to "Download originals" on photos and to automatically download any new content in iTunes, and all that is backed up in Time Machine (and on Crashplan). Again, I've excluded the Photos Library and the iTunes Media folders from backups on my MacBook.
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all iCloud files are stored locally on your Mac too.

Not necessarily so in macOS Sierra. If Optimization is enabled, macOS will only locally store your most recently/frequently accessed files. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996 and https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

 

[mjohansen]

I also do the same with my iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Music Library - the Mini is set to "Download originals" on photos and to automatically download any new content in iTunes, and all that is backed up in Time Machine (and on Crashplan). Again, I've excluded the Photos Library and the iTunes Media folders from backups on my MacBook.

Where do I set this up?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Where do I set this up?

Photos app Preferences > iCloud to set the option to Download Originals

iTunes app Preferences > Downloads to enable automatic downloads

Then on the MacBook, I have all of that set the opposite (Optimizing storage, not automatically downloading). The MacBook's Time Machine options is set to exclude any items that would already be covered by the Mini's backup (not only these items, but also Dropbox)

 

[mjohansen]

Thanks FreakingEurekan. I have tried to figure this out for a while now. Seems pretty simple now that you have explained it

With that setup, I should worry about files not getting backed up with Time Machine right? A lot of people seem worried that files will noget get backed up with TM after the Sierra release.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Thanks FreakingEurekan. I have tried to figure this out for a while now. Seems pretty simple now that you have explained it

With that setup, I should worry about files not getting backed up with Time Machine right? A lot of people seem worried that files will noget get backed up with TM after the Sierra release.

That's correct, if you're using those steps and you have enough disk space for them to work (i.e. Sierra will still do "Forced Optimization" if there physically isn't room for the files), then your iCloud Drive files are definitely backed up in Time Machine.

 

[mjohansen]

That's correct, if you're using those steps and you have enough disk space for them to work (i.e. Sierra will still do "Forced Optimization" if there physically isn't room for the files), then your iCloud Drive files are definitely backed up in Time Machine.

Right, dearly noted that I need to make sure I have enough disk space on my main Mac.

 

[Fishrrman]

Are there any terminal commands that will COMPLETELY DISABLE "optimization"?

I'm of the old school and I don't want Apple mucking with where I keep my files.
I want to remain the sole arbiter of that.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Where do I set this up?

Forgot one, in iTunes Preferences on the "Advanced" tab, un-check Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows on the Mac where you want all media stored.

 

[splitpea]

That's correct, if you're using those steps and you have enough disk space for them to work (i.e. Sierra will still do "Forced Optimization" if there physically isn't room for the files), then your iCloud Drive files are definitely backed up in Time Machine.

Does that mean that even if you have iCloud Drive and optimization completely disabled, and you try to save a file when your disk is full (or that's bigger than your free space), Sierra will silently delete files from your drive instead of refusing to save the new file??

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Does that mean that even if you have iCloud Drive and optimization completely disabled, and you try to save a file when your disk is full (or that's bigger than your free space), Sierra will silently delete files from your drive instead of refusing to save the new file??

No, that applies only if you do have iCloud Drive enabled. If iCloud Drive is on, even if you don't have Optimization enabled, Sierra won't fill your drive to capacity if you were to e.g. add files to iCloud Drive on another device.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867 shows how to see how much "Purgeable" content you have. If you've set all the optimization features off, then there should be none.

 

[Tozovac]

As I already stated (and posted location) all iCloud files are stored locally on your Mac too. iCloud is a syncing service and NOT a backup or file replacement service.

Sorry to revive an old thread but I'm interested in ensuring I'm properly backing things up with iCloud drive.

The above statement doesn't appear to be correct when applied to iCloud drive, can anyone confirm? My understanding of iCloud drive is that it's essentially an external drive that occasionally stores certain often-used files on a local drive.

I previously stored all my important documents on an external 1gig SanDisk drive since my 128gb MBA storage was too small. I grew tired of carrying around with my dangling drive with my portable MBA (cough cough Apple...dongles suck 99% of the time when used with a MOBILE laptop) and upgraded to iCloud drive last month. Prior to last month I was a religious Time Machine-backer-upper but fell off the wagon for a month or so. Yesterday I realized I should back things up just in case. Now after a backup that took several hours, I can't "see" files on the iCloud drive. So did all the files in iCloud that I moved from my external drive really get backed up in iCloud? If Apple's servers for my iCloud drives blew up, are my files stored in my local Time Machine backup?