My recommendation and what I've done is to copy/backup your data before changing anything with regard to iCloud. Given the lack of clarity I felt it behooves me to ensure my data is backed up, by that's just me
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iCloud Drive - Documents Folder
- Thread starter maflynn
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My recommendation and what I've done is to copy/backup your data before changing anything with regard to iCloud. Given the lack of clarity I felt it behooves me to ensure my data is backed up, by that's just me
I lost 15000 photos by putting them in a documents file and switching off from iCloud
You had selected the option to have your Documents saved to iCloud Drive.
You had placed your photos in Documents and as such, whether you wanted it or not, they were also then saved to iCloud Drive.
Having your Documents and all that it contained saved to iCloud Drive you no longer had the originals on your mac. Unfortunately you did not seem to be aware of this.
When you decided to close iCloud Drive you received a warning that unless downloaded your Documents and all that it contained would be lost. This did not have the desired effect and you took no action.
Unfortunately all that had been saved to iCloud Drive was lost.
You have my sympathies but I still cannot see how you hold Apple responsible.
You had selected the option to have your Documents saved to iCloud Drive.
You had placed your photos in Documents and as such, whether you wanted it or not, they were also then saved to iCloud Drive.
Having your Documents and all that it contained saved to iCloud Drive you no longer had the originals on your mac. Unfortunately you did not seem to be aware of this.
When you decided to close iCloud Drive you received a warning that unless downloaded your Documents and all that it contained would be lost. This did not have the desired effect and you took no action.
Unfortunately all that had been saved to iCloud Drive was lost.
You have my sympathies but I still cannot see how you hold Apple responsible.
[doublepost=1516618327][/doublepost]If only I had saved them all to icloud they would have been retrieved .
As I have tried to explain the files were never uploaded to icloud and simply remained on my computer . There was insufficient space for this to happen and it was never my intention to upload them I was under the misapprehension that they were simply being left on my hard drive until such time as I moved them to a backuo disk.
Apple switched off the links to the files on the hard drive for a reason I have yet to discover.
I can see no logical reason for them doing this and indeed their attempt to make an archive file on my hard drive failed since it did not contain these files.
I do not think the warning is sufficent to cover this eventuality and Apple should at least consider their system.
For irreplaceable files (such as photos)... these should be "manually archived" to a PHYSICAL external drive of some sort that you store under your personal control.
At the very least, one could do a "finder copy" of the Photos Library to an external drive.
Actually, only one physical drive isn't "enough". You need A SECOND COPY as well, stored at a different location than the first.
Of course, my boilerplate recommendation is to use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create and maintain a bootable cloned backup of the internal (primary) drive.
Again -- NEVER "rely on the cloud" for stuff that's important to you.
NEVER.
At the very least, one could do a "finder copy" of the Photos Library to an external drive.
Actually, only one physical drive isn't "enough". You need A SECOND COPY as well, stored at a different location than the first.
Of course, my boilerplate recommendation is to use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create and maintain a bootable cloned backup of the internal (primary) drive.
Again -- NEVER "rely on the cloud" for stuff that's important to you.
NEVER.
All sage advice as I have said repeatedly that is what I was trying to do
if it is linked to iCloud and is not uploaded to iCloud and you disconnect from iCloud you could lose data that is what happened to me
Yes, I have 2 Macs (Home + Work). Docs and Desktop in iCloud ensures I have access to things in both locations without having to rely on Back to My Mac (flaky), or TeamViewer. Has worked flawlessly since it first came out.
If you disable iCloud Docs sync, a ~/iCloud Drive (Archive) directory is created and everything is moved there and can be readily accessed.
I believe default Time Machine excludes the iCloud files from backup. There is an exclusion for ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs that I don't believe I configured. You may be able remove this exclusion, but there are probably much bigger issues if Apple loses your iCloud documents.
I believe when you enable iCloud Desktop and Docs sync, it moves the ~/Documents and ~/Desktop folders into hidden folders and /Library/Mobile Documents is a link to the location of these files buried deeper in the filesystem, probably protected by SIP and accessible only to the OS and Finder for the logged in user associated with the AppleID. These folders are no longer under ~/.
If you disable iCloud Docs sync, a ~/iCloud Drive (Archive) directory is created and everything is moved there and can be readily accessed.
I believe default Time Machine excludes the iCloud files from backup. There is an exclusion for ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs that I don't believe I configured. You may be able remove this exclusion, but there are probably much bigger issues if Apple loses your iCloud documents.
I believe when you enable iCloud Desktop and Docs sync, it moves the ~/Documents and ~/Desktop folders into hidden folders and /Library/Mobile Documents is a link to the location of these files buried deeper in the filesystem, probably protected by SIP and accessible only to the OS and Finder for the logged in user associated with the AppleID. These folders are no longer under ~/.
I am just now seeing this thread. I personally use iCloud extensively.
I use iCloud on my MacBook Pro with the Desktop & Documents option enabled. This has also altered my workflow to some degree as someone previously mentioned in this thread. I now have become much more careful about where I place files so that they are not uploaded unless I want them to be uploaded. I tend to use the Downloads folder often to by pass the upload. Many times when I have something that I don't want uploaded it's only for a short amount of time, so I just use it and then eventually delete it.
Currently anything I place in Documents I would like to be backed up by iCloud. Yes, I do pay for extra storage. Having my documents synced to iCloud has become very handy for me, with remote access using my iPhone or iPad. At first when this new feature came out I didn't care about it, and thought it was a waste of space. However there have been many times when I have needed access to a file or something when I'm away from my Mac and iCloud saved me.
I have even moved a few excel spreadsheets and converted them to numbers just because of the integration with all of my Apple Devices. Note, I'm not trying to start an argument with Numbers vs. Excel, my spreadsheets are simple and I needed convenience. By doing switching to Numbers I can now share my spreadsheets easier with my Fiance and access them when I need to. Also I can access them online and modify them directly. These spreadsheets are stored in Documents, which are synced with iCloud.
My biggest issue with iCloud is not the Desktop / Documents feature, it's that uploads cripple my home network.
Also note, I'm not advising iCloud over personal backups -- backups are very important (this is an area where I hope to improve).
I use iCloud on my MacBook Pro with the Desktop & Documents option enabled. This has also altered my workflow to some degree as someone previously mentioned in this thread. I now have become much more careful about where I place files so that they are not uploaded unless I want them to be uploaded. I tend to use the Downloads folder often to by pass the upload. Many times when I have something that I don't want uploaded it's only for a short amount of time, so I just use it and then eventually delete it.
Currently anything I place in Documents I would like to be backed up by iCloud. Yes, I do pay for extra storage. Having my documents synced to iCloud has become very handy for me, with remote access using my iPhone or iPad. At first when this new feature came out I didn't care about it, and thought it was a waste of space. However there have been many times when I have needed access to a file or something when I'm away from my Mac and iCloud saved me.
I have even moved a few excel spreadsheets and converted them to numbers just because of the integration with all of my Apple Devices. Note, I'm not trying to start an argument with Numbers vs. Excel, my spreadsheets are simple and I needed convenience. By doing switching to Numbers I can now share my spreadsheets easier with my Fiance and access them when I need to. Also I can access them online and modify them directly. These spreadsheets are stored in Documents, which are synced with iCloud.
My biggest issue with iCloud is not the Desktop / Documents feature, it's that uploads cripple my home network.
Also note, I'm not advising iCloud over personal backups -- backups are very important (this is an area where I hope to improve).
The answer is... it depends.
In the iCloud settings is an option to Optimize Mac Storage. If you leave that unchecked, all your documents will always be in the Documents folder and they will be backed up by TM.
If you check that box and your drive gets close to full, iCloud will leave nothing but a placeholder link for infrequently used files in the Documents folder, so if you click the link, the file will be pulled down from iCloud. So in that scenario TM is only backing up the placeholder link and not the file itself. Now if yout TM backup was old enough, you would in theory be able to sroll back in TM through that backup to a time before iCloud left the placeholder, and find a real version of the file itself. But if you have a fairly new TM backup set, it may not go back far enough to hold the original file.
I have that option turned off because I don't like the idea of potentially having the only version of a file in iCloud with no backup.
I love iCloud drive and how integrated it is with all of my Apple devices. I actually have both boxes checked - Docs/Desktop and Optimize. I use it exclusively for my workflow. The problem is using it for archiving.
I hate how iCloud will download everything on it from a folder perspective to the Mac if it has room. For example, I have a 750GB external drive I use to store all of my family movies, pictures, music and documents from over the last 25 years. If I plug that drive into any computer (Mac or PC with iCloud for windows) and I copy it to iCloud, it will then download to my Mac filling up the hard drive to capacity with purgable space. There is no way of getting around this. I like others wanted to start to manage my cloud options. I wanted to ditch my Amazon Drive 1TB and move to a relative iCloud plan.
If someone know of a workaround, I would appreciate the insight.
I hate how iCloud will download everything on it from a folder perspective to the Mac if it has room. For example, I have a 750GB external drive I use to store all of my family movies, pictures, music and documents from over the last 25 years. If I plug that drive into any computer (Mac or PC with iCloud for windows) and I copy it to iCloud, it will then download to my Mac filling up the hard drive to capacity with purgable space. There is no way of getting around this. I like others wanted to start to manage my cloud options. I wanted to ditch my Amazon Drive 1TB and move to a relative iCloud plan.
If someone know of a workaround, I would appreciate the insight.
Sorry for reviving an older thread, but I want to confirm what I believe I understood: I want certain documents and files available on my IPP to be able to edit them with MS Office for iPad. However, I do no want ALL of my documents in iCloud Drive. If I understand the above post correctly, one way - the only way? - to only upload selected files to iCloud Drive is to create a second folder within the home folder - e.g. My Documents - that holds all the documents not intended for iCloud Drive. Is this correct?
Secondly, if I decide to ever turn iCloud Drive OFF later, I have to copy the iCloud Drive stored documents back to my Mac BEFORE I turn iCloud Drive off - otherwise they would be lost. Is that correct?
Thanks!
I bought a 2TB iCloud plan and have been very actively moving stuff into it to keep my Macs in sync.
One thing I've found very helpful is creating a Downloads folder in iCloud drive and pointing Safari on all three machines to download things there, since space isn't an issue. Now with that synced I never have downloaded files stuck on any one machine -- they're available from any of them.
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Yeah, Dropbox is nice that way in letting you actively manage downloaded files. As usual Apple has a "let the computer do it for you" approach which frankly isn't always the best.
The other HUGE thing it's missing, and the reason I can't move on from Dropbox yet entirely, is the ability to share an entire project folder with a collaborator/client. That feature alone has gotten me through many a freelance project without emailing files back and forth manually. iCloud will let you share a single file, but that doesn't really cut it.
One thing I've found very helpful is creating a Downloads folder in iCloud drive and pointing Safari on all three machines to download things there, since space isn't an issue. Now with that synced I never have downloaded files stuck on any one machine -- they're available from any of them.
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Yeah, Dropbox is nice that way in letting you actively manage downloaded files. As usual Apple has a "let the computer do it for you" approach which frankly isn't always the best.
The other HUGE thing it's missing, and the reason I can't move on from Dropbox yet entirely, is the ability to share an entire project folder with a collaborator/client. That feature alone has gotten me through many a freelance project without emailing files back and forth manually. iCloud will let you share a single file, but that doesn't really cut it.
With iCloud Drive enabled, You have a few choices as to what will synch to your iCloud account. On Mac, open System Preferences > iCloud and check the iCloud Drive. Then click the Options button and check Desktop & Documents Folders as well as any of the apps on your Mac that support iCloud Drive that you want to sync through the cloud (I think all are enabled by default).
When you check Desktop & Documents, everything under ~/Desktop, and ~/Documents (~/ is a Unix shortcut for /Users/currentuser) will sync. If you have documents that you do not want to sync, create another directory under ~/, maybe something like My Documents, but make sure it is not under ~/Documents, and move stuff out of ~/Documents before enabling iCloud Drive.
If\When you disable iCloud Drive, the OS will create a new Directory under ~/ called iCloud Drive (Archive) and put everything that you previously synced though the cloud into this directory. I don't recall, there may (or not) be a question to confirm if you want to keep a copy of everything. You either do nothing, or answer affirmative to keep a copy and the OS will take care of it for you.
Enabling iCloud Drive actually moves your /Desktop and /Documents folder from ~/ to a directory that is buried in the file system. It replaces the Finder Sidebar Documents and Desktop directories normally in Favorites to a new category called (of all things) iCloud. Disabling moves these back under ~/ and puts them back under Favorites (as well as creating an Archive directory). After confirming all is well, you can Trash the Archive directory to free up disk space.
Sigh. It's not an either/or situation, or doesn't have to be.
1. I have every photo I own in the Photos app. Around 30K photos I believe. They are all on my hard drive, inside the Photos database file -- which itself is a package full of JPEGs, .mov files, etc. That database is also backed up to a Time Machine drive, and ALSO to a manual Carbon Copy Cloner backup I do once a month and keep offsite. I fail to see the advantage of doing a "Finder Copy" given the other backups in place, but I guess do whatever floats your boat.
2. I ALSO have iCloud Photos turned on, with the "Download Originals to this Mac" setting on. All my photos are also mirrored on iCloud servers, and I can get at them with my iPhone or my MacBook Air. I can edit them on either device, and changes get synced to this Mac, and backed up to Time Machine, etc as described above. You could say these are "in the cloud" but they're not only in the cloud.
3. What I wrote above applies to almost all my other files as well. Things that are in Dropbox are on my hard drive (and backed up as described) and ALSO mirrored on Dropbox servers. Things that are on iCloud Drive, which I'm migrating more stuff to, cautiously, are ALSO mirrored on Apple's servers.
I get it, you don't want to have stuff only on a server somewhere that you don't control. Me neither. But if you're careful about how you do it, you can have the security of local files and the flexibility, convenience and extra layer of backup you get from having stuff synced to a cloud service.
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Iv'e had that happen with Notes app on iOS and Mac. If you make a note on your iOS device and you happen to wake a sleeping Mac and begin editing your notes, in particular the same one on your iOS device, you'll lose your most recent edits made from the iOS device
I’m able and prepared now to fully embrace iCloud. Using ‘Hazel’ means I rarely have too much stuff on the desktop, but it is enabled. OneDrive has been vexatious, and after more than a year, it is still not fit for purpose. Incompatible file names has remained an issue throughout this prolonged period.
Dropbox is far and away better than iCloud for Finder-level integration and features.
But it's all the other integration that I would miss from iCloud if I switched (photo syncing, device backup, etc.) AND, there's that trust issue. I simply don't trust that Dropbox will be around forever, won't sell my info, won't change the terms of the agreement, blah, blah, blah...
But it's all the other integration that I would miss from iCloud if I switched (photo syncing, device backup, etc.) AND, there's that trust issue. I simply don't trust that Dropbox will be around forever, won't sell my info, won't change the terms of the agreement, blah, blah, blah...
My needs are just an online storage option to store my 1.5TB of life memories. Mostly video. I use Amazon Drive for this. I wanted to move to iCloud for this, but as I mentioned, moving this to iCloud also resulted in filling up my MBP’s SSD to capacity. Hopefully someday there will be a folder checklist option of what is downloaded to the MBP and what is not. Something like a “leave in cloud and never download to this Mac”
Cautiously dipping my toes into iCloud Drive (after years of using Dropbox) and liking it so far. I have a couple of Macs so my strategy is to have the iMac with a lot of storage and always-attached Time Machine drive be the "everything is downloaded" Mac.
That lets the MacBook with its small drive have the luxury of being "optimized" while the iMac does the heavy lifting.
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To me, the killer feature of Dropbox is folder-level sharing. iCloud seems to be working fine for files that are just mine, but it's very useful to be able to ad-hoc share an entire folder with a collaborator. Until iCloud does that, I'll be using Dropbox alongside it.
I'm also a little mistrustful about how iCloud handles (or doesn't handle) sync conflicts. Conflicts happen if you accidentally open a file in two places and/or are dipping in and out of connectivity. Dropbox spits out a nicely-labelled separate copy. And while it can a mess to merge, at least you know everything is there. iCloud? Who knows! It offers very little information about what it's doing and very little control in general.
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I like to have both - iCloud for personal files and sync of MBP's, iPhones and iPads and I don't worriy about sharing any files from iCloud to others
For sharing with others Dropbox is much better for collaboration as you mention and also for cross plat form sharing with windows users etc.
Love your Safari "download folder idea" in iCloud and am already changing to point all my browsers to an iCloud drive "Downloads Folder" - thanks!
Thanks, yeah, it's been a real timesaver. I also used OnyX to switch the save path for new screenshots to an iCloud Drive folder called (drum roll) Screenshots. Same thing as the downloads folder -- all my screen grabs wind up in the same place.
An excellent detailed reply, but if you use TimeMachine to backup all of your files should be there unless you have explictily configured the ~/Documents and Desktop to be excluded. I, too, use a ~/local_Documents for things not be shared and like this feature except that I wish we could have a configuration option to exclude the Desktop from sharing in the Cloud.
