Managing storage with iCloud drive

[andricop]

Hi,

I have a question : what happens if you have filled your iCloud drive with 500 Gb of files from your Windows PC and then you use your 128 Gb MacBook Air with Yosemite with the same iCloud drive account ?
The 500 Gb of files cannot be copied on the MBA drive but can you still access the files in the Cloud ? And copy new files from your MBA to the iCloud drive ?
If I'm correct, files are synced between computers so that means that you need to have at least as many free Gb on every computer that your iCloud drive plan ?

Thanks for your help

Regards

 

[andricop]

I had a look at how Dropbox works in this case and there is selective sync option : "Selective Sync allows you to exclude folders you don't want to sync on a per-computer basis"
https://www.dropbox.com/help/142

Haven't seen any option like that on iCloud drive client on Windows.

Do you know other Cloud storage services other then Dropbox allowing selective sync ?

Thanks and have a nice Sunday !

 

[Rigby]

Do you know other Cloud storage services other then Dropbox allowing selective sync ?

Onedrive for Mac allows you to choose which folders to sync. The Windows version as well, but it works a little differently (it uses a smart caching scheme and "offline" folders/files).

 

[petvas]

This is something that bothers me too. There is currently no way to selectively sync with iCloud Drive, even on the GM version of Yosemite. That makes iCloud Drive almost useless to me. I had so high hopes that it could replace DropBox for me, but it currently cannot. I hope that Apple improves that in the future somehow..

 

[Martin29]

I'm pretty sure iCloud Drive works differently to Dropbox in that files stored on the Drive are not also stored on your local disk. It would make no sense given that it is to be used across devices ranging from iPhones/iPods/iPads through Macbook Airs with possibly small local drives to Mac Pro machines with very large local capacity.

I've been using iCloud Drive on the beta Yosemite and have sufficient data on the iCloud Drive to crush the disk on my Air.. It is not doing that. I simply access my files as though they were local when in fact they are on the Cloud drive. I can also access them on my 16Gb iPad and the used space on that has not increased since I connected it to the Drive.

It seems entirely logical to me that we are being given/buying additional cloud storage in order not only to access files from anywhere but also to effectively increase the capacity of our devices. My problem with Dropbox was always that this was not the default, and that effectively we were keeping multiple copies of files.

 

[andricop]

Thanks for your answer !

@Martin29 : that's great news ! So it works much like iTunes match : on your iPhone you see all your music stored in the cloud but you have to download songs you want to hear.

Did someone installed Yosemite on a second computer to confirm that they can see all the files stored in iCloud drive but that only files used are copied locally to the computer ?

Thanks

 

[Rigby]

I'm pretty sure iCloud Drive works differently to Dropbox in that files stored on the Drive are not also stored on your local disk.

I'm not running Yosemite yet, but I really hope this is not the only choice. I very often need to access files in my Dropbox or Onedrive while not connected to the Internet. At least it should give us the option to sync local copies.

It would make no sense given that it is to be used across devices ranging from iPhones/iPods/iPads through Macbook Airs with possibly small local drives to Mac Pro machines with very large local capacity.

The other cloud services manage to do the same and still allow selective syncing.

My problem with Dropbox was always that this was not the default

Why is that a problem? I can be configured with a few clicks.

 

[Martin29]

I have two Macs running Yosemite beta and iCloud Drive is working perfectly across the two machines.

For those who want to keep their files locally as well as on the cloud, simply save two copies, one to the Cloud disk and the other locally

 

[Rigby]

For those who want to keep their files locally as well as on the cloud, simply save two copies, one to the Cloud disk and the other locally

That's not the same. With Dropbox or Onedrive, I can quickly drop a bunch of files I need to work on into the cloud, hop on a plane, work on the files offline on any of my devices, and when I arrive and reconnect to the Internet, the changes are automatically propagated to the cloud. I don't have to keep track of changes and copy anything back manually. If iCloud Drive can't do that, it would completely disqualify it for me.

 

[andricop]

I have two Macs running Yosemite beta and iCloud Drive is working perfectly across the two machines.

For those who want to keep their files locally as well as on the cloud, simply save two copies, one to the Cloud disk and the other locally

Sorry, not 100% clear for me.

On computer A you put a file xyz in the iCloud drive directory.
What happens on computer B ?
- xyz is automatically copied to the iCloud Drive folder of computer B ?
- you see file xyz on computer B but it's not automatically copied to the iCloud drive folder of computer B ?

 

[Martin29]

On computer A you put a file xyz in the iCloud drive directory.
What happens on computer B ?
- xyz is automatically copied to the iCloud Drive folder of computer B ?
- you see file xyz on computer B but it's not automatically copied to the iCloud drive folder of computer B ?

On computer B you open the file which is in the iCloud Drive folder. That folder is visible on all your devices, but it's contents are stored on the iCloud Drive server.

That's not the same. With Dropbox or Onedrive, I can quickly drop a bunch of files I need to work on into the cloud, hop on a plane, work on the files offline on any of my devices, and when I arrive and reconnect to the Internet, the changes are automatically propagated to the cloud. I don't have to keep track of changes and copy anything back manually. If iCloud Drive can't do that, it would completely disqualify it for me.

The scenario is the same, you place your files into your iCloud Drive folder, hop on your plane, make changes to files which are stored in the iCloud folder, and when you next have internet access the updates propagate, updating the file which is still (and always was) on a remote disk.

 

[Rigby]

The scenario is the same, you place your files into your iCloud Drive folder, hop on your plane, make changes to files which are stored in the iCloud folder, and when you next have internet access the updates propagate, updating the file which is still (and always was) on a remote disk.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but if iCloud Drive does not allow me to sync local copies, I can only edit the file on the same computer I created it on. I cannot, for example, put a file in the iCloud Drive folder on my desktop computer, sync it up, and then work on it offline on my laptop and sync the results back later, since the laptop does not have a local copy. If what you say is true, the only way to do this would be to manually keep track of which files have last been updated on which device, and copy them back and forth between the iCloud Drive folder and some local folder. I really hope this isn't true.

Dropbox et al. allow me to keep a set of local copies across multiple devices in sync. No need to remember where the last update happened etc. And if I don't want to sync something on a device, I simply deselect it.

 

[Martin29]

The file is quite simply stored on a remote disk which you are able to access from each of your devices. Whichever device you utilise to edit the file will update it on the remote disk..

Consider it like a disk 'D' which is shared across all your devices and which has the added advantage of being accessible via iCloud.com should you need access from a machine not registered to your account.

 

[Rigby]

The file is quite simply stored on a remote disk which you are able to access from each of your devices.

Only as long as you are connected to the Internet ...

What you are describing is network storage as we had it for ages in the form of NFS, SMB, AFP and more recently WebDAV etc. I expect more from a cloud storage service.

 

[andricop]

So, if file xyz is uploaded from computer A, then copied locally in the iCloud drive folder of computer B, edited on computer B, it will not sync with iCloud drive to find the edited file on computer A ?

 

[rehlers]

.

 

[andricop]

Only as long as you are connected to the Internet ...

What you are describing is network storage as we had it for ages in the form of NFS, SMB, AFP and more recently WebDAV etc. I expect more from a cloud storage service.

Not really, if you delete, move or rename a file on your local computer it will also be deleted, moved or renaled in the Cloud (tested under Windows).

 

[Martin29]

Not really, if you delete, move or rename a file on your local computer it will also be deleted, moved or renaled in the Cloud (tested under Windows).

Yes, because ALL your devices see the iCloud Drive as though it was local.

I think you're making this much more complex than you need.. As I said before, imagine that it is a drive 'D' and that you have simply shared that drive across all your devices. That fact the drive is actually remote is entirely irrelevant. You have permanent access to your files and edits are visible within moments on ALL your devices. There is no need for multiple copies of files on local drives. You can of course back up all your folders, including iCloud Drive to your time machine storage.

 

[petvas]

iCloud Drive does store files locally, but there is no way to control how many files can be locally cached..

 

[rehlers]

Hmm, I just did a little test and I am not sure if this not-syncing described is really what happens on Yosemite. I have Yosemite GM and iOS 8.0.2. I exported a file from my iPhone to iCloud Drive. From my computer, I did a directory listing form the terminal window (not using Finder) from inside ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs. The document showed up in a minute or 2 (larger file) after I uploaded it from my iPhone. So it is on my Yosemite hard drive physically. I watched the iCloud folder during another test and as it was downloading, I did see a progress bar in Finder next to the filename and a little iCloud download button next to the file name. That all went away after it fully downloaded (without me interacting with it all).

On iOS, the only syncing that seems to be allowed is from within the iCloud folder for whichever app you are using. So if I load a Pages document in the iPhone and edit it in the iCloud Drive/Pages folder, it will sync up. Pages can't even load files outside of that folder. Other applications (like Readdle's Documents or GoodReader) that can use the iCloud 'picker' to dig into other folders have to 'import' the files from iCloud and then 'export' them back to iCloud if the file is in any directory other than one the specific to that application.

 

[Rigby]

Hmm, I just did a little test and I am not sure if this not-syncing described is really what happens on Yosemite. I have Yosemite GM and iOS 8.0.2. I exported a file from my iPhone to iCloud Drive. From my computer, I did a directory listing form the terminal window (not using Finder) from inside ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs. The document showed up in a minute or 2 (larger file) after I uploaded it from my iPhone. So it is on my Yosemite hard drive physically.

Well that's a relief. I guess the only question is what caching strategy it uses. I'd still like to be able to explicitly tell the system that I need to have some files available at all times, online and offline. So far, it seems to me Dropbox still has the best solution (and they have the fastest and most efficient syncing of the services I have tried).

 

[rehlers]

Well that's a relief. I guess the only question is what caching strategy it uses. I'd still like to be able to explicitly tell the system that I need to have some files available at all times, online and offline. So far, it seems to me Dropbox still has the best solution (and they have the fastest and most efficient syncing of the services I have tried).

Yeah, I agree with you. I don't have enough stored to care about it from a lack of space perspective, but I don't like just thinking of iCloud Drive as a mysterious black box that I put files into and hopefully can get them out of in the future. Dropbox I feel like I know a little more about what is actually going on.

 

[Rigby]

Yeah, I agree with you. I don't have enough stored to care about it from a lack of space perspective, but I don't like just thinking of iCloud Drive as a mysterious black box that I put files into and hopefully can get them out of in the future. Dropbox I feel like I know a little more about what is actually going on.

If you like transparency and control, take a look at Spideroak. It has a similar sync option as Dropbox ("Hive"), but in addition allows you to configure custom backups and syncs. It also has client-side encryption, so nobody can snoop around in your data (provided you choose a good password). Unfortunately their mobile app isn't quite on the same level as Dropbox's, but it's good enough for mobile access. For professional use on Mac/PC it's hard to beat.

 

[andricop]

That fact the drive is actually remote is entirely irrelevant. You have permanent access to your files and edits are visible within moments on ALL your devices. There is no need for multiple copies of files on local drives. You can of course back up all your folders, including iCloud Drive to your time machine storage.

It is relevant, because it's not the same thing when you have no internet access.

If all files are copied back on all your computer than it's OK, you'll have access even offline BUT you will have the storage problem.

If files are not copied back you'll have to download files locally (in your iCloud Drive folder) before working on these documents offline.

So even now that Yosemite GM is out nobody knows how the local caching of files is managed by iCloud drive

----------

If you like transparency and control, take a look at Spideroak. It has a similar sync option as Dropbox ("Hive"), but in addition allows you to configure custom backups and syncs. It also has client-side encryption, so nobody can snoop around in your data (provided you choose a good password). Unfortunately their mobile app isn't quite on the same level as Dropbox's, but it's good enough for mobile access. For professional use on Mac/PC it's hard to beat.

Sounds really good but it's 5 time more expensive than iCloud drive

 

[Rigby]

Sounds really good but it's 5 time more expensive than iCloud drive

True, but if you look around, you can get ~5GB for free. Not a lot, but perhaps enough for the daily syncing needs.

I wish I had seen their promotion earlier this year, where they offered an unlimited storage plan for $125/year ...