Using iCloud drive

[nigels0]

hi,

I’m puzzled about using iCloud Drive in that I’d like to have a lot of stuff available in my Documents folder available across multiple devices - thing is, with my Mac Pro, it only has 250GB of disk, and if I try to put more files in iCloud Drive than that - bad things seem to happen. I get disk space warnings on the Mac Pro. Surely it should be more intelligent than that and offload files that aren’t in use instead of grinding to a haunt.

Is it really true that your iCloud Drive shouldn’t be larger than the smallest disk on any machine using that account if you want to put the documents folder in the cloud?

 

[nouveau_redneck]

You can enable "Optimize Mac Storage" in order to free up space and store more than your local machine has room to hold. macOS/iCloud will remove older files from your local drive if space is low when that setting is checked.

System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive (Options) > check "Optimize Mac Storage".

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996

 

[nigels0]

Yes, I did use that, but still ran into problems with my Mac Pro. Does anyone have the same problem as me - or is it just me?

 

[now i see it]

iCloud Drive is kinda lame. It's not like having a web FTP server or using Dropbox. When you have iCloud Drive synced to your Mac (turned on) everything in iCloud Drive gets downloaded to your computer (and stays in iCloud too). If your iCloud stuff takes up more space than your Mac hard drive has room for - it won't work.

 

[nouveau_redneck]

Yes, I did use that, but still ran into problems with my Mac Pro. Does anyone have the same problem as me - or is it just me?

I suspect something is using up space in an unexpected way. Is there excessive growth in System?

 

[nigels0]

No, no growth - I agree with now I see it. It’s kind of lame....