How do I turn OFF "Optimize Mac Storage" without losing data?

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Level 1

4 points

How do I turn OFF "Optimize Mac Storage" without losing data?

NOTE: I updated the title from yesterday's post to better describe my question. (Previous title was: "How do I SAFELY turn off "Optimize Mac Storage.") I meant safely for my files and folders!

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I do not want my documents to be only in iCloud. I want everything ALSO back on my Mac. I didn't understand that clicking "Optimizing Mac Storage" would pull documents OFF of my Macbook Pro, so that I cannot access them if I am not online. :-(

MY SPECIFIC QUESTION: How do I safely get my data back onto my Macbook? It sounds like (from others' questions) that there is a risk of losing files if there is not enough room on your Macbook.

THESE ARE MY STORAGE NUMBERS:

Currently, iCloud says I am using 155 GB (of 200 GB total)

Currently, my MacBook says that I have 300 GB available out of 500 GB.

[NOTE: 109 GB of that 300 are iCloud, so maybe the other 45 GB in iCloud must be from our two iPhones?]

I also have my Documents and Desktop being synched iCloud—which would be OK, as long as the files remain on my Macbook. I'm also totally fine with turning that off if necessary/possible.

THE REAL QUESTION: Is it safe to simply UNCHECK the (oh, how I wish I'd never checked it!!) "optimize mac storage" box, i.e., will all of my files then be downloaded back onto my Macbook?

OR, if there is not enough room on my MacBook Pro, do I risk losing 10 years of writing into the ethers by doing this?

Assistance would be so very much appreciated! Thank you. 🙏

(Macbook Pro was purchased in May 2018 / running Mojave 10.14)

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 13, 2019 12:16 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Mar 14, 2019 12:13 PM in response to desertmac2

Usually Photos will warn you, if you cannot turn off "Optimized".

But you can disable it incrementally.

Create albums in Photos with the photos you want to store locally.
Then ctrl-click or right-click one of these albums in the sidebar and enable the checkmark "Download Originals to this Mac" for the selected album. Wait for the photos to download, then proceed with your other albums.

Photos will download all photos for the selected album to your Mac ans keep them stored locally. This way you can incrementally download your complete library. Disable Optimize storage when you have all photos in local albums.

For example:

I have an album "My All Photos", where I add all new photos to. And this album will always download the originals.

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Answer 2

desertmac2 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 14, 2019 10:53 AM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy, Thank you for your reply. That is what I want—to have my data stored both places. I have a big concern, though. I've read various people saying that they did not have enough space left on their Mac, so when they un-clicked the "Optimize Mac Storage" button, all of their data did not fit anymore, so some of [the data that had been moved to iCloud during the time it was optimized] was suddenly just LOST.

Do you know . . .

1) How do I know if I have enough room on my Mac?

2) If I DON'T, what happens to the data that won't fit? And, if lost (as I've read happened to some people), how would I retrieve it?

Thank you again for your response!

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Mar 13, 2019 12:44 PM in response to desertmac2

If you disable the Optimize option then your data are store both in iCloud and on your computer. All that Optimize does is move all your data to iCloud, then deletes the data from your computer to save disk space.

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How do I turn OFF "Optimize Mac Storage" without losing data?

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