Erasing drive, deleting photos from Macbook Air without deleting from iCloud

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Level 1

8 points

Erasing drive, deleting photos from Macbook Air without deleting from iCloud

My wife has an old 2010 MacAir that we're loaning to a friend until he gets a decent machine in a few months. She has a large photo/video library and has it synced to iCloud. I want to clear the drive and reset the machine to factory settings. My worry is, if I erase the drive, will her iCloud library be safe? I was told that unchecking 'iCloud' in 'Settings' would allow me to erase without affecting the iCloud library, but then someone else said iCloud needs the original device (MacAIr) to hold the library as a reference point for the sync.

I'm also wary about exporting the library to an external drive before erasing, as it may mean I have to put the full library back into her new Macbook Pro drive for iCloud to re-sync.

I know my way around a Mac, but I've always stayed away from iCloud and am therefore quite clueless! Any help greatly appreciated.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 28, 2021 8:34 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

FoxFifth

Level 10

472,149 points

Jan 28, 2021 9:46 AM in response to Macblow

Sorry I cannot vouch for "So if I simply uncheck the 'iCloud' box before erasing..."

What I recommended (and what I have personally tested) are the instructions in: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support Those instructions in step 3 have details about signing out of iCloud.

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Answer 2

Macblow Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 9:38 AM in response to FoxFifth

Thank-you so much for the fast reply, Fox.

So if I simply uncheck the 'iCloud' box before erasing the MacAir drive, my wife will have no problems accessing her iCloud library on her MacPro?

I should have known it would be that simple. Thanks again!

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Answer 3

Macblow Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 2:11 PM in response to FoxFifth

I ran a full back-up to an external, tonight. It took nearly 5 hours! Best to follow your recommendation and back-up before erasing. I'll get that dome tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully easy sailing from there.

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Answer 4

Macblow Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 29, 2021 3:25 AM in response to FoxFifth

Fox, I'm so sorry to bother you again, but I began the iCloud process this morning and this appeared:

'iCloud needs to finish updating before being turned off'

The update has been going for over an hour and I really need to get this finished by mid afternoon. When I click 'stop updating', I'm told:

'Any documents not uploaded to iCloud drive will be moved to a folder named 'iCloud Drive (archive) in your home folder on this Mac'.

Can I just stop the update?

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Answer 5

Macblow Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 29, 2021 3:48 AM in response to Macblow

Cancel that, Fox! I read some threads where people were saying the update process went on for days and decided - as I have everything backed-up - just to restart the machine and take my chances. Update lasted a matter of minutes. All good!

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