I can see that all of my devices are properly backing up to icloud. How do I find if my now dead MacBook Air was also backing up to the cloud? And, then, how do I restore that back up to an external hard rive for viewing and pulling files onto one of my other Macs?
MacBook Air
Are your other devices mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)? Cloud backup is only available for the mobile devices with iOS or iPadOS, but not for a Mac. A Mac can store the documents and data in iCloud to sync it with other devices, but to create a backup you have to use Time Machine or other backup software. Did you have enabled iCloud on your MacBook Air in the System Preferences > iCloud? If you used iCloud Drive on the Mac, any documents and date you saved on iCloud Drive will appear on your iCloud web page at www.icloud.com on iCloud Drive, and automatically appear on iCloud Drive on your other Macs, if iCloud Drive is enabled there as well. The same goes for the iCloud Photos Library and other apps syncing with iCloud.
Are your other devices mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)? Cloud backup is only available for the mobile devices with iOS or iPadOS, but not for a Mac. A Mac can store the documents and data in iCloud to sync it with other devices, but to create a backup you have to use Time Machine or other backup software. Did you have enabled iCloud on your MacBook Air in the System Preferences > iCloud? If you used iCloud Drive on the Mac, any documents and date you saved on iCloud Drive will appear on your iCloud web page at www.icloud.com on iCloud Drive, and automatically appear on iCloud Drive on your other Macs, if iCloud Drive is enabled there as well. The same goes for the iCloud Photos Library and other apps syncing with iCloud.
Use another browser and set up Set up your MacBook Pro - Apple Support and sign in Sign in with your Apple ID - Apple Support with the Apple ID and password of your dead Mac credentials with it account credentials and set up iCloud Set up iCloud on your Mac - Apple Support , turn on iCloud Drive Set up iCloud Drive - Apple Support and desktops and documents box Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support
Use iCloud Drive to store documents on your Mac and iOS devices - Apple Support
The applications box must be turned on to sync the iCloud data Turn iCloud features on or off - Apple Support
However the other apps from dead Mac won't sync into new Mac .
The files will start syncing with essential network speed and it can take hours ( all depends upon the size of data ) see the article Get file, folder and disk information on Mac - Apple Support
Once files are completely synced connect an external hard drive and drag drop files to it see the article Use external storage devices with Mac - Apple Support
How do I find if my now dead MacBook Air was also backing up to the cloud?
You can initially sign in with Apple ID and password of old dead Mac at www.icloud.com to view the data Use iCloud.com on a computer - Apple Support
How to Find if my now dead MacBook Air was backed up to iCloud, then restore to an external harddrive?
