icloud

 image.magic,

Thank you for your clarification. If you added your documents to iCloud prior to your computer crashing, then yes, you can retrieve the documents. It is like an external drive in the fact, that you can access the information from any computer by going to iCloud.com and signing in with your Apple ID & password.

Set up iCloud Drive

Hope this better answers the question.

Cheers.

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities  image.magic,

Thank you for contacting us. You have come to the right place and we are happy to assist you. We understand you're inquiring about iCloud.  We can understand why you’d reach out for a solution. When you store documents in iCloud Drive and back up your iOS device, those items are backed up as long as it's selected to backup. We have included a couple links to better explain how to store documents in iCloud on your Mac.

Access and manage files in your iCloud Drive

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive

Access iCloud Drive files from your iPhone and other devices

You can't backup your Mac to iCloud Drive though. You would use Time Machine to completely back up your Mac.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine

We hope this answers your question.

Thank you for contacting Apple Support Communities.

Best regards.

See the article Recover deleted files on iCloud.com - Apple Support