How do I save space by setting iCloud Drive path to external drive or any other folder on Mac Pro.

You have to figure out where your storage is being used. Any modern cloud storage is going to be stored inside your home directory and you can't move that. Since you're on a Mac Pro, the logical solution is to just add a new SSD and move your home folder to that.

This is an advanced operation. The trickiest part is to ensure that ownership is still enabled on the external volume. By default ownership is disabled on an external drive. However, a Mac Pro can have multiple internal drives, so you might see different behaviour.

The next tricky part is to copy your current home directory to the new disk. You need to make sure the ownership and permissions are the same. Then, in System Settings, you can right-click or control-click on your user to access Advanced Options. Change the home directory path to the new drive.

And yet another tricky part - you have to do that last part from a different, administrator user. Always keep an extra administrator user on the startup drive. You're going to need it. 😄

A better idea is to download some 3rd party apps to see just where all your storage is being used. Those apps can be dangerous. They will show you all folders on your hard drive, even the ones where you should never, ever dig around in. There is one safe one that I know, but I can't mention it because I wrote it. Anyway, this would be much easier and safer than trying to move your home directory.

And finally, the easiest solution of all for someone on a Mac Pro - just get a bigger hard drive.

Unfortunately, I don't think you can change the default location of iCloud Drive to an external drive or any other folder on macOS. iCloud Drive is designed to be stored in iCloud, Apple's cloud storage service. However, there are a few things you can do to free up space on your Mac Pro:

Move files to iCloud Drive: You can move some of your files to iCloud Drive to free up space on your Mac Pro. To do this, select the files you want to move, right-click or control-click, and select "Move to iCloud Drive."

Delete unused files: Take some time to go through your files and delete any that you no longer need or use. This can include old documents, photos, videos, and music.

Optimize Storage: Use the Optimize Storage feature in macOS Big Sur or later to automatically move infrequently used files to iCloud Drive and keep frequently used files on your Mac. To do this, open the System Preferences app, click on "Storage," and then click on "Manage Storage." Then, click on the "Optimize Storage" button.

Empty the Trash: Empty the Trash regularly to free up space on your Mac Pro.

Use external storage: Consider using an external hard drive or SSD to store large files that you don't need to access regularly.

Delete unused apps: Uninstall any apps that you no longer use. To do this, open the Finder, click on the "Applications" folder, and then drag the apps you want to uninstall to the Trash.

Use cloud storage: Consider using a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive to store files that you need to access from multiple devices.

By following these tips, you can free up space on your Mac Pro and make more room for the files you need.

etresoft wrote:

Since you're on a Mac Pro, the logical solution is to just add a new SSD and move your home folder to that.

That is also very risky since Apple has broken this type of setup even with minor macOS update patches even when another admin user account is available. Several update patches for Monterey kept breaking this setup and it was not immediately obvious how to fix it since macOS would recreate a new dummy home folder on the internal drive which resulted in one of those to locations having its name temporarily modified by adding a " 1" to it which seems to have made the process to fix things a bit more complicated for those users. It is definitely something users need to consider if they can have the computer down until they can figure out how to fix it if it would break again.

I have seen other respected contributors suggest moving the iTunes and Photo libraries to an external drive since Apple does provide official documentation for these procedures. I'm not sure if this option is any safer these days since I don't think macOS likes to deviate too far from system defaults and I don't know how iCloud would handle such a setup.

HWTech wrote:

That is also very risky since Apple has broken this type of setup even with minor macOS update patches even when another admin user account is available. Several update patches for Monterey kept breaking this setup and it was not immediately obvious how to fix it since macOS would recreate a new dummy home folder on the internal drive which resulted in one of those to locations having its name temporarily modified by adding a " 1" to it which seems to have made the process to fix things a bit more complicated for those users. It is definitely something users need to consider if they can have the computer down until they can figure out how to fix it if it would break again.

That's interesting. Sometimes I think I'm being paranoid telling people to beware of all the obscure features that Apple documents and, in theory, supports.

I have seen other respected contributors suggest moving the iTunes and Photo libraries to an external drive since Apple does provide official documentation for these procedures. I'm not sure if this option is any safer these days since I don't think macOS likes to deviate too far from system defaults and I don't know how iCloud would handle such a setup.

Maybe I should add this to my list of toxic topics - things I don't want to even discuss since all solutions are risky, complicated, and liable to elicit anger just by pointing them out.

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

Update: Just discovered this

Wherever you discovered it, I recommend staying far away in the future.

I can't vouch for this

The Apple Support Community Terms of Use specifically ask us to try solutions before posting them.

Changing the iCloud Drive Location

<snip>

Totally will not work.

Moving the Applications Folder

<snip>

Totally unnecessary. Stand-alone apps can be installed anywhere you can copy files. External drives are fine. However, apps usually don't take up much space, so this is likely to only cause problems. Those apps that may use lots of disk space are the ones that can't be moved to external volumes.

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Update: Just discovered this but I can't vouch for this so ensure you have a backup before trying it...

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Changing the iCloud Drive Location

By default, iCloud Drive stores its files on your Mac's internal hard drive. However, you can change the location of iCloud Drive to an external drive or any other folder on macOS. This can be useful if you are running out of space on your internal hard drive.

To change the location of iCloud Drive, follow these steps:

1. Open the Finder application.
2. Click on iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
3. Right-click on iCloud Drive and select Open in New Finder Window.
4. In the Finder window that opens, click on File > Get Info.
5. In the Info window, expand the Sharing & Permissions section.
6. Click on the lock icon and enter your administrator password.
7. Click on the plus button and select the external drive or folder that you want to use to store iCloud Drive files.
8. Click on the Add button.
9. Select the Read & Write checkbox next to the external drive or folder that you added.
10. Click on the Close button.

Moving the Applications Folder

You can also move the Applications folder to an external drive or any other folder on macOS. This can be useful if you have a large number of applications that are taking up a lot of space on your internal hard drive.

To move the Applications folder, follow these steps:

1. Open the Finder application.
2. Click on Applications in the sidebar.
3. Right-click on Applications and select Show View Options.
4. Select Show package contents in the View Options window.
5. Close the View Options window.
6. Drag the Applications folder to the external drive or folder that you want to use to store it.

Important Notes:

• Once you have changed the location of iCloud Drive or the Applications folder, you will need to restart your Mac.
• If you move the Applications folder to an external drive, you will need to make sure that the external drive is connected to your Mac whenever you want to use the Applications in that folder.
• You can also use a symbolic link to create a link to the Applications folder on an external drive. This will allow you to access the Applications folder from the Applications folder in your Finder window, but the Applications will still be stored on the external drive. To create a symbolic link, follow these steps:

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Type the following command, replacing /path/to/external/drive/Applications with the path to the Applications folder on your external drive:

sudo ln -s /path/to/external/drive/Applications /Applications

Press Enter.

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Reminder: I just discovered the above but I can't vouch for this so ensure you have a backup before trying it...

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etresoft wrote:

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

Update: Just discovered this

Wherever you discovered it, I recommend staying far away in the future.

I can't vouch for this

The Apple Support Community Terms of Use specifically ask us to try solutions before posting them.

Oops. My bad. I thought it was better to at least share what I found along with a warning. I will do better next time :-)

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

Oops. My bad. I thought it was better to at least share what I found along with a warning. I will do better next time :-)

Fair enough. Remember that people don't read those warnings, and the internet is wrong.