Transferred music files to iCloud Drive, but can't tell what no cloud icon means on a file

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Transferred music files to iCloud Drive, but can't tell what no cloud icon means on a file

I have quite a lots of mp3's that were stored on an external ssd. I transferred those to my iCloud Drive, for safe back up. When I look at the folder in iCloud Drive, none of the files have the cloud icon with a downward arrow. According to what I've read, that means they could also be downloaded to my Mac's hard drive, but I cannot locate any locally. That's a good thing. I don't want them taking up space on my HD. I just want these to reside on the iCloud Drive as backup to their location on my external ssd. How does the cloud icon work? What does it designate if there's no icon, or there is? This is all a bit confusing.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Apr 2, 2024 6:08 PM

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Answer 1

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muguy

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Apr 2, 2024 9:27 PM in response to TopoTone

TopoTone wrote:

Ok. I didn’t realize it’s not intended as an archive option.

I’m still not clear where to locate the files on my Mac’s internal drive. If I understand correctly, the files I copied to iCloud Drive, from a connected external ssd, get copied back to the internal drive. Is that right? If so, where would they be? Or, because they came from an external drive, would the iCloud Drive protocol know that and consider everything synced.

if you copied from the external drive to your iCloud Drive folder, the items are copied to your Mac and then synced with iCloud. The files remain on your Mac in the iCloud Drive folder. If you uploaded to iCloud Drive through a browser, the files will sync with your Mac and download to the iCloud Drive folder on the Mac.

I say that since I have not been able to locate those files. When I look in finder > iCloud drive, that is not showing files on the internal drive, correct?

yes. Anything in that folder is also on your Mac unless you elect to optimize storage. Items that are optimized are moved to iCloud only and the downloaded file removed from your Mac. Instead, a link to the online file is shown (denoted with a cloud with a download arrow)

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Answer 2

muguy

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Apr 2, 2024 6:39 PM in response to TopoTone

Any file in iCloud Drive also syncs to your Mac and resides there unless you elect to optimize storage in System Settings. See iCloud drive icons: What do they mean?

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Answer 3

muguy

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92,054 points

Apr 2, 2024 8:25 PM in response to TopoTone

TopoTone wrote:

Where would I look for these files?

Navigate to finder and then iCloud drive. Anything in iCloud Drive will appear there.

And more importantly, how would I be able to use my iCloud Drive as a backup location for archived items?

iCloud isn't designed to be a backup but a synchronization service. You can, of course, keep documents in iCloud Drive if you wish. Those items can also all backup to Time Machine (or similar) using an external drive if you elect not to optimize storage in iCloud System Settings

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Answer 4

muguy

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Apr 2, 2024 6:49 PM in response to TopoTone

If you copied the files into iCloud Drive in finder, the files are on your Mac. If you uploaded through a browser, the files would attempt to sync to your Mac once online.

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Answer 5

muguy

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Apr 3, 2024 3:03 AM in response to TopoTone

System settings, Apple ID, iCloud

the process is automatic. Users have no control over what files are optimized

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Answer 6

TopoTone Author

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Apr 2, 2024 6:46 PM in response to muguy

Hmmm…I can’t locate the files locally. It’s about 10 gigs worth, and there’s no indication they are on my HD. Since they came from my external ssd, the process may be associated with that instead of the macs hd.

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Answer 7

TopoTone Author

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Apr 2, 2024 9:12 PM in response to muguy

Ok. I didn’t realize it’s not intended as an archive option.

I’m still not clear where to locate the files on my Mac’s internal drive. If I understand correctly, the files I copied to iCloud Drive, from a connected external ssd, get copied back to the internal drive. Is that right? If so, where would they be? Or, because they came from an external drive, would the iCloud Drive protocol know that and consider everything synced.

I say that since I have not been able to locate those files. When I look in finder > iCloud drive, that is not showing files on the internal drive, correct? Seems like a stupid question, but I had to ask since you replied with directions to look there for the files that I was attempting to locate on the Internal drive.

thanks again for your help sorting this out for me.

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Answer 8

TopoTone Author

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Apr 2, 2024 10:08 PM in response to muguy

Great! Very helpful. One more question; how do you choose to “optimize” so files aren’t kept on the Mac hd, and can that be selective? Obviously want to have most things synced.

(it helps me to think of the iCloud Drive as a mirror to those items living in both places)

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Answer 9

TopoTone Author

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Apr 2, 2024 8:12 PM in response to muguy

Where would I look for these files? And more importantly, how would I be able to use my iCloud Drive as a backup location for archived items?

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Transferred music files to iCloud Drive, but can't tell what no cloud icon means on a file

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