I decided to stop using iCloud Drive in favor of my own external backup. So I turned off Desktop & Documents Folders and downloaded things.
Big problem: big, important folders from Documents didn't make it to my Local drive. They aren't in iCloud Drive either. Does iCloud Drive have a time machine?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.7
If you were using Time Machine (or other backup software) on your Mac while you were using iCloud Drive, any iCloud Drive files that were stored locally on your Mac would have been included in the Time Machine backup of your Mac. Note that if you didn't have the iCloud Drive Optimize Storage option turned on in your Mac note that ALL of your iCloud Drive files would have had a local copy.
Also, see all of the details of all of the sections below "Turn off Desktop and Documents" in the document Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support for information about where your files and folders might be after you turned off Desktop and Documents.
Finally, there isn't Time Machine for iCloud Drive but there is a data recovery capability. I haven't tried the following after turning off the Desktop & Documents option on my Mac so don't know how that might affect it.
Use an internet browser (e.g., Safari) and log into iCloud.com.
Scroll all the way down the page (keep going down below the "Customize" button).
Click "Data Recovery"
See the "Restore Files" section.
If you were using Time Machine (or other backup software) on your Mac while you were using iCloud Drive, any iCloud Drive files that were stored locally on your Mac would have been included in the Time Machine backup of your Mac. Note that if you didn't have the iCloud Drive Optimize Storage option turned on in your Mac note that ALL of your iCloud Drive files would have had a local copy.
Also, see all of the details of all of the sections below "Turn off Desktop and Documents" in the document Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support for information about where your files and folders might be after you turned off Desktop and Documents.
Finally, there isn't Time Machine for iCloud Drive but there is a data recovery capability. I haven't tried the following after turning off the Desktop & Documents option on my Mac so don't know how that might affect it.
Use an internet browser (e.g., Safari) and log into iCloud.com.
Scroll all the way down the page (keep going down below the "Customize" button).
Click "Data Recovery"
See the "Restore Files" section.
This all started when I discovered my Time Capsule wasn't working anymore. I turned on desktop & documents on iCloud Drive until I got a new backup device, and when I did, a couple folders were lost in the transition back.
Logging into iCloud and going to the Restore Files section did the trick--I found them there. Thank you very much!
No. the content was always on the Mac unless you optimized. Turning it off created a new desktop and a new documents folder on your Mac that are both empty. Your other files move to iCloud only and remain in the desktop and documents folders respectively
No. Your desktop and documents folders are removed from the Mac and are placed into iCloud Drive when you turn off desktop & documents.
The nomenclature confuses me. It's just not intuitive to me at all. I thought turning off desktop & documents puts the folders back onto the Mac.
Is there a time machine for iCloud Drive?
