Q: iCloud drive

From Finder, if you move (not copy, but move) files from your Mac to iCloud drive, are said files physically removed from your Mac hard drive?

Yes, but only for a short moment. They will upload to iCloud Drive, and then your Mac will download a shadow copy of the file and store it locally. And this shadow copy will automatically be updated, whenever the version on iCloud Drive will change. That is the copy you can access from the iCloud Drive icon in the sidebar of the Finder window.

Yo cannot save space on your Mac by moving files to iCloud Drive, if that is what you want to do.

See this link:   iCloud Drive FAQ

Here's what you can do with iCloud Drive:

 

• Store and access all of your documents in one place from any of your devices
• Keep files and folders up to date across all your devices
• Create new files and folders from iCloud-enabled apps
• Work on the same file across multiple apps

They are removed from the location you moved them from, but by moving them to iCloud Drive OS X makes a hidden copy on your Mac.

I'm wondering if you aren't misunderstanding what happens, what is it that you think makes this not appealing.

I don't know about Google Drive, but dropbox works in a similar way, it keeps the files on your Mac too, the only difference (which is purely a technical difference, since it will seem somewhat the same to you) is that with dropbox you access the originals on the Mac, but with iCloud you access the documents via an alias.

Thanks for the quick reply...that's unfortunate, it does not make iCloud drive an appealing option for cloud storage at all.

if your only motive for wanting cloud storage is either to create an offsite backup or to store your documents and data off-site, then use a different service. Frankly, backups are much safer and faster, if you use locally connected drives . You avoid transmission errors, the connection is faster, you don't have to pay for cloud storage and internet, and you always have access to your backup, even if you cannot connect to the internet.  the same goes for documents and data you need to move off your mac.

iCloud Drive is meant for storing a working set of documents, that you always need to be accessible, on all devices you own. And because it is used for your most important documents, it will keep local copies, so you can use them, even if you cannot access the cloud for some reason, if you are traveling, or your internet is not working.

Winston Churchill wrote:

 

I don't know about Google Drive, but dropbox works in a similar way, it keeps the files on your Mac too, the only difference (which is purely a technical difference, since it will seem somewhat the same to you) is that with dropbox you access the originals on the Mac, but with iCloud you access the documents via an alias.

Google Drive, Dropbox, Copy, Box. One Drive.

All store a copy of files on your Mac, exactly as iCloud does.

léonie wrote:

 

Thanks for the quick reply...that's unfortunate, it does not make iCloud drive an appealing option for cloud storage at all.

 

if your only motive for wanting cloud storage is either to create an offsite backup or to store your documents and data off-site, then use a different service. Frankly, backups are much safer and faster, if you use locally connected drives . You avoid transmission errors, the connection is faster, you don't have to pay for cloud storage and internet, and you always have access to your backup, even if you cannot connect to the internet.  the same goes for documents and data you need to move off your mac.

 

iCloud Drive is meant for storing a working set of documents, that you always need to be accessible, on all devices you own. And because it is used for your most important documents, it will keep local copies, so you can use them, even if you cannot access the cloud for some reason, if you are traveling, or your internet is not working.

And that adds the bonus of backup, Time Machine will back up the iCloud Drive content by default. If they were only stored online there would be no backup.

Csound1 wrote:

 

léonie wrote:

 

Thanks for the quick reply...that's unfortunate, it does not make iCloud drive an appealing option for cloud storage at all.

 

if your only motive for wanting cloud storage is either to create an offsite backup or to store your documents and data off-site, then use a different service. Frankly, backups are much safer and faster, if you use locally connected drives . You avoid transmission errors, the connection is faster, you don't have to pay for cloud storage and internet, and you always have access to your backup, even if you cannot connect to the internet.  the same goes for documents and data you need to move off your mac.

 

iCloud Drive is meant for storing a working set of documents, that you always need to be accessible, on all devices you own. And because it is used for your most important documents, it will keep local copies, so you can use them, even if you cannot access the cloud for some reason, if you are traveling, or your internet is not working.

And that adds the bonus of backup, Time Machine will back up the iCloud Drive content by default. If they were only stored online there would be no backup.

But you don't actually need it to back up on every mac and desktops are unlikely not to have internet access, back up can take place on another mac (mac2) thereby leaving mac1 to access the iCloud documents without actually having to have them on mac1 and freeing up the space they would otherwise use.

Yes, they only need to be backed up from any one machine.

Csound1 wrote:

 

Yes, they only need to be backed up from any one machine.

I know that, the point that I was making (and perhaps should have been addressed to the OP) is you have the option of using iCloud on your Mac with or without the hidden copies