Level 1

55 points

Does iCloud drive use up hard drive storage space?

HI,

I want to save hard drive space and use iCloud Drive to store my documents, pictures etc. I have the iCloud drive folder set up in my finder. I have been copying and pasting data in there, but it seems whenever I do; the hard drive storage space decreases.

I thought the entire point of iCloud was to use cloud storage and not offline storage; unless you download it from the cloud to your hard drive. Why am I losing hard drive space?

Any help you can offer or suggestions would be very much appreciated

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 31, 2015 5:10 AM

180 replies

Csound1

Level 9

60,143 points

Jan 11, 2017 6:27 PM in response to dbrucestevens

They didn't. but there are many others that do, buy one of them (Box, Dropbox, Google) etc.

Csound1

Level 9

60,143 points

Jan 19, 2017 1:26 PM in response to Apollo Reyes1

Just buy what you think will do what you want and abandon iCloud, it is your choice.

Jan 19, 2017 3:03 PM in response to alp1116

I am so with you on this point !

Jan 19, 2017 3:11 PM in response to dbrucestevens

I am with you on this point. Thank you.

Jan 19, 2017 3:32 PM in response to FANCYSPIDERHEAD

I am so with you on this one !!

Jan 19, 2017 6:53 PM in response to dbrucestevens

I could not have said it any better...

LACAllen

Level 8

43,744 points

Jan 19, 2017 7:24 PM in response to dbrucestevens

So noted and thank you.

Apr 5, 2017 3:58 PM in response to gelllo

You can opt out of iCloud Drive on your Air. Thus on it, you will have only what you want. Not more. You can always pull down files from iCloud to the Air.

Shairann

Level 1

12 points

Apr 19, 2017 9:58 AM in response to drmikenyc

I can definitely relate to this and have found your reply very helpful!

Csound1

Level 9

60,143 points

Aug 12, 2017 2:51 PM in response to MistyWhippet

iCloud is not a storage system, it is a synchronization system (and it is sold as such), if you need extra storage you should use something else, Dropbox or OneDrive are two of your many choices.

Aug 12, 2017 10:23 PM in response to Vicki Johnston

also ... "By storing your entire library safely in iCloud, you’ll have more space"

Really.

Csound1

Level 9

60,143 points

Aug 13, 2017 7:24 AM in response to MistyWhippet

Caveat Emptor still applies.

Csound1

Level 9

60,143 points

Aug 13, 2017 11:23 AM in response to Keenonapple

A hardwired NAS would be more reliable, and faster as well.

Duchy777

Level 3

719 points

Oct 25, 2017 7:57 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Well that's what I thought until I realised that Drive is not external storage, it's synched. So if you don't have 2TB on your computer, how are you going to synch 2TB in the Cloud?

Oct 25, 2017 7:59 AM in response to Duchy777

So if you don't have 2TB on your computer, how are you going to synch 2TB in the Cloud?

Enable optimisation, which is exactly what it is for.

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Does iCloud drive use up hard drive storage space?