Are iCloud drive files downloaded to my Mac?

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Level 1

34 points

Are iCloud drive files downloaded to my Mac?

I just purchased a new MBP and I decided to get the RAM maxed but left the standard 128GB SSD drive alone. I was figuring I use iCloud Drive now for my document/image storage and iTunes Match for my music so I don't need all that HD space to start off. I'll add an external SSD a few months down the road.

When I moved all my documents from my old MBP to my iCloud Drive, when they started to appear on the NEW MBP's Finder view of iCloud drive I saw designations that files were not yet downloaded.. Does that mean all these files have downloaded onto my SSD? That seems counterintuitive to paying Apple for the extra space if it is still cluttering up my physical drive.

Can someone tell me what the truth is about where these files are being stored?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), 16 GB RAM 128GB SSD

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 5:27 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,653 points

Aug 4, 2015 5:45 AM in response to jgowrie

The main purpose of iCloud drive is to have a central storage, that will be used to keep the same files updated on all your devices, that are using iCloud Drive.

All devices will keep local shadow copies of all files and folders on iCloud Drive, and when the documents change in iCloud the local copies will be updated. The local shadow copies will be stored in a hidden folder in your system library, and you can access them using the iCloud icon in the Finder sidebar, even if you are offline and not connected to iCloud.

See: iCloud Drive FAQ

iCloud Drive FAQ

With iCloud Drive, you can safely store all your presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, images, and any other kind of document in iCloud. Documents you store in iCloud Drive will be kept up to date across all of your devices, and you can access them from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

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

You could disable iCloud Drive on your Mac and only access it using the web interface at https://www.icloud.com, but that would be very cumbersome.

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Answer 2

jgowrie Author

Level 1

34 points

Aug 4, 2015 10:09 AM in response to léonie

I guess I was not understanding the purpose of buying additional iCloud storage. It is not additional storage on top of my Mac then. Thank you for clearing that up.

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