I just migrated over to a MacBook 12" from Macbook Air using TimeMachine and noticed that my 2.4 GB of iCloud Drive files are being downloaded rather than being migrated from the TimeMachine. This suggests that these files are not being backed up locally, which is concerning.
Is this true that TimeMachine does not back up locally stored iCloud Drive files?
OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
Apparently the files are backed up and stored in ~/library/mobile documents based on the following thread:
Does iCloud backup to Time Machine when created on a Mac
I do indeed see my files in there, but I'm confused why these files were not restored to the new machine and instead the entire library is being re-downloaded. Luckily I only had ~2GB, but this would take hours for a larger library.
Does anyone know if it is possible to restore the files from the TimeMachine backup and let iCloud update them as needed? This way would seem to make more sense and be more similar to other cloud solutions.
Since you are just signing into iCloud from this computer, perhaps what you are seeing isn't an actual download, but a comparison of data. They tend to look the same.
Thanks for the reply. I suppose it may have been comparing all the local files with iCloud. However it seemed to be downloading the files as the pie-wheel iCloud icon was slowly filling up over 10 minutes during which my network activity was being heavily utilized. I wonder if this occurred because I used migration assistant after setting up the new MacBook rather than setting up the machine initially using the TimeMachine backup.
You are welcome. I don't think it really matters how it was set up.
Backup of iCloud drive files in TimeMachine
