iCloud Drive has deleted all my Documents and Desktop folders

I do not have an Apple hat

and no, in helping people use software (any software) I never think about how things might be since that is totally useless - to help people you need to understand how things are since that is all you can help them with

Posta like yours are worthless and accomplish nothing - what is is and what might be is not - to help you need to deal with what is

LN

I've avoided opting in to iCloud Drive precisely because it removes documents from the local machine. Having read this thread, I'm minded to ask: does Time Machine keep backups of files that are stored in iCloud Drive?

STCav wrote:

I've avoided opting in to iCloud Drive precisely because it removes documents from the local machine. Having read this thread, I'm minded to ask: does Time Machine keep backups of files that are stored in iCloud Drive?

Sorry, but you are misinformed. iCloud Drive does not remove documents from the local machine. If you choose to use the Desktop & Documents option in iCloud Drive, then your Desktop contents and your documents will be stored in iCloud Drive so that they can be shared with other computers and iOS devices. But, unless you are out of room on your hard drive, it also keeps a local copy so that you can work offline if needed.

I do not have the Desktop & Documents option turned on for my iCloud Drive, and I have complete control over what documents are stored in iCloud. I can also store documents in both iCloud and on my hard drive if I wish.

I don't know if Time Machine keeps copies of what is in iCloud Drive when you do a backup that way. But, again, if you want a local copy of what is in your iCloud Drive folders, you can copy and paste them to local folders if you wish.

Cheers,

GB

Sorry, but you are misinformed. iCloud Drive does not remove documents from the local machine. If you choose to use the Desktop & Documents option in iCloud Drive, then your Desktop contents and your documents will be stored in iCloud Drive so that they can be shared with other computers and iOS devices. But, unless you are out of room on your hard drive, it also keeps a local copy so that you can work offline if needed.

You begin: "Sorry, but you are misinformed. iCloud Drive does not remove documents from the local machine."

Later, you get around to: "unless you are out of room on your hard drive, it also keeps a local copy" i.e. iCloud Drive will remove documents from the local machine.

That's a big "UNLESS" you buried there.

Also, note that iCloud Drive does NOT wait until you are "out of room" before deleting local files. I had 117 GB available on my drive and iCloud was already deleting to beat the band.

This offered in the spirit of fair play & clarity.

"Sorry, but you are misinformed."

Well, that's precisely what you said in your first response on this thread: "When you select the option to use iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents, that is exactly what it does - it removes them from the local drive and puts them on iCloud Drive." So if I have been misinformed you are among the misinformants.

Later in your answer you outline an approach for having complete control of what's stored in iCloud Drive. I, too, have an approach, which is to avoid it completely. I use Dropbox for synchronising and a Time Machine external drive for one form of backup. The whole iCloud Drive, Desktop & Documents, etc. arrangement seems flaky and imprecise to me and your latest response to my questions confirms my judgement.

Thank you for your time.

SC

The big "unless" is not buried, it's common sense. If you start storing tons of information on iCloud Drive, do you think that your local drive is going to magically expand to keep all of that data? Possibly if you would read the literature on iCloud Drive you would get a better understanding on how it works and what it is intended to do:

The same is true of iCloud Photo Library. What can be kept in full resolution on your iOS device or computer is kept there. However, if you are storing a lot more photos than can be stored on your device, the iOS dynamically reduces the number of full-resolution photos and replaces them with thumbnails that need to be downloaded.

The same is true of the contents of your iCloud Drive. The Optimization process dynamically puts older documents back into iCloud Drive only, and leaves the ones you work with regularly on your hard drive. You have the option, at any time, to download any document that is only in iCloud Drive so that you can work with it offline.

So, if you want to have the sharing capabilities of iCloud Drive, then you need to understand that it does not expand your Mac's memory. It is a virtual drive that houses documents and data, and to the degree that it can keep those documents and that data on your Mac, it does. But if you exceed the capabilities for keeping all of that information on your limited memory Mac, it holds it in the cloud for you until you select to download it for editing purposes.

GB

Your argument was that it did it automatically, and that is where you are misinformed. Only the option to turn on Desktop & Documents causes an automatic upload of data to iCloud Drive. If you do not turn on that option, then you decide what goes into iCloud Drive and what does not. And if you wish to keep a totally separate copy of said item on your local drive, you can do so by saving it to a separate, local folder as well as to iCloud Drive.

GB

I have never put forward any argument, and I certainly have never suggested "automatically". I announced a decision I had made and asked a question, in response to which you had a pop.

<Edited by Host>

Not to pile on, put the notion put forward in the quote below seems very odd to me, so much so that I wonder if it is accurate.

"When you select the option to use iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents, that is exactly what it does - it removes them from the local drive and puts them on iCloud Drive. Since you cancelled the process in the middle, the folders had already been removed from the local drive, but had not yet finished uploading to iCloud Drive."

Apple is reasonable, usually, so I imagine there would not be a time when your files were NOT on one or the other, i.e. your drive or the iCloud Drive. GFM suggests there is a point at which the data is swirling around untethered in the ether! I wish we had some formal clarification of this issue.

Also, as a side note, I have found that while the folks here try their best to help others, often things end up in a kind of counter productive wrangle. In these cases I usually move on to other more objective forums such as MacRumors or MacObserver and similar. Doing so also lightens the load on the dozen or so folks here who do the bulk of the replying to especially new user questions.

A similar thing happened to me. Only I could still see my files in the all files. However, they weren't in documents or in iCloud Drive. So what I finally was able to figure out is that on the desktop, you have to click the "Go" tab then click home and retrieve the files from the iCloud archive folder that shows up there. Hope this helps anyone having a similar problem. If you can't find the archive in home, go to computer and then search.

The files are not being deleted, they are being moved to your local folder for sychronization: /Home/USERNAME/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

If you cancelled the process just mv the files back into your regular home folder.

I just got off the phone with a senior tech support at apple. All my desktop files are gone and no way I know or this tech either how to get them back. They're gone. All I did was switch off desktop backup in the Icloud drive manager a week ago because storage was almost full. This is what the geniuses at the apple store told me to do. Started up the computer after a week trip and found the desktop empty.

Sorry, not understanding what you are indicating happened? Are you saying you turned off the Desktop & Documents option in System Preferences>iCloud>iCloud Drive>Options>Desktop & Documents?

If so, what happened when you turned that option back on again?

Or, have you looked at iCloud Drive contents in iCloud.com via a browser on a computer?

Need some clarification.

Cheers,

GB

This is unfortunate! Did you check the Desktop & Documents folder -- macOS Sierra: Store your desktop and documents in iCloud Drive?

When you select the option to use iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents, that is exactly what it does - it removes them from the local drive and puts them on iCloud Drive. Since you cancelled the process in the middle, the folders had already been removed from the local drive, but had not yet finished uploading to iCloud Drive.

This is not an out of the ordinary kind of thing. It occurred because you interrupted a process that you had initiated because you made an error.

FYI, here are two support documents on the Desktop & Documents option. It is not required. I specifically answered "Not Now" when Sierra asked if I wanted these on my iCloud Drive, so it is not something that you don't have full control over:

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

macOS Sierra: Store your desktop and documents in iCloud Drive

Best of luck,

GB