Is there any way to store files that are on my Mac in iCloud without reducing my internal Mac SSD storage?

Question

Is there any way to store files that are on my Mac in iCloud without reducing my internal Mac SSD storage?

This past week I increased my iCloud storage from 200 gb to 2 tb. This was primarily done so that I could put a lot of folders and files on my Mac Mini internal 1 tb SSD drive onto iCloud so that I could access them from my MacBook Pro, my iPad and my iPhone. (Not talking "photos" here - I already have Photos on my Mac syncing to all my other devices with original-size photos on my Mac Mini and greatly reduced-size photos on my other devices).

OK so I put a folder (Let's call it "FOLDER STEVE") which contains folders and files about 170 gb in size onto iCloud. About 163,000 files When doing that I had about 300 gb of free storage space on my Mac Mini 1 tb internal SSD. I realized this upload might take 24 hours (it did) but what I DID NOT REALIZE was that my iCloud Drive in USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive would suddenly grow from about 10 gb to almost 200 gb. It seems it was duplicating every folder and file that I had just copied to my iCloud Drive!!!! So now instead of having a 170 gb "FOLDER STEVE" on my Mac Mini, I now had "FOLDER STEVE" on my iCloud Drive and the equivalent folders and file to "FOLDER STEVE" in the iCloud Drive on my Mac Mini!!

WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? (I've read a lot about this since last week… but still don't fully understand it).

AND maybe more important: How can I put files and folders from my Mac Mini onto my 2 tb iCloud drive and NOT HAVE THEM be duplicated on my Mac Mini?!?

NOTE: I do NOT want to have my "Documents and Desktop" on iCloud -- I work a lot without an internet connection and do not want my documents and desktop folders only on the cloud! I want them on my Mac Mini.

(Plus, I don't keep my important files and folders in the "documents" folder on my Mac Mini - I keep them here: /Users/myname/A-Steve Main).

From what I am reading, iCloud will not just accept folders and files like an external HD will. It basically duplicates the files into that USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive which reduces my internal SSD storage space -- NOT WHAT I WANT.

I realize iCloud drive is not a file syncing tool. I don't want it to keep my files that I place there synced. (I use SugarSync for syncing key files - but only about 40 gb or so) -- I wanted iCloud for 200 to 500 gb of additional storage… even maybe to store old photolibraries (not the photos but the actual photolibrary). I have some 85 photolibraries from 1 March 2004 - over 3 tb of photolibraries. Today I keep them all on 2 to 5 external SSD's and HD's - but it would be nice to have some on iCloud drive (but not if it is going to duplicate these on my Mac Mini internal SSD - I'd have to get a 10 tb internal SSD then!!)

So this is the longest issue I've ever posted to the Apple discussion groups since I started with my Mac SE in 1989. I hope there is a solution here -- but kinda think there is NOT a way to use iCloud Drive as a nice storage space in the cloud-- and if so I really don't need 2 tb of storage so will likely just drop back to 200 gb (would be nice to have a choice of 500 gb…)--

But perhaps someone has a solution here?!

Thanks for any comments / corrections or solutions.

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Sat 5 Oct 2024

MacONLY since 1989

Mac mini, macOS 14.6

Posted on Oct 5, 2024 7:23 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 5, 2024 8:53 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos are indeed primarily file syncing tools. I've stopped using SugarSync. (I may still be paying for it, though. Drat-- I have to check that…)

There is more flexibility in iCloud Drive for Sequoia. In Sonoma all iCloud Drive files were kept in the local iCloud Drive folder. In Sequoia, you can choose which files are always kept on your Mac, and which files live at iCloud.

There is a new icon representing a file that is kept downloaded.

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Answer 2

Oct 9, 2024 8:23 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Richard,

Thanks again!

What I am doing to get "3" copies is this:

Making a copy of the original folder (i.e. 'duplicating it')
Dropping that copy on the iCloud Drive (so it disappears from my Mac's SSD but it's on iCloud Drive so 2 copies)
THEN: iCloud drive puts this info back on my Mac's SSD in this location: USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive - voilà -- 3 copies, not 2.

Not at all what I want…

I want the "copy" to be on iCloud Drive - but don't want iCloud drive putting the same size 'thing' back onto my Mac's SSD in this location: USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive

But it seems that's what it does, so iCloud drive has rather limited use for me with my 1tb internal SSD -- it just eats-up all my space and quite frankly -- WHY IS IT SET-UP THAT WAY? I want to use iCloud Drive as an external HD -- even if I cannot access it from my iPhone or iPad-- I really don't care -- I just want it out there as a backup (even if it is not synced just sitting there as it was at the time I put it there).

Isn't there a way to "partition" iCloud drive? Have, for example, 1tb as it is now but designate another 1 tb to just act as an external HD -- not available from other devices - just for my Mac Mini. Now that would be very nice!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Wed 9 Oct 2024

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Answer 3

Oct 9, 2024 11:35 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

Again,

Those are not two places! They are the same thing. One is a pointer to the other. Things inside are not in two places-- they are in the same place. Like a room with two doors. You look in each door and see a dog; it's not two dogs. You're not really meant to be looking around in Library--that's the back door. The front door is in the sidebar.

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Answer 4

Oct 5, 2024 10:28 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks, Richard, for your fast and informative reply!

I hadn't thought of iCloud Drive being a "syncing" drive but I guess that if I put a folder in iCloud Drive and then change a file inside that folder - it will sync the change (and the change can be made by my main Mac, my iPhone, my iPad, my other Mac…)

What I really want to do is take a folder and have it sit in iCloud Drive but that folder is just sitting there as a backup and a point of reference for any of my devices - similar to if I put it on an external Hard Drive. I'd delete it say once/month and upload a new, recent folder. (And I'm using SugarSync, SuperDuper! and TimeMachine to have more current backups).

So with Sequoia (I'm on Sonoma) - you are saying I could move folders and files to iCloud Drive and the original files would remain on my Mac but the USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive on my Mac would not grow - i.e. they would not be duplicated there.

If that's how it will work then I will likely move to Sequoia sooner rather than later-- hope "TotalFinder" will work on Sequoia - or that Apple would incorporate features of TotalFinder into the Apple Finder -- we'll see.

Here's another thought: What if I upload the large 175 gb folder of information and files etc. via my MacBook Pro (and not my "main Mac Mini"). Would the USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive on the MacBook Pro be the one to then grow in size by 175gb and not the Mac Mini? Or would both the Macs have their respective USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive sizes increase by 175 gb??

Thanks again very much and a ray of hope out there!

PS: I love having SugarSync on my iPhone & iPad -- like having my Mac on my iOS devices!!

Steve

Saturday 05 October 2024

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Answer 5

Oct 5, 2024 11:28 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

I'm saying that if I drag a folder, maybe "MyDinners," to the local iCloud Drive folder that appears under iCloud on my Finder's sidebar, then the folder "MyDinners" will disappear from the folder it had been in and will then be in the iCloud folder, just like any other folder on my Mac. It will then be copied to iCloud Drive at iCloud.com, and "MyDinners" will appear in iCloud Drive on my iPhone and on my iPad. If on my iPad I click on the folder "MyDinners" I will see the contents, and if I click on the contained Excel file, "Steaks," then "Steaks" will be copied to my iPad as a local file where I can view it and modify it, and save it locally-- when it will be recopied to iCloud Drive, and all that stuff backwards.

In Sequoia, if I don't refer to "MyDinners" much, and if my Mac's drive gets full (by some unknown standard,) then "MyDinners" will be erased from my Mac to provide more room. Then, if I need "Steaks," it will be downloaded from iCloud Drive at iCloud.com, and it will be a local file that I can do whatever…

However, in Sequoia, I can designate "MyDinners" to be kept local, no matter what, and then the OS will pick a different file/folder to use when it needs more storage.

Alternatively in Sequoia, I can designate "MyDinners" to be erased from my Mac, but remain in the iCloud Drive folder at iCloud.com, and, while it will appear in my local iCloud Drive folder, what I see there is really an alias, and clicking on it will bring a copy of the folder "MyDinners" to my local iCloud Drive folder where I can use it, etc.

I kind of wish I hadn't picked "MyDinners" for the name of the example folder…

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Answer 6

Oct 7, 2024 7:04 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks for your reply and let me see if I understand this.

First in your paragraph #1 which starts with "I'm saying that if I drag a folder, maybe "MyDinners,"…… Yes, I understand that and that describes the feature of having the files available on all account devices. Good.

In your next paragraph beginning with "In Sequoia, if I don't refer to"MyDinners" much,…" -- I think what you wrote is also true of earlier macOS's - not just Sequoia. But doesn't this feature require that I enable "Optimize Mac Storage" to be turned-on?? Maybe not… but already here I'm a bit confused……

Next you write: "However, in Sequoia, I can designate "MyDinners" to be kept local, no matter what…" Well that's what I want but it seems if I could do that then there would be 3 copies of everything! (i)my original "MyDinners" folder; (ii)the copy in iCloud and (iii)the additional files kept in USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive!!! NOT what I want at all…

Finally you write: "Alternatively in Sdquoia, I can designate "MyDInners" to be erased from my Mac…" OMG that's the opposite of what I want.

What I want is to take Folder "Steve-1 Main" which is like 175 gb in size with thousands of files and drop it into iCloud (just like I would drop it onto an External HD or SSD) and then this folder would be available to any connected device. This folder would not have to UpDate (but I guess it could) -- but the KEY THING I WANT is to NOT have a kb, mb, gb or tb of files on my Mac in this location: USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive

But it seems that that is not how iCloud was set-up. It seems the system NEEDS these files (or in Sequoia an alias) in USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive in order to work.

If this last paragraph I wrote is true, then iCloud drive may have little value to me because it makes 2 copies of my files (one in the cloud and another on my Mac in USERS/myname/LIBRARY/iCloud Drive).

I do like the Photos storage (and reduced size on iPad & iPhone - I keep full-sized photos on my Mac); I like having my Apple Notes (all 1115 of them) synced between all my devices; I like having BusyCal synced on all my devices and Contacts synced as well. Also great to quickly keep my iPad, iPhone and my wife's iPhone backed-up regularly!!

What I will probably do is continue with SugarSync -- which keeps everything up-to-date including copies of the last 5 versions of any file; and continue also with SuperDuper! backups. I will place maybe 50 gb of files onto iCloud to see how that works -- but not "mission critical" files.

I will be getting a 2 tb SSD internal drive on my next Mac -- likely the M4 Mac Mini Pro -- so having iCloud triplicate my files may not be as much of an issue as now with a 1 tb SSD on my 2018 Intel i7 Mac Mini Pro (but what a workhorse it is! I love it!!)

Still waiting to upgrade to macOS 18.0.1 Sequoia -- want to see if TotalFinder works there and give Apple a few more months to sort out any and all potential bugs with the OS.

Comments from you, Richard (or anyone else out there) much appreciated. And if I've misinterpreted what you wrote and how this works -- please correct me!!

Thanks again,

Steve on Monday 7 October 2024

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Answer 7

Oct 8, 2024 10:23 AM in response to Stephen Schulte1

#3. Requires you to turn on optimize, yes.

#4: not sure what "original" means. Unless you make extras, there are two copies: local iCloud Drive folder, and iCloud.com iCloud Drive folder. There is no 3rd iCloud drive folder. The same iCloud Drive appears in two places.

#6: iCloud Drive is not like an external hard drive. If I drag a file from "MyDinners" to a hard drive, then it exists in both places. If I drag MyDinners to the iCloud Drive, then it exists only in iCloud Drive-- just like other folders on the Mac.

--If you want a file available but not actually stored locally, then drag it to iCloud Drive and designate it as "Remove Download." Then it will download to the Mac when you need it, but be copied to iCloud.com and erased from the Mac when you're through. What you see in your local iCloud Drive will be an "alias," a pointer to the actual file, so that the alias takes up no space.

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