I turned off iCloud sync, now my entire Desktop and Documents is gone, and no users show up on start
BACKGROUND: I switched to MacBook from Linux for software development and really loved it. I kept getting notifications from iCloud ("Storage is full" or "Purchase more space" and the like). While I appreciate the offer and free 5GB, I do not need or want iCloud storage or syncing. To simply stop getting notifications every day about this, I "de-synced" or turned off my iCloud in System Settings. Everything looked fine and no more annoying notifications. Yay! Then after shutting down and starting up again my Desktop and Documents were gone. Yes, completely gone.
I looked in:
- /Users/myuser/iCloud Drive (Archive)
- ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Documents
- ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Desktop
- all cached files
- other system directories for local copies of my data
I did not find my data anywhere. So then I used disk recovery services and forensic software (Disk Drill) to try and get my data back. Nothing. It is all gone completely.
Since I didn't have super critically important data in my Desktop or Documents, I decided to take the hit, re-install Mac-OS and move on. Fool me once, learned my lesson. Still it was a headache to lose all of my photos, config files, etc.
I understand that by turning off iCloud I may have unintentionally deleted my files, but this process seems ABSURD! This is why I switched from Linux to Mac, to have a better and smoother experience. This has really been the only hangup on Mac so far, but I am considering that my switch was a bad idea. I should have stayed on Linux.
To add fuel to the fire, my fresh new MacOS started giving me iCloud notifications AGAIN. I went into System Settings > iCloud, and simply turned off the apps that were being backed up or synced. Everything seemed fine, until I restarted. Now the startup screen does not even show my user. Now it is asking for Username and Password. When I type those in correctly, it fails to start.
I feel that iCloud is more of a nuisance and problem. I do not need cloud backups or data services.
Is it possible to
- Use my MacBook without iCloud and annoying notifications AND not delete my data or User when I turn iCloud off? If so, how can I turn it off and ONLY use local copies of data?
- Why does Mac default to syncing iCloud and why does it also delete local data when turned off?
I am seriously regretting my switch from Linux and perhaps should never have left. This kind of **** never happens on Ubuntu for example
