Almost every time I use my new M1 MacBook Air, I use a tip you have taught me! You have made the transition from PC to MAC very smooth. Thanks so much for all your very clear and useful tutorials.
Not sure how long you have been doing this, but I'm surprised you don't have 25M followers. You know your stuff man and you explain it very well. Thank you! At some point, I would love to see a video about managing songs you have had for years, from the days of CD's and burning music. I purchased a new MBP and I'm having difficulty playing the songs on my MBP because I have a couple thousand songs I didn't buy from Apple. I'm so glad I did save my music library to iCloud. But I'm having problems playing the song and finding instructions how to download my music library to my local drive. :( I'm thinking I must do that since I didn't buy the songs from apple.
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro 14. Though I’ve been using an iPad for several years, this is my first Mac. As a lifetime Windows user, well since Windows 3.0, I have been finding MacOS a bit frustrating. As you might imagine, I’ve watched hundreds of videos on the different Macs, and MacOS. (That can also be frustrating.) I wanted to let you know, Gary, that your videos have been the most helpful of any I’ve watched. I always find what I need, and they’re short videos, which is really appreciated. Thanks, Gary!
It took me ages to find someone to answer this specific issue. Thank you. I have a brand new Macbook Pro that I didn't want to load with clutter from my old MacBook. I added the files I wanted to use while offline on a cruise ship in a few days. I gave iCloud a try. Then when I decided..."not now, I'll do that later", I unchecked a box and all the files I had loaded had disappeared up into the cloud (thin air). Along with a ton of other folders etc. Aargh. Your video helped me get safely back on track. Thank you so much.
Thanks Gary, now I finally understand how all this works. You explain it so clearly, and the key for me was how the "optimise" button works. You are an excellent teacher. Very many thanks
I just returned to Mac after a few years and stumbled across this channel. After watching a couple of videos, subbed. Good stuff, thank you so much, if you see this
Thanks for your amazing tips. A third way for keeping files locally, what I use as developer, is to partition your disk in two. For example 1. Mac 2. User. One of the befits is that when we want to upgrade the OS, usually don't have to backup User drive but only the Mac drive in this case.
Blown away by your videos! You do such a great job explaining things and offering clear solutions / explanations for people. This was super helpful in setting my Macs (iMac and MacBook Air) up for exactly what I want. I have a question however. Is there a way to force my iCloud Drive files to be stored locally on my iPhone? I have plenty of space on the phone and it would be great to have local files present so I don't have to download them on the fly over cellular / wifi when I am out and about. Cheers. Thank you again so much.
This was extremely useful, especially given the recent revelation of iPhone/iPad security passcode vulnerability. It is best not to have anything, including synced iCloud files, on your phone or tablet that you don't want thieves to get their hands on. Gary's approach here is perfect to safeguard all your sensitive files ONLY on your Mac. Thanks, Gary!
Gary, thank you for another amazing video! All my life I have been a Windows PC user. Since the time I have been seeing your videos, the transition to MAC computer has been a pleasant and an experience. keep them coming...Cheers!
This works for me. I have totally disabled my iCloud except for find my mac. When I did and downloaded my stuff a new folder, "Documents" was created in my column. I now have everything local and I back up with "Time Machine". The way I like it :)
Thank you for your amazing tutorial. What if you have 254GB of files on your MacBook, 128GB of files on iPad, and 64GB of storage on your iPhone? Would I have separate folders (MacBook folder, iPad folder, iPhone folder) in iCloud Drive? Or do they all show up in one iCloud Drive?
Gary, if you haven’t already, it would be worth checking the permissions on the “Local Documents” folder. I know in the past I’ve sometimes found that newly created folders in the home directory had permissions that made them visible to other users on the Mac.
@@macmost My earlier comment didn’t make it through, I guess because of a link to an answer from Apple Stack Exchange (#164449). So I’ll omit the URL: “The root of your home folder is global read, but standard macOS folders within such as Desktop and Documents should be global no access. Feel free to set the permissions of other folders which you create in the root of your home folder to match the permissions on the standard folders.” This is an important point. If you don’t change the permissions of the newly created folder at the root of the home directory, the folder will not have the same level of security as the folders that Apple creates in that directory.
Thanks for doing these tutorials. I recently purchased a macpro and after using older apple products for years I feel like I’m relearning all over again
Fantastic video I am developing my main programs on a PC cross compiling the Monomakh and I’m trying to find a sane way to get files from PC to Mac. Thank you for this informative video. It is fantastic thank you.
Thank You Gary! It was frustrating. It seemed that anything I would save would go directly to iCloud. It would always prompt me to buy more data, but with 3 external drives I don't feel I need extra storage right now.
Seriously good tutorial, far better than APPLE SUPPORT. My recent experience with Apple was that they seem obsessed with getting you to use 'Optimize Mac Storage'.
perfect an obvious answer I couldn't find anywhere else, but perfectly answered my question. Thanks, so this is where Im going to dump all the files that I still need to sort from the last 15 years of machines I'm finally combining into my first new machine in years ! thanks , can't believe I forgot about home !
crushed it, thank you sir, I pride myself on being organized and for some reason this was not intuitive, I like to manually move my stuff in and out of cloud
Thank you for explaining this so clearly I was able to remove a lot of files stored locally that I just didnt need to access basically ever and ensured files I do want to access offline are there for me. This was great!
Hi Gary another useful one, I will be honest, I got really confused trying to understand this. I have trouble understanding icloud anyway, when I check storage the gb shows in the numbers, which I thought the whole point was to reduce storage in mac? How would I set it up, so everything is stored in icloud drive and off my mac, and when i need I just download and put in an external drive. My aim is to keep my mac as data free as possible to keep it as fast as possible, thanks Gary
Your tutorials are amazing, clear, concise and easy to follow. I have learnt so many tips, tricks and techniques from you, thank you. I have a question, I recently cleared and updated my old Mac desktop, I removed all the photos scattered around my computer including iPhoto & apple photos and placed them all on an external hard drives. Can you suggest a method for searching all my photos to organise them and remove duplicates please? Its going to be a long process but I want to get them all on one drive if possible.
I would just search for image files and sort by date and time. Then duplicates would be the same name and size right next to each other so they would easy to spot. Then it is just a matter of setting aside some time here and there to work through it.
Great channel! Subscribed. If I uncheck "Optimize Mac Storage" and then turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents Folders, the Documents directory in my home directory still disappears (though I do see everything copied to iCloud drive). Where is the local copy being stored? Where is the "full contents of iCloud Drive" stored on the local Mac? Thanks!
Thanks Gary I was tearing my hair out trying to understand why my files kept disappearing on my local drive you are my go to Mac guy every time I have an issue
More clarity, thanks. Have you done a video where you address having iCloud Drive enabled and where you also use another cloud device like Google Drive?
I don't have a video specific to that, but you can do it. They would just be separate things. Don't try to put a folder from one into the other or anything like that.
Thank you! Much appreciated! I've been an Apple guy since the Apple II+ but always enjoy learning something new ;-) Hard to believe that Apple does not simply provide you with the option of keeping your existing Desktop while simply stopping the sync process to iCloud. FWIW, using Monterey on new MacBook M1 Pro 16".
Hey Gary , another great video . However when I down load a file (eg music song ) where does it go to on my local disk / actual Mac book ? Or am I still playing song from cloud ? Sorry if this is silly question but I'm old !!!! Thanks David
Thank you. It seems to me the explanation which appears below the "Optimize Mac Storage" selection box is 180 degrees opposite of how the system works if that option is actually selected.
@@macmost well, it seems to me when the box is “optimize Mac storage,“ is checked, files are stored in icloud and only downloaded locally when you need them (by opening the file). But the paragraph below reads “the full contents of iCloud Drive will be stored on this Mac if you have enough space.” As if checking the “optimize” box will result in all files stored both locally, and in iCloud. I can’t wrap my head around this . . ..
@@richardbryanesq Optimize will cache files locally depending on the space you have. If you have enough space then all of your files would be cached, yes. Think of it this way, if you have 1000 files and you have plenty of space, then the most recent 1000 files would be cached, which would be all of them. But if space is less than what you have in iCloud Drive, then maybe only the most recent 100 (or whatever) would be cached locally. But with "Optimized" off, then ALL files will be cached locally at all times. If you don't have enough space, then you can't have Optimized switched off. Think of a backpack you are wearing. Optimized would mean the backpack contains just the things you most need that you can carry. Turning off Optimized would mean your backpack contains everything you own, and you'd better have enough room in there.
Thank you this was super useful--I was trying to figure out how to keep my Lightroom Catalog on a Local Drive and not iCloud Drive and you solved my problem. Thank you again
Really helpful explanation. Thanks! Do you also have a video (or instruction) on how to have two different iCloud folders, one to sync with iMac and the other to sync with MacBook Air?
I have 665 GB of photos and videos stored in iCloud that I'd like to backup locally on an external USBc drive connected to my Mac mini. 1) Can you help me understand the step-by-step process to get it done and 2) Can I use time machine to enable automatic backup for newly added files to iCloud? Thanks a lot for your help!
Do you have the "Optimize" option checked in the Photos app, Preferences, iCloud? If so, then your photos are all on iCloud, but only some of them are local. You'd need to get all of them local before you do a backup. First, make sure you have a large enough internal drive with enough space to handle that. Then turn off the "Optimize" option. But if you don't have enough space, then you can't do a quick and simple backup as you don't have enough room to download them all. As for files, if you are using Time Machine then you should be backing up automatically. Any new files you create would be on your local drive, at least for a while, so would be backed up. If you have "Optimize" turned off, then all of your filed will be backed up all of the time anyway.
@@macmost Thanks for your reply. The issue is that my internal SSD storage is 256GB and can't contain my entire photo library, but I have a 2TB external drive that could. Is there a way to automatically (or semi-automatically) have my iCloud library backed up on my external SSD and bypassing my internal storage?
@@danyvignola No, there's no good way to do it. You can try selecting all of your photos and exporting them from the Photos app to a folder on your external drive. Best to do it in batches, maybe by month or year? I've never tried it, but it would struggle to swap out the photos with such a small internal drive. Try it and see what happens.
@@macmost What about moving my Photo library from my internal drive to my external SSD then turning off the 'Optimize' option? When I say moving I mean having my photo library sits on my external SSD instead of internal drive. I'm just trying to find a way or workaround to have my library backed up, as the only version of those files are currenly stored in iCloud only. While I have good confidence in iCloud, I'm not comfortable fully relying on one instance of my files sitting on Apple servers.
@@danyvignola You cannot move your System library (iCloud Photos Library) to an external drive. So that won't work. How many photos do you have? 665 GB is huge. I have 32,000 photos and that only uses 120GB of space. Are you storing some large videos in there as well? Maybe just removing those large videos then would bring the size of your library down to something more manageable. I usually store videos as files outside of Photos (and on an external).
This was so helpful and concise. The problem is, I have a new M1 iMac with Ventura, and the menus are entirely different. I can't follow this video and free up my space. I am editing videos now that won't save because my iCloud storage is full. It sounds like I need to create a local folder for those videos in the works, but I can't do that following this video because everything is different. I don't see one of your videos for this issue. Is there one? Thanks so much!
I've learned a lot from you, Gary; that's why I became a patron - pay for what you use. Question_ I have mac min, iPad, iPhone all with current os - I also use Time Machine on the Mac for backup. My iCloud account is active and I saw your article about this. Does a Time Machine Backup also save iCloud data at the same time?
Time Machine saves all files on your Mac. If you have iCloud Drive "Optimize" turned OFF then all of your iCloud Drive files are also on your Mac and will be backed up. If you have it turned ON, then only files currently on your Mac will be backed up, but that could be all or close to all since new and recently updated files are there.
Hello Gary, thanks for the clarity. I am using a system that seems good to me but raises some questions. Well, I have a large library living on my external drive with all photos with dates prior to 30/12/ast year. At my Macbook i keep only the photos of this year and when the year ends I move them to the hard drive. So here my question, Can I somehow have an Icloud that syncs both external drive libray and my Mac's/Iphone? And if yes, could i keep the new original photos been downloaded everytime I plug my external drive and run the larget library?
No. The system you have is always going to be difficult to work with. Searching for photos will be tough. I don't know if you mean you have a second Photos library on your external, or you just have photos as files on your external. The latter will be even harder as you wouldn't have access to all of the Photos app functions (albums, faces, searches, editing tools, etc). It will just be a very difficult system to work with depending on your needs and expectations.
Thanks that was really useful. Is there a way to keep large files in icloud without downloading to MacBook Pro but still have access to them like in a vault?
When I open my iCloud on settings for notability I can see my files there, but they disappeared from my the app itself and I can’t find them when I log into iCloud either, I don’t know what to do 😞
Thanks for the great info. How do I prevent iCloud from clogging up the storage space by downloading files that are not in the documents or desktop folder to my MacBook Pro. I only have 250GB on the MBP and want to save space, while still having access to a few files in the Doc & Desktop folders stored in iCloud.
That's what the Optimize option is for. See ua-cam.com/video/S7JYHX2iT9Q/v-deo.html though with a 256GB drive you are always going to be struggling with this. That's why I advise everyone against getting the minimum drive.
Hello Gary, your videos and tutorials are amazing and so helpful. I lost all my iCloud files through being stupid and now 10 hours later I have updated them from an old back up. Could you please explain where the files are kept on my Mac that are copies of the iCloud files. If you leave Optimise Mac Storage unchecked you said the files would be on iCloud and also a copy of your Mac? Really appreciate any help. Thank you.
This is a very helpful video. Thanks so much. I have a little bit different problem. There is nothing I need on my local drive but I can't seem to get my MacBook Pro's hard drive cleaned up!
This was very helpful; thank you! It's unbelievable that Apple would push a software update where they just remove your local Documents folder without explicitly telling you, causing Googling and troubleshooting to try and figure out where all your stuff went. Bad change management and UX on Apple's part here.
Super Helpful Video! Quick question though: I am still using Mac OS Sierra. When I control click my iCloud Drive files I don’t have the “download“ or “remove download“ options. In my iCloud folder I have both “cloud” icons that tell me if my files are on my hard drive or in iCloud only. Is there a setting I can change that will add the option to upload or download to the cloud in each folder menu when I control click?
Awesome content! Would you be able to give some suggestions for this question: How can I sync (bi-directional sync) Mac folders with iPad folders WITHOUT using iCloud? This is a very BIG need/use case I am trying to solve. Thank you for any ideas, suggestions
Almost every time I use my new M1 MacBook Air, I use a tip you have taught me! You have made the transition from PC to MAC very smooth. Thanks so much for all your very clear and useful tutorials.
What tip?!
I created an "On My Mac" folder to stay consistent with the Files app on iPhone and iPad, where there is a "On My iPhone" and "On My iPad" folder.
Not sure how long you have been doing this, but I'm surprised you don't have 25M followers. You know your stuff man and you explain it very well. Thank you! At some point, I would love to see a video about managing songs you have had for years, from the days of CD's and burning music. I purchased a new MBP and I'm having difficulty playing the songs on my MBP because I have a couple thousand songs I didn't buy from Apple. I'm so glad I did save my music library to iCloud. But I'm having problems playing the song and finding instructions how to download my music library to my local drive. :( I'm thinking I must do that since I didn't buy the songs from apple.
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro 14. Though I’ve been using an iPad for several years, this is my first Mac. As a lifetime Windows user, well since Windows 3.0, I have been finding MacOS a bit frustrating. As you might imagine, I’ve watched hundreds of videos on the different Macs, and MacOS. (That can also be frustrating.) I wanted to let you know, Gary, that your videos have been the most helpful of any I’ve watched. I always find what I need, and they’re short videos, which is really appreciated. Thanks, Gary!
It took me ages to find someone to answer this specific issue. Thank you. I have a brand new Macbook Pro that I didn't want to load with clutter from my old MacBook. I added the files I wanted to use while offline on a cruise ship in a few days. I gave iCloud a try. Then when I decided..."not now, I'll do that later", I unchecked a box and all the files I had loaded had disappeared up into the cloud (thin air). Along with a ton of other folders etc. Aargh. Your video helped me get safely back on track. Thank you so much.
Thanks Gary, now I finally understand how all this works. You explain it so clearly, and the key for me was how the "optimise" button works. You are an excellent teacher. Very many thanks
iCloud was hurting brain - now brain better. Thank you for clearing that up!
The sophistication is mind blowing and Gary knows it all
I just returned to Mac after a few years and stumbled across this channel. After watching a couple of videos, subbed. Good stuff, thank you so much, if you see this
Thanks for your amazing tips. A third way for keeping files locally, what I use as developer, is to partition your disk in two. For example 1. Mac 2. User. One of the befits is that when we want to upgrade the OS, usually don't have to backup User drive but only the Mac drive in this case.
Blown away by your videos! You do such a great job explaining things and offering clear solutions / explanations for people. This was super helpful in setting my Macs (iMac and MacBook Air) up for exactly what I want. I have a question however. Is there a way to force my iCloud Drive files to be stored locally on my iPhone? I have plenty of space on the phone and it would be great to have local files present so I don't have to download them on the fly over cellular / wifi when I am out and about. Cheers. Thank you again so much.
This was extremely useful, especially given the recent revelation of iPhone/iPad security passcode vulnerability. It is best not to have anything, including synced iCloud files, on your phone or tablet that you don't want thieves to get their hands on. Gary's approach here is perfect to safeguard all your sensitive files ONLY on your Mac. Thanks, Gary!
This channel is amazing
Gary, thank you for another amazing video! All my life I have been a Windows PC user. Since the time I have been seeing your videos, the transition to MAC computer has been a pleasant and an experience. keep them coming...Cheers!
This works for me. I have totally disabled my iCloud except for find my mac. When I did and downloaded my stuff a new folder, "Documents" was created in my column. I now have everything local and I back up with "Time Machine". The way I like it :)
Thank you for your amazing tutorial. What if you have 254GB of files on your MacBook, 128GB of files on iPad, and 64GB of storage on your iPhone? Would I have separate folders (MacBook folder, iPad folder, iPhone folder) in iCloud Drive? Or do they all show up in one iCloud Drive?
Gary, if you haven’t already, it would be worth checking the permissions on the “Local Documents” folder. I know in the past I’ve sometimes found that newly created folders in the home directory had permissions that made them visible to other users on the Mac.
I haven't found that, but in most cases it isn't a problem as you would presumably trust anyone else using your Mac. Most cases.
@@macmost My earlier comment didn’t make it through, I guess because of a link to an answer from Apple Stack Exchange (#164449). So I’ll omit the URL:
“The root of your home folder is global read, but standard macOS folders within such as Desktop and Documents should be global no access. Feel free to set the permissions of other folders which you create in the root of your home folder to match the permissions on the standard folders.”
This is an important point. If you don’t change the permissions of the newly created folder at the root of the home directory, the folder will not have the same level of security as the folders that Apple creates in that directory.
Thank you for your help! I was surprised at how un-intuitive this process was. As a new mac user, I had no idea the "home" folder even existed.
Thanks for doing these tutorials. I recently purchased a macpro and after using older apple products for years I feel like I’m relearning all over again
A lot of people like me are confused by how this icloud drive and the purpode of Optimise mac storage. Thanks for this video.
Fantastic video I am developing my main programs on a PC cross compiling the Monomakh and I’m trying to find a sane way to get files from PC to Mac. Thank you for this informative video. It is fantastic thank you.
Thank You Gary! It was frustrating. It seemed that anything I would save would go directly to iCloud. It would always prompt me to buy more data, but with 3 external drives I don't feel I need extra storage right now.
Seriously good tutorial, far better than APPLE SUPPORT. My recent experience with Apple was that they seem obsessed with getting you to use 'Optimize Mac Storage'.
Great tutorial. Very easy to follow. THANKS!!!!
Excellent article. Wish I knew this before iCloud erased all my original media files. Thank you.
Not sure what you mean by that. iCloud wouldn't erase "original media files" or anything like that.
perfect an obvious answer I couldn't find anywhere else, but perfectly answered my question. Thanks, so this is where Im going to dump all the files that I still need to sort from the last 15 years of machines I'm finally combining into my first new machine in years ! thanks , can't believe I forgot about home !
crushed it, thank you sir, I pride myself on being organized and for some reason this was not intuitive, I like to manually move my stuff in and out of cloud
Thank you for explaining this so clearly I was able to remove a lot of files stored locally that I just didnt need to access basically ever and ensured files I do want to access offline are there for me. This was great!
Hi Gary another useful one, I will be honest, I got really confused trying to understand this. I have trouble understanding icloud anyway, when I check storage the gb shows in the numbers, which I thought the whole point was to reduce storage in mac? How would I set it up, so everything is stored in icloud drive and off my mac, and when i need I just download and put in an external drive. My aim is to keep my mac as data free as possible to keep it as fast as possible, thanks Gary
Thank you!! I wasted so much time trying to get this figured out and your video was perfect. 😊
Who knew you did now so do I. A very useful video tutorial today! Thanks for the visuals. Thank you, Gary! 👏👍🏻❤️
Your tutorials are amazing, clear, concise and easy to follow. I have learnt so many tips, tricks and techniques from you, thank you.
I have a question, I recently cleared and updated my old Mac desktop, I removed all the photos scattered around my computer including iPhoto & apple photos and placed them all on an external hard drives. Can you suggest a method for searching all my photos to organise them and remove duplicates please? Its going to be a long process but I want to get them all on one drive if possible.
I would just search for image files and sort by date and time. Then duplicates would be the same name and size right next to each other so they would easy to spot. Then it is just a matter of setting aside some time here and there to work through it.
Great channel! Subscribed. If I uncheck "Optimize Mac Storage" and then turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents Folders, the Documents directory in my home directory still disappears (though I do see everything copied to iCloud drive). Where is the local copy being stored? Where is the "full contents of iCloud Drive" stored on the local Mac? Thanks!
I think I found it:
/Users/[username]/Library/Mobile Documents/
They are stored deep in your user library. But you never have to worry about that as you have access to them as the Documents folder.
Thanks Gary I was tearing my hair out trying to understand why my files kept disappearing on my local drive you are my go to Mac guy every time I have an issue
More clarity, thanks.
Have you done a video where you address having iCloud Drive enabled and where you also use another cloud device like Google Drive?
I don't have a video specific to that, but you can do it. They would just be separate things. Don't try to put a folder from one into the other or anything like that.
Thank you! Much appreciated! I've been an Apple guy since the Apple II+ but always enjoy learning something new ;-) Hard to believe that Apple does not simply provide you with the option of keeping your existing Desktop while simply stopping the sync process to iCloud. FWIW, using Monterey on new MacBook M1 Pro 16".
Hey Gary , another great video . However when I down load a file (eg music song ) where does it go to on my local disk / actual Mac book ? Or am I still playing song from cloud ? Sorry if this is silly question but I'm old !!!! Thanks David
Thanks for the tip. I really wanted to know how to keep my files available offline before I commit to iCloud storage 👍🏻
remove download has changed my life. thank you so much.
TQSM Gary! I loveeeee your videos! They make my Macbook journey so enjoyable. God bless you!
Gary your videos are are short and to the point ! Thank you !!
Thank you. It seems to me the explanation which appears below the "Optimize Mac Storage" selection box is 180 degrees opposite of how the system works if that option is actually selected.
Not sure what you mean. The explanation is exactly correct.
@@macmost well, it seems to me when the box is “optimize Mac storage,“ is checked, files are stored in icloud and only downloaded locally when you need them (by opening the file). But the paragraph below reads “the full contents of iCloud Drive will be stored on this Mac if you have enough space.” As if checking the “optimize” box will result in all files stored both locally, and in iCloud. I can’t wrap my head around this . . ..
@@richardbryanesq Optimize will cache files locally depending on the space you have. If you have enough space then all of your files would be cached, yes. Think of it this way, if you have 1000 files and you have plenty of space, then the most recent 1000 files would be cached, which would be all of them. But if space is less than what you have in iCloud Drive, then maybe only the most recent 100 (or whatever) would be cached locally. But with "Optimized" off, then ALL files will be cached locally at all times. If you don't have enough space, then you can't have Optimized switched off.
Think of a backpack you are wearing. Optimized would mean the backpack contains just the things you most need that you can carry. Turning off Optimized would mean your backpack contains everything you own, and you'd better have enough room in there.
Thank you this was super useful--I was trying to figure out how to keep my Lightroom Catalog on a Local Drive and not iCloud Drive and you solved my problem. Thank you again
Option #3 was just what I was looking for. Thanks dude!
Really helpful explanation. Thanks! Do you also have a video (or instruction) on how to have two different iCloud folders, one to sync with iMac and the other to sync with MacBook Air?
Thank you so much you are such a mage for Mac things
Thank you for the useful tutorials.👋 You saved me🙏. Kind regards from Romania.😇
Thank you so much, new Mac user, used windows my whole life. This helped!
you brought up good things and helps me understand why having a hard time finding some files. Always good info! thanks
This is excellent content and cleared up questions I had about files on my computer. Many thanks!
You're a lifesaver! Thank you for this extremely helpful content.
Excellent tutorial. Solved a key issue for me. Thank you.
Excellent video…great info ..always learning on this side of the pond ..😉😉😉🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸
OMG, thank u soo much, you just solved all my problems😍😍😍
This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much for the useful information that I could not seem to find elsewhere!
This is exactly what I was looking for and perfectly explained! Thank you so much!
I have 665 GB of photos and videos stored in iCloud that I'd like to backup locally on an external USBc drive connected to my Mac mini. 1) Can you help me understand the step-by-step process to get it done and 2) Can I use time machine to enable automatic backup for newly added files to iCloud? Thanks a lot for your help!
Do you have the "Optimize" option checked in the Photos app, Preferences, iCloud? If so, then your photos are all on iCloud, but only some of them are local. You'd need to get all of them local before you do a backup. First, make sure you have a large enough internal drive with enough space to handle that. Then turn off the "Optimize" option. But if you don't have enough space, then you can't do a quick and simple backup as you don't have enough room to download them all. As for files, if you are using Time Machine then you should be backing up automatically. Any new files you create would be on your local drive, at least for a while, so would be backed up. If you have "Optimize" turned off, then all of your filed will be backed up all of the time anyway.
@@macmost Thanks for your reply. The issue is that my internal SSD storage is 256GB and can't contain my entire photo library, but I have a 2TB external drive that could. Is there a way to automatically (or semi-automatically) have my iCloud library backed up on my external SSD and bypassing my internal storage?
@@danyvignola No, there's no good way to do it. You can try selecting all of your photos and exporting them from the Photos app to a folder on your external drive. Best to do it in batches, maybe by month or year? I've never tried it, but it would struggle to swap out the photos with such a small internal drive. Try it and see what happens.
@@macmost What about moving my Photo library from my internal drive to my external SSD then turning off the 'Optimize' option? When I say moving I mean having my photo library sits on my external SSD instead of internal drive. I'm just trying to find a way or workaround to have my library backed up, as the only version of those files are currenly stored in iCloud only. While I have good confidence in iCloud, I'm not comfortable fully relying on one instance of my files sitting on Apple servers.
@@danyvignola You cannot move your System library (iCloud Photos Library) to an external drive. So that won't work. How many photos do you have? 665 GB is huge. I have 32,000 photos and that only uses 120GB of space. Are you storing some large videos in there as well? Maybe just removing those large videos then would bring the size of your library down to something more manageable. I usually store videos as files outside of Photos (and on an external).
Great advice. Saved me lots of time on phone support.
Finally I understood how to use iCloud Drive. Thank you! Great video :)
I have watched a handful of videos from your channel and had to subscribe. Thank you for your help.😃
Great video, Gary. you are helping me a lot to transition from Windows to Mac. Thanks!
Beautifully explained. Thank you so much.
Super simple explanation. Thanks.
Thank you for your great support.
This was so helpful and concise. The problem is, I have a new M1 iMac with Ventura, and the menus are entirely different. I can't follow this video and free up my space. I am editing videos now that won't save because my iCloud storage is full. It sounds like I need to create a local folder for those videos in the works, but I can't do that following this video because everything is different. I don't see one of your videos for this issue. Is there one? Thanks so much!
If you want to create a new folder in your Home folder, the process is the same. In the Finder just Go, Home. Then create the new folder there.
This is a terrific video - so helpful. Well done!!
I've learned a lot from you, Gary; that's why I became a patron - pay for what you use. Question_ I have mac min, iPad, iPhone all with current os - I also use Time Machine on the Mac for backup. My iCloud account is active and I saw your article about this. Does a Time Machine Backup also save iCloud data at the same time?
Time Machine saves all files on your Mac. If you have iCloud Drive "Optimize" turned OFF then all of your iCloud Drive files are also on your Mac and will be backed up. If you have it turned ON, then only files currently on your Mac will be backed up, but that could be all or close to all since new and recently updated files are there.
Infinite gratitude!
I learned something new today! Thanks Gary.
Hi, I can't drag and drop from from mac to icloud drive. I am using OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
the term iCloud Drive could imply a physical drive, perhaps explaining the difference for beginners would be helpful... ps you site is great!
Great tips, thank you!
Gary the icloud files and folders on mac are saving by the time machine ?
Great vid and explanation, found it very useful - please timestamp next time!
Perfect and clear informative video. Thank you so much.
Thanks man, your videos are so educational 🙌🏾❤️❤️
Hello Gary, thanks for the clarity. I am using a system that seems good to me but raises some questions. Well, I have a large library living on my external drive with all photos with dates prior to 30/12/ast year. At my Macbook i keep only the photos of this year and when the year ends I move them to the hard drive. So here my question, Can I somehow have an Icloud that syncs both external drive libray and my Mac's/Iphone? And if yes, could i keep the new original photos been downloaded everytime I plug my external drive and run the larget library?
No. The system you have is always going to be difficult to work with. Searching for photos will be tough. I don't know if you mean you have a second Photos library on your external, or you just have photos as files on your external. The latter will be even harder as you wouldn't have access to all of the Photos app functions (albums, faces, searches, editing tools, etc). It will just be a very difficult system to work with depending on your needs and expectations.
This is the video I’ve been searching for! Thank you 🙏🏼
Thanks that was really useful. Is there a way to keep large files in icloud without downloading to MacBook Pro but still have access to them like in a vault?
How can I do all of this on the iPhone?? Especially the last part... I would like to record video on my phone and have it saved only to the iPhone.
When I open my iCloud on settings for notability I can see my files there, but they disappeared from my the app itself and I can’t find them when I log into iCloud either, I don’t know what to do 😞
You'll want to contact support for that app and work with them. I don't use it so I can't help.
pure gold. what a great explanatory video! thx
As usual - very wise. Great advice. Thanks G.
Thanks for the great info. How do I prevent iCloud from clogging up the storage space by downloading files that are not in the documents or desktop folder to my MacBook Pro. I only have 250GB on the MBP and want to save space, while still having access to a few files in the Doc & Desktop folders stored in iCloud.
That's what the Optimize option is for. See ua-cam.com/video/S7JYHX2iT9Q/v-deo.html though with a 256GB drive you are always going to be struggling with this. That's why I advise everyone against getting the minimum drive.
thank you for this info. It is helpful.
Thanks! Very helpful!
This is very well done.
Hello Gary, your videos and tutorials are amazing and so helpful. I lost all my iCloud files through being stupid and now 10 hours later I have updated them from an old back up. Could you please explain where the files are kept on my Mac that are copies of the iCloud files. If you leave Optimise Mac Storage unchecked you said the files would be on iCloud and also a copy of your Mac? Really appreciate any help. Thank you.
great video. Exactly what I needed. Subscribed. Thank you.
it's the tone/delivery of your sharing that is par none :0)
This is a very helpful video. Thanks so much. I have a little bit different problem. There is nothing I need on my local drive but I can't seem to get my MacBook Pro's hard drive cleaned up!
ua-cam.com/video/DclsJv0ZgBs/v-deo.html
Is there a way to make sure photo's sync from iphone to mac and other way around but not store them on icloud drive?
This was very helpful; thank you! It's unbelievable that Apple would push a software update where they just remove your local Documents folder without explicitly telling you, causing Googling and troubleshooting to try and figure out where all your stuff went. Bad change management and UX on Apple's part here.
They definitely do tell you. Either you switch it on yourself, or during some of the updates it is offered as an option and you get to choose.
@@macmost an option for "enable iCloud" sounds like a backup, not a complete paradigm change.
Thanks as always.
THANK YOU ! This was exactly what I needed to know.
Super Helpful Video! Quick question though: I am still using Mac OS Sierra. When I control click my iCloud Drive files I don’t have the “download“ or “remove download“ options. In my iCloud folder I have both “cloud” icons that tell me if my files are on my hard drive or in iCloud only. Is there a setting I can change that will add the option to upload or download to the cloud in each folder menu when I control click?
I think those options were added later. Sierra is pretty far back.
@@macmost I had a feeling that may be the case. I’m going to upgrade soon.
thank you so much for explaining this very useful information so clearly. always get a lot of help from you.
Yes that was super useful advice
Awesome content! Would you be able to give some suggestions for this question: How can I sync (bi-directional sync) Mac folders with iPad folders WITHOUT using iCloud? This is a very BIG need/use case I am trying to solve. Thank you for any ideas, suggestions
Dropbox? pCloud? Sync? Or did you find another cloud-storage/sync option? (please tell)
Thank you so much for the information. This was extremely useful. Keep it up!