MacOS (Macbook Pro) Questions

[Katsmeow]

OK. I hope some knowledgeable people will answer this. Treat me like I don't know anything much about Macs (because I don't). I am about to go out of town taking my Macbook Pro with me and I need to figure out how to get my data on it.

I am mostly a Windows computer user. I understand Windows. While I have had an iPhone for years, I only recently bought a Macbook Pro. Since I bought it a few months ago I haven't used it for much except mostly web surfing around the house.

We are going out of town for a week and I want my documents and data on the Macbook Pro. I put the data on my SSD drive and I can access them on the Macbook. I am not sure what to do at this point. I have documents, pictures, music and some video. In order of priority I want the documents and most of the pictures. The music and video are more backups so I don't really need them. I think I have about a TB of stuff on the SSD drive.

My Macbook has a 1 TB hard drive. I also have 2 TB on iCloud. I previously uploaded some of my documents to iCloud but have a lot of space left.

It appears from what I can tell that the default on the Macbook Pro is to store documents to iCloud Drive. Is that what I should do? Or is it better to create a documents folder on the Macbook hard drive and store stuff there? If so, how do I do that? I don't seem to have a Documents folder except the one on iCloud Drive.

I am OK I think to store on iCloud drive. If I do that, should I do that uploading the stuff on the SSD drive using my windows computer or should I do it using the Macbook? Or does it not matter?

Finally, how do I do this so I don't create a mess on iCloud drive. Here is an example of what I mean.

I have a master folder where I keep PDFs that I want to save. I have saved to the SSD drive my current version of that folder. It has different sections some of which are organized by year. I have a version of this folder already on iCloud Drive. But it is from several months ago. I now organize it a little differently. So, for example, some files that might be in the 2021 folder are no longer there. They are elsewhere. Or the "current" folder no longer has some files in it that were in there when I put this stuff on iCloud in the past.

If I just copy over my documents from the SSD drive to iCloud will I end up with the, say, current folder containing what it has now Plus what it used to have? Is there a way to selectively figure this out without doing it file by file?

Also if I copy over something that is already on the SSD drive will it overwrite the old file or will it give me an option to only overwrite older files. On Windows I use Total Commander for this kind of thing and it will only overwrite files that are older. What is the best way to approach this with iCloud drive.

Hope this is all coherent.

 

[dixonge]

Macs have two options for your Desktop and Documents folders. It is kinda confusing. Here's the official scoop:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206985

iCloud tends to sync anything it finds where it finds it. If you have new versions of PDFs that you don't want mixed with old versions, just make sure you put it in a different sub--folder on your SSD, something like this:

Documents/OldPDFs
Documents/NewPDFs

even if all the file names are the same in each folder, it will keep a separate copy of each without overwriting.

 

[Dash man]

I personally save everything to my Mac and backup to the cloud. I also backup using Carbonite. I keep things on my MacBook Pro in case I find myself without Internet sometime. As additional overkill, I occasionally back up to an external hard drive, but I find them the least realizable.

 

[Katsmeow]

Macs have two options for your Desktop and Documents folders. It is kinda confusing. Here's the official scoop:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206985

I personally save everything to my Mac and backup to the cloud. I also backup using Carbonite. I keep things on my MacBook Pro in case I find myself without Internet sometime.

OK I am trying to put these two things together. I like the idea of storing most stuff on my MacBook Pro but backing up to iCloud.

So I went to the link that dixonge gave me. I followed that and it lists apps that store documents and data in iCloud and everything is checking including "Desktop & Documents Folders". On another page it has selected Optimize Mac Storage. It says "The full contents of iCloud Drive will be stored on this Mac if you have enough space. Older Documents will be store only in iCloud when space is needed."

So -- those seem a little contradictory. The first seems to say everything in Desktop and Document folders (and pretty much everything else for that matter) is being stored in iCloud. The second one seems to say that if something is in iCloud that is somewhere stored on the Macbook Pro if I have room.

I am unsure if I am storing stuff now on the MacBook Pro or only on iDrive Cloud. My HD says my folders are Applications, Library, System, and Users. Under Users there is a folder my name. The folders under that are Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Public. Drop Box is under Public. All of my pictures from my iPhone are in the Pictures folder.

On the left of the HD contents there is a column "iCloud." Under that are 4 entries: iCloud Drive, Documents, Desktop and Shared. I assume "iCloud Drive" is everything on my iCloud drive and when I look there I am looking on the iCloud Drive and not the Macbook.

The folder Documents is more confusing to me. I assume that is stuff that is on the MacBook Pro itself (Since this folder is not under iCloud Drive). But, this is under the column "iCloud" so that is confusing. Does that mean this stuff is on the Macbook Pro but is being backed up to iCloud. FWIW, this all seems to be stuff that is also on iCloud Drive.

Anyway, if I copy all this stuff on my SSD drive to Documents does that mean it is on the Macbook Pro and will be backed up to iCloud Drive? If not what do I have to do in order to accomplish that?

Also if I have stuff that I only want to put on iCloud drive how do I get it from the SSD drive to iCloud Drive?

 

[camfused]

^^^ yes, if you store on your Mac ( in documents) it will copy to iCloud. What it does is free up space by keep the actual file in iCloud, and not necessarily on your Mac too. When you reference a file that is only on iCloud, it pulls it down to your disk under the covers. So it looks like you have all the files on your Mac but iCloud may be keeping them in the cloud for you. Not sure I explained that too well.

If I recall, you can have the iCloud available to you on your windows machine too.

 

[Katsmeow]

^^^ yes, if you store on your Mac ( in documents) it will copy to iCloud. What it does is free up space by keep the actual file in iCloud, and not necessarily on your Mac too. When you reference a file that is only on iCloud, it pulls it down to your disk under the covers. So it looks like you have all the files on your Mac but iCloud may be keeping them in the cloud for you. Not sure I explained that too well.

There are some documents I would like to have available on my Mac whether I am connected to Internet or not. We are going on a driving trip where I will be a passenger and it would be nice to be able to look at documents on the Mac even if not connected to the internet. How do I copy docs to the Mac so that I have them there as well as on iCloud. I wouldn't do that with everything but with some documents I might want to reference.

 

[camfused]

You go to your apple ID in settings, and uncheck Optimize Mac Storage. It will then do what you want. You can turn it back on when you return.

 

[eytonxav]

Another option is Dropbox, copy from windows to that and then download to you mac.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Dropbox is another internet storage system, so is not that helpful if you have no internet. If I need something from iCloud or Dropbox, I can tether my phone to my MacBook to access documents in Dropbox or iCloud, using the phone as a personal hotspot.

 

[audreyh1]

If you have plenty of drive space on your MacBook Pro, and you can access the files already on your SSD, why not copy over the documents most important to you to the MacBook Pro internal drive? Seems simple enough.

Otherwise I usually have some stuff on iCloud and carry a very small form factor drive when traveling like this Sandisk portable drive https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-1TB-...ocphy=1026629&hvtargid=pla-978531831726&psc=1 . I also use it for Time Machine backups when traveling.

BTW I use my phone hotspot extensively when traveling, so I am rarely without internet.

 

[mpeirce]

When you store your Documents folder on iCloud you should think of your local storage as a cache of what’s stored in iCloud.

All your documents are listed locally, but only some of them are actually stored locally. The Mac Finder (or Files app on iOS or iPadOS) indicates if the file is stored locally with a little iCloud icon:



If a file isn’t stored locally you can just click on the iCloud icon and it’ll download. Same with Folders - it there are any files inside a Folder that aren’t accessible on local storage it’ll show the icon. Click on it and all those files will get downloaded.

In the example above, the Jupiter File and the contents of the HSA Records folder are stored locally. The Extra Files folder and the Cottage folder both have contents that aren’t all stored locally.

If you where about to go offline and wanted to have all the cotents of the Cottage folder with you, you’d click the iCloud icon, what while the Files are copied from iCloud to local storage. Once they are all copied, the icon will go away,

When you do have internet access, you really don’t need to pay attention, just click on the file to open it. If it’s stored locally it’ll open right away. If it’s not stored locally, it’ll be downloaded from iCloud and then opened for you.

 

[eytonxav]

Dropbox is another internet storage system, so is not that helpful if you have no internet. If I need something from iCloud or Dropbox, I can tether my phone to my MacBook to access documents in Dropbox or iCloud, using the phone as a personal hotspot.

I thought the OP was looking for a way to get her documents from Windows to her MacBook before her trip so she can enjoy them while traveling. I imagine she has internet at home to be able to do this.

 

[Katsmeow]

If you have plenty of drive space on your MacBook Pro, and you can access the files already on your SSD, why not copy over the documents most important to you to the MacBook Pro internal drive? Seems simple enough.

Otherwise I usually have some stuff on iCloud and carry a very small form factor drive when traveling like this Sandisk portable drive https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-1TB-...ocphy=1026629&hvtargid=pla-978531831726&psc=1 . I also use it for Time Machine backups when traveling.

BTW I use my phone hotspot extensively when traveling, so I am rarely without internet.

We are back from the trip now. When I initially posted what I didn't know was how to copy from the SSD drive to the Mac hard drive. I eventually worked that out. Then I worked out how to have stuff on the Macbook but also in the cloud.

I use my hotspot when traveling also. In fact, I don't usually use hotel WiFi at all and just use the hotspot. But -- we were driving and I wanted to be sure I had access to most data even when we were driving places with no immediate cellular coverage.

I have a Sandisk SSD drive which is very portable. But it is my main non-Cloud back up so I didn't want to have it with me on a trip....

When you store your Documents folder on iCloud you should think of your local storage as a cache of what’s stored in iCloud.

All your documents are listed locally, but only some of them are actually stored locally. The Mac Finder (or Files app on iOS or iPadOS) indicates if the file is stored locally with a little iCloud icon:

View attachment 43285

If a file isn’t stored locally you can just click on the iCloud icon and it’ll download. Same with Folders - it there are any files inside a Folder that aren’t accessible on local storage it’ll show the icon. Click on it and all those files will get downloaded.

In the example above, the Jupiter File and the contents of the HSA Records folder are stored locally. The Extra Files folder and the Cottage folder both have contents that aren’t all stored locally.

If you where about to go offline and wanted to have all the cotents of the Cottage folder with you, you’d click the iCloud icon, what while the Files are copied from iCloud to local storage. Once they are all copied, the icon will go away,

When you do have internet access, you really don’t need to pay attention, just click on the file to open it. If it’s stored locally it’ll open right away. If it’s not stored locally, it’ll be downloaded from iCloud and then opened for you.

Thanks this is helpful in giving more detail on how to manage all these.