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Backup of Desktop and Documents in

How do you back up Document and Desktop files in Icloud Drive?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 1, 2021 4:53 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 2, 2021 2:23 PM

Hey tommmy,


These are really good questions:


1: You'll need to enable that feature on any device where you want to store the original photo on the device itself, rather than a lower resolution version to save space on the device. Learn more here: Download iCloud photos and videos


2: The space optimization feature is designed to save your local device storage and not your iCloud storage. On iCloud, you will still have the full resolution versions of the photos unless you disable iCloud Photos entirely. If you enable this feature, however, iCloud will cut down the storage requirements of all those photos by housing lower-resolution versions on the device instead.


Cheers!

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 2, 2021 2:23 PM in response to tommmy

Hey tommmy,


These are really good questions:


1: You'll need to enable that feature on any device where you want to store the original photo on the device itself, rather than a lower resolution version to save space on the device. Learn more here: Download iCloud photos and videos


2: The space optimization feature is designed to save your local device storage and not your iCloud storage. On iCloud, you will still have the full resolution versions of the photos unless you disable iCloud Photos entirely. If you enable this feature, however, iCloud will cut down the storage requirements of all those photos by housing lower-resolution versions on the device instead.


Cheers!

May 2, 2021 1:00 PM in response to tommmy

Hey there, tommmy!


Thanks so much for using Apple Support Communities.


iCloud Drive is a really great way to sync all of your documents between the Apple devices you use. However, since that data resides in iCloud there isn't necessarily a way to back it up via iCloud. With that being said, if you want to download that data and create a physical backup (or back it up using a cloud service), you can do so by following the instructions in this article: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud


We hope this helps!

May 2, 2021 2:06 PM in response to jeremy_v

Thank you @jeremy_v


That is what I figured.


The link you provide brings up two questions:

1) For my photos, do I have to enable "Download and keep originals" on all my devices? I use iCloud photos

2) After enabling "Download and Keep Originals" I have similar sized files on iCloud Drive, my Mac as well as on my iPhone and iPad. This doesn't make sense to me. All devices have "Download and Keep Originals" Enabled. I usually use my iPhone to photograph.


Tommy

Backup of Desktop and Documents in

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