iCloud full = lost music

Hello dasmac,

We're happy to address the issues you're facing. To start, your iTunes library is not stored in iCloud, so those two things are not related: What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support

You mentioned seeing the music on your Mac, but not in iTunes. Try selecting your music library using these steps:

1. Press and hold the Option key, then open the iTunes.
2. In the window that appears, click Choose Library.
3. Select the iTunes library that you want to switch to.
4. Click Choose.

We recommend reviewing the following support article for your questions about the Desktop & Documents folder, as it gives a great explanation of what happens when you turn this feature off: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

You can also increase your iCloud storage: Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support

We hope this helps! Take care.

dasmac wrote:

Thank you for your replies - muguy and bbesspete. Forgive my late response. Trying to get my head round it all. If I've understood correctly my desktop and documents sync to the cloud (if I select this in preferences), and sometimes I will get a grey download cloud symbol against a file that indicates that the file has been moved to the cloud but is downloadable - this saves computer space.

Learn more about the iCloud symbols at Get file, folder, and disk information on Mac. Only if you have selected optimize files might you have to download from iCloud. It should otherwise be automatic.

If I change my preferences and deselect the desktop/documents option, will all those files that are in the cloud (and on my computer have the grey download cloud symbol) be automatically copied to my desktop in a separate folder?

If you turn off desktop and documents. Your current desktop and documents folder are created again (blank slate). The current desktop and documents folders reside in iCloud only (but will also be shown in iCloud Drive as those files are in iCloud Drive).

Would this be the folder I have on my desktop which I describe in my OP as being a mirror of my desktop?

It's titled 'Desktop - Davids iMac' and appeared around the time I started using iCloud. I was playing with the settings so now think it was a copy of my desktop from the cloud at the time rather than being a 'live' mirror of my desktop.

This folder now has some differences to my actual desktop, as I have moved files around since this folder appeared. I assume I can delete this folder without my desktop folders being effected.

No, the desktop and documents folders move to iCloud only. You likely dragged that folder onto the desktop. If you have those files, you can safely delete it. Try deleting one file first to see what happens. I believe the "David's iMac" part of the name appears only if you have synced multiple devices. to iCloud as a way to differentiate the devices.

On my HD I have 2 Users folders. The main one contains Dropbox, Downloads, Music, Photos etc but no Desktop or Documents folder. The other user does contain all these plus Desktop and Documents folders, but they have little or nothing in them.

Am I correct in thinking that the Desktop and Documents folders that appear in my Finder and are synced to iCloud belong to my Main user and if they weren't synced to the Cloud, they would be restored to that user folder?

If the account does not sync Desktop or Documents, those folders remain in the user folder. If sync is turned off, new (empty) folders are created in the user folder. If sync has not been used, the folders never get moved or created anew.

dasmac wrote:

My iCloud sub has reached its limit (iCloud storage full). Consequently my iTunes has lost most of its music (1000s of tracks). I can see it's all there in my music folder on the HD, just not loading to iTunes. I believe the two things are linked.

They are not. However, if you have little or no space left on your hard drive from syncing, there may be issues using your apps. You may have also inadvertently opened a new music library? In a worst case, simply restore your Music folder from your Time Machine backup.

How do I get my music back, short of reloading all the tracks a folder at a time?

You music should still be in whatever directory you store it. Verify that your music is there.

I'm not too worried about the music being saved to iCloud as it's also backed up in Time Machine and if all else fails I have the CDs and it is only music. but in the iCloud preferences I couldn't see an option to deselect music. Would this bring the music back to iTunes anyway???

Your music does not save in iCloud. Only those items in the iCloud Drive folder (and desktop and documents if enabled) sync with iCloud.

Also, if I've understood iCloud correctly you can't choose which files are backed up to the cloud; it's all or nothing. Some files I don't want on the Cloud. In the preferences for iCloud I can deselect Desktop and Documents but I get a warning that files will not be saved on my Mac, only on the Cloud, which is not what I want.

If you turn off desktop and documents the current files move to iCloud as new desktop and documents folders are created. You can simply drag those items back to the desktop or documents folder from your iCloud Drive folder.

When I first subscribed to iCloud it created a new folder on my Mac which contains a mirror of my Mac as it was, and continues to. If I was to continue to deselect Desktop & Documents would I lose everything from my desktop, including the mirrored folder?

No. Macs don't back up to iCloud. Your desktop and documents folders may be synced to iCloud. If turned off, see above.

Incidentally it also added a drive called Update, though it's never been clear what this is for and I don't recognise or understand any of the files in it.

Not sure what that is but it's likely some software update that you ran.

Is the solution to move all the folders and documents from my desktop onto my hard drive before changing the preferences to keep them safe from removal, before I change the iCloud preferences?

All of the folders are already on your Mac.

I have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) using Mojave (10.14.6). I know I need to upgrade, but attempts have failed so far and upgrading isn't in the budget at the moment. I will eventually upgrade hardware and OS, just not yet.

Thanks in advance

Dave

My music is gone too, my iCloud full too. Music how ever no were to be found!

EvesImac wrote:

My music is gone too, my iCloud full too.

Those two facts are highly unlikely to be related.