This video is brought to you by Clean my Mac
X Last year in 2020 I did a video on how I use
iCloud drive to manage and store my entire digital life. The idea behind using iCloud for everything
is if I were to lose my current Mac for some reason (have it destroyed or stolen for example)
without a single backup, I could grab any other Mac computer and be up and running within
few hours, without any data loss, all thanks to iCloud. Hey, Iskren here, but feel free to call me
E. In this video, I will discuss the following: • What's the difference between iCloud drive
and competitive products, for example, Google Drive or DropBox
• What makes iCloud drive special when you are into Apple's ecosystem, the reason I prefer
it • How I set up my iCloud drive and how I
use it • What happens with all my files and structure
if I were to switch to a new computer. In the end, I will address some of your questions
from my last video with the hopes of clarifying this digital service the best I can. Rewinding a bit, so what is iCloud, and this
of course applies to competitive services as well? Think of iCloud as your external hard drive,
but invisible. It's a rented digital drive where you can
place your stuff and access them on demand (of course internet connection is required). Some people might have difficulty grasping
the concept of iCloud if you think of it as an exact external drive and usually, that
confusion comes from the evergreen concept of copy, pasting, and deleting things from
an external drive to your local drive. With iCloud, we talk about something being
on the cloud but not locally and we use words like offloading. Let me try and explain visually. This is my iCloud. I have rented 2TB of storage of which I have
filled out 1.2TB leaving me 800GB of available free space. In my iCloud I have all my photos, contacts,
calendars, email, reminders, notes, passwords, and many other things that the Mac computer
can sync, including all my digital files, and I mean ALL of them, my life. That includes my work files, documents, personal
assets, and lots more. Sort of like a 2TB external drive that holds
my life. Now, my laptop has 512GB of storage, obviously
less than everything that I have on the cloud, but that's not a problem because I don't really
want to download everything from my iCloud to my laptop. I want to download locally only the files
that I most often use and this is where iCloud shines. Throughout my use, iCloud has figured what
I require most often and downloads only those things, leaving the rest in the cloud and
on-demand. This is called Optimized Storage. An easy way to distinguish what's on my iCloud
and what is locally on my computer is the little cloud icon that represents the file
being on the cloud. For example, if I happen to look for something
that is not downloaded, all I have to do is search for it, as with any other computer
file and double click to open it or press the little cloud icon to trigger a download
and now that file downloads physically on my computer. iCloud keeps it there but not forever and
whenever enough time has passed where I haven't found a reason to use it, it offloads it from
my hard drive until I need it next time. This exact scenario applies to my iPad and
iPhone as well. With both of them, just as with my computer,
I can access and download and work with files that I am currently in need of. Whatever I do on the Cloud, stays on the cloud
and can be accessed through all my devices. The same synchronization and Optimized storage
apply to your iPhone photos for example. When you have the feature enabled, even if
you have tens of thousands of photos, since not all of them are on your phone, you would
never run out of space because iCloud will automatically offload older photos and videos
to save up physical space on your iPhone or iPad. By the way, if you end up enjoying this video,
subscribe, it's free and you can always change your mind. Now, let's take this one step further. That same 2TB of storage iCloud plan that
I have is also shared with my family. My wife, mother, and in-laws all share the
same space with me, or rather I share it with them. Mind you that they only use my storage space
without having access to any of my files. In fact, it is a private space for everyone
and no one can access each other's files. By sharing my 2TB space with my family, they
don't have to purchase separate iCloud accounts and instead use my storage to offload their
iPhone's photos and other iCloud data. Also, a huge bonus is a fact that their iPhone
backups are over the air and are automatically uploaded to that same 2TB iCloud drive. This way we are all safe and calm that everything
is preserved. So really, one monthly fee for a single service
serves a purpose for 5 people while providing storage, backup, and protection for everyone. iCloud is the foundation of all Apple products
and services and unlike other competitors like DropBox or Google Drive, it is part of
every Apple device. You don't need to install it or set up special
software or apps, or allow or set up any sort of synchronization, iCloud is there from the
get-go when you get your new Mac, iPad, or iPhone. You can just choose to use it or not. So in my case, if I were to have to replace
my computer tomorrow, without having created a single backup, knowing that everything that
I care about is on iCloud, all I have to do on the new Mac is log in to iCloud and download
the apps that I want use. That's it. All the rest of the synchronization will be
done automatically by iCloud, including setting up my passwords in KeyChain, Calendars, Email,
Safari Bookmarks, and of course downloading the files and folders that I most often use. A final touch for me would be to move around
and create shortcuts in the finder's sidebar to quickly access the folders that I plan
to use on regular basis. To be fair, iCloud is not the best or most
feature-packed cloud service there is. Before I share some of its flaws and answer
your question from my last video, let me address something that I like to call data diet. Since all our digital assets will only grow
over time I have become sort of excess data-sensitive and unlike before I am very careful not to
keep around things that have no value to me. The tool that helps me optimize my storage
is called Clean My Mac X who are kind enough to sponsor this video. Clean My Mac X is an oddly satisfying helper
that aids by getting rid of unnecessary and invisible junk on my computer like tons of
invisible cache files, unused DMGs, incomplete downloads, and old baggage. By pressing a single button the app locates
massive old files that were swept under the rug. Even more useful however is a special tool
that builds an interactive map of my entire drive, helping glimpse and organize everything. Also, Clean My Mac X can delete unwanted apps,
plugins, and extensions that have been left undetected for months and if I want to get
rid of an app the proper way, without leaving any trace, Clean My Mac can help me do that
too with the built-in Uninstaller. Notarized by Apple, this app is extremely
easy to use, providing you with a great fluid interface that also helps you keep your online
activity private, and even though we are talking about Macs here, stay malware-free ALL with
a single press of a button. Be sure to check out Clean My Mac X in the
description below. So, let's mention some of iCloud's flaws. First off, iCloud doesn't have Incremental
file-sharing (at least to my knowledge). That means you need a stable connection because
if a large file upload gets interrupted, you'd have to start over...something that DropBox
for example addresses with a feature called block-level file syncing or uploading only
parts of files that have changed over time. That of course might change with iCloud as
well in the future. Second, iCloud is a black box. You have no control over how and when it syncs
(you can just stop it) but you can forget about a bandwidth limit, wherein other cloud
services you can control and avoid clogging the internet connection. In my previous example of setting up a new
mac where everything is happening automatically, that is of course the case, but once the process
of synchronization is triggered all I can do is wait until it ends...which depending
on the internet speed and amount of files might take hours. If you happen to use iCloud for the first
time and you were to upload all your files on it, as I did, keep in mind the following. Once you drag and drop everything in iCloud
you might see some temporary decrease in local storage space. That is normal, in fact, you might notice
some weird loss and gain of local storage until iCloud does its magic. As I said, it's a black box, but it works. Now let me try and answer some of your questions
from my last video: Jean asks:
Is there a way to "force" items back to the cloud once they have been downloaded to your
machine? Ex. A large file I made a change to but know I
won't need it again for awhile. YES, you can. If you right-click on an item or folder, you
can choose Remove Download which will offload the file from your hard drive. A popular question has been: how I set up
your iCloud drive. It's simple. Go to system preferences, Apple ID, and check
or tick the iCloud option. Next, grab all the files that you want to
put on the cloud and drag them to iCloud in finder. In there, you can organize them in any way
you see fit. Then let it do its magic. QUESTION:
But the Documents folder is gone from under my <USERNAME> after I enabled Documents & Desktop
from iCloud Drive. Where did it go? I can see it in iCloud. But not under my username folder. I was planning on organizing all my files
and folders under Documents. ANSWER:
If you enable documents and desktop on the cloud, they disappear from your local drive,
respectively your local USERNAME folder, and appear in iCloud where you can access them
just as they were under your USERNAME folder. QUESTION:
Wouldn’t iCloud Drive unnecessarily fill up your device storage just because it is
empty? ANSWER:
No, iCloud doesn't download things that you don't use. QUESTION:
Would love to edit from iCloud if that's even a thing if not what's your process for editing
and storing your final cut library? ANSWER:
I wouldn't recommend editing off iCloud. I use fast external SSD for that. I would fill out my cloud storage drive after
two videos if I was to edit off of it. If you enjoyed this video you might find my
How I set up a new Mac guide useful, which I'll link right here. If you have questions, leave them in the comments
below or ping me on Twitter. As always, it’s been an absolute pleasure,
This is E Over and out
