Does iCloud drive use up hard drive storage space?

HI,
I want to save hard drive space and use iCloud Drive to store my documents, pictures etc. I have the iCloud drive folder set up in my finder. I have been copying and pasting data in there, but it seems whenever I do; the hard drive storage space decreases.
I thought the entire point of iCloud was to use cloud storage and not offline storage; unless you download it from the cloud to your hard drive. Why am I losing hard drive space?
Any help you can offer or suggestions would be very much appreciated

Hi FlyFalcon,
I am writing to say that I am having the problem you are worried about. I have a 121 GB MacBook with flash storage, and I am running out of room.
This is my work computer so I don't have any personal photos/music/movies stored on here. My iCloud drive has over 100 GB on it and it's driving this computer nuts! I am constantly getting the "your startup disk is full" message. As you can see from the screen shot below, it's saying I have 58.61 GB of photos on this computer, 25.84GB of movies etc...but all these files live on my personal MacBook at home.
I am paying for the $3.99 a month for 200 GB but I didn't get that iCloud would use up my HD space. So as a warning, 128 GB may not be enough for you.

Similar Messages

  • I subscribed to 200 GB of Icloud drive storage space. How am I able to put my photos, documents etc. to my icloud storage?

    I thought the new icloud drive would function simlarly to dropbox or google drive. How do import a photo taken from my iphone or ipad to my icloud drive storage space?

    The "iCloud Photo Library" is still in beta right now and is not operational. it will probably be operational when the new Mac OS is released. When it is operational, both your iPad and iPhone will have the same "iCloud Photo Library".
    You might take a look at this ...
    http://m.imore.com/yes-camera-roll-gone-ios-8-heres-where-it-went-and-why

  • Is the iCloud Drive storage space independent of the original iCloud? Do they share space? Can you use them both at the same time?

    Does Apple provide 5GB storage with both iCloud and iCloud Drive for a total of 10GB? Or are they shared for a total of 5GB? I am running low on space in my original iCloud (4.7GB used), and would like to move my photos to iCloud drive and stop them from saving in original iCloud, but want to continue to use iCloud for all my other data backups/settings/etc. Thanks!

    iCloud Drive is simply a newer version of iCloud (newer set of features) for handling available documents and allowing third party apps access.. Otherwise it is still part of the you overall iCloud service. Unless you choose to pay for additional storage, your total iCloud space is 5 GB.

  • ICloud Drive storage space

    Hello,
    I just subscribe to 200GB iCloud program.
    I have 199.13GB available (no large backup for now), as indicated from my iCloud account (see screenshot).
    But my iCloud Drive on my Mac indicates that only about 70GB are available:
    How is this done?
    I found nothing about it in Apple Support.
    Thank you for your help and sorry for my bad English (I'm French).
    Arnaud

    Thanks!
    That's true... I uploaded 30Gb and space indicator has not been modified

  • Icloud not using some of my storage space...

    I have 15GB of icloud storage, but no matter what it always says I have 10.1 GB available. Why isn't it using the other 5 GB? What am I missing here? Thanks!

    Thanks very much!

  • Can an increase in iCloud drive storage be used by all members in family sharing?

    Can a purchased increase in iCloud drive storage capacity be used by all members in family sharing?

    had same question
    called apple...
    if they have diff apple id...no
    only if they use same apple id

  • Can you share iCloud drive storage with family members?

    Seems like this would be a common question but Apple Support search came up empty. So, can you share iCloud drive storage with family members?

    Welcome to the Apple Community.
    You can share they space if they all use the same Apple ID, but that's not really a good idea, because you'll then share contacts, calendars, photos etc etc.

  • ICloud drive storage for education use

    Is Apple going to have education pricing for iCloud Drive?
    Microsoft provides 1 TB Onedrive space for University students for 4 years less than 100EUR
    http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/Office-365-University/product ID.260260600

    Your iCloud Drive folder is a hidden folder in your user library in your Home folder. The only way I am seeing to move this folder to an external drive would be to relocate your Home folder with all your documents and data  in "Users > your home folder" completely to an external drive. Having your home folder on an external drive is supported in MacOS X, but you would be forced to have the external drive always mounted, before you login to your Mac.

  • Does iCloud Drive support PDF

    II've decided to maximise my storage options on the iCloud Drive but finding unable to open PDF files. Is there a limit as to what the icloud drive will support.
    thank you

    Hi David,
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    From your post I understand that you are wondering how you can access the information stored in iCloud Drive, and what can be stored on it.  Check out the information below to learn more about iCloud Drive.
    What types of files can I store in iCloud Drive?
    You can store any type of file in iCloud Drive, as long as it's less than 15 GB in size. There's no restriction on file type, so you keep all of your work documents, school projects, presentations, and more up to date across all of your devices. Learn more about managing your iCloud Drive files.
    If you want to access your iCloud Drive data, you can do so by doing the following.
    How do I access all my files in iCloud Drive?
    You can access your files in iCloud Drive any of these ways:
     Using any supported web browser, you can go to iCloud Drive or iWork for iCloud beta at iCloud.com. In iWork for iCloud beta, you can find your Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files.
    On your Mac with OS X Yosemite, you can go to iCloud Drive in Finder.
    On your PC with Windows 7 or later and iCloud for Windows, you can go to iCloud Drive in File Explorer.
    On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 8, you can access your files from Apple apps like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, or any apps that support iCloud Drive.
    iCloud Drive FAQ - Apple Support
    Take care,
    Alex H.

  • Can I share icloud drive storage between family members?

    I am looking for easy offsite storage that can be easily accessed.  I have been reading a bit about the icloud drive, and it seems simple to add and open files. Can I share the storage with my husband and his computer or not?  We currently use carbonite as a backup program. Would icloud drive replace that?
    Thank you.
    Katie

    iCloud Drive is tied one AppleID.  If you want to share it, all family members would have to use the same Apple ID.
    The only Family Sharing Apple Supports for family members with different AppleIDs is sharing your purchases: iTunes items, iBooks, AppStore Purchases,  see:   http://www.apple.com/icloud/family-sharing/
    But iCloud Drive cannot be shared between different AppleIDs, and it is also not meant to be a cloud backup.It is used to store your current working copies of your most important documents, that you need on all devices, and keep the documents updated on all devices.
    See this link: iCloud Drive FAQ

  • Can you do family sharing of icloud drive storage?

    I'd like to use icloud drive. 20GB is barely enough, and the next step is 200GB which is way more than I need. I'd like to effectively share that 200GB with the rest of the family (4 of us). Is there a way I can partition the 200GB amongst the family members so each effectively sees their own icloud drive?

    Hi Mick_M,
    Thanks for the question. At this time, iCloud Storage upgrades are not shareable via iCloud Family Sharing. For more information on what purchases are eligible for Family Sharing, see this document:
    Family Sharing - Apple Support
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201060
    - Matt M.

  • Does iCloud Photo Sharing use my phone's storage space?

    When I share a photo stream via iCloud Photo Sharing, does it take up storage space on my iPhone?

    Yes.

  • ICloud Drive "steals" space from my Mac Mini

    I have the new Mac Mini with 1 TB HD, 200GB in iCloud Drive and an external 2TB HD. Whenever I copy files to iCloud Drive, Finder indicates that the space available on the Mini decreases at the same rate, as if I'm duplicating the files in the Mini itself. For example, I currently have 650GB available in Mini, if I copy 10GB of files (photos, films, documents etc) to iCloud Drive, the free space on the Mini will drop to 640GB. The same thing happens with Google Drive, but that doesn't happen when I copy files to the external HD. Why is that? Am I doing anything wrong? It is a "bug" of Finder or OSX?

    When you add a file to the iCloud Drive on your Mac
    It's moved from it's original location on your hard drive to the iCloud Drive folder on your hard drive which is an invisible folder inside your Home/Library/Mobile Documents folder:
    You still have only one version on your hard drive only it is located in that invisible folder.  Also it is copied into in the online iCloud Drive:
    If you delete the file from the local iCloud Drive  it will be removed on the online drive. 

  • How does iCloud Photo Library and Optimize iPhone Storage Work?

    Even Apple Phone support can't answer these questions:
    How does iCloud Photo Library (Beta) from yesterday's 8.1 update with Optimize iPhone Storage turned on work? (I'm on an iPhone 6)
    It only stores your iPhone/iPad versions on your device, which is amazing. Why would you need anything else? It freed up around 8-10GB of space on my device which is amazing. But how does it work when you use it?
    When you email it seems to ask you, when sending what size you want to send like it's always done. It gives you the original 2.4MB version. This works like I'd imagine and when I received the test email the photo was correct. In this case I assume it hits iCloud and sends it from there, not your actual device. (Like it doesn't re-download it to email it). Correct?
    When posting to Facebook, does it do this same thing? Or is this something Facebook has to build into their iOS app in an update? Or does it just work? Correct?
    When posting to Instagram, does it grab the right version. Obviously the phone optimized version should be fine, but when viewing on a Desktop version of Instagram at instagram.com, will it show the right version?
    Sometimes I backup photos using Image Capture on the Mac. If I did that right now, would it only grab the iPhone versions? Obviously I can just test it but it'd be amazing if someone who knows these things could explain all of these use cases.
    Do you need to be on
    In closing it's more of how does this work? Does it work? Why wouldn't you want to use this feature if it saved space and made more sense? I guess I just would love some real clarity since not even the blogs are explaining how it works in every application.
    In closing part 2. It does seem to work really well, it's just those fringe cases. I just viewed all my photos on https://beta.icloud.com/#photos and they're all there, easy download of the high res, delete, it deletes from my camera roll on my phone, it's amazing, it works, it's magic. Just tell me what issues there are with storing only low res iPhone on my device and if there are none, game on!
    Thanks!

    santiagofrommiami wrote:
    And of those 4.3GB of backup, my Photo Library is 1.4GB.
    So my question is, how do I prevent my Photo Library from being backed up to the cloud, since I already have a backup of it everytime I connect to iPhoto and it copies all those photos to my mac?
    I don't know, sorry. It's supposed to work alongside Photos & iCloud, so that photos are stored only once. When it doesn't work you have a couple of options as I see it –
    Delete the old backups on iCloud to hopefully start over (I don't like deleting the only backup of anything).
    Forget about iCloud backups & use iTunes to backup instead, it might not be suitable if you have no computer etc.
    Buy more storage for iCloud.
    I don't use iCloud backup, it bemuses me with issues like this, there is no easy way to resolve when it fails.
    And one more question while we are at it...can I erase iphoto from my computer now that I have the new Photos app?
    That is up to you. If you are happy you do not need it & have a backup of it go ahead & remove it. You can re-download it from the app store if it is already in your Mac App store account.

  • Can iCloud be use for existing photo storage

    can icloud be used for storage of all my existing photos as long as i buy the extra storage?

    No. iCloud is not a backup and Photo Stream has 1000 photos and 1 month limitation.
    You can use Dropbox app for that.

Maybe you are looking for