When I try to access iCloud it keeps loading

Question

I have a Macbook Pro and when i try iCloud it just keeps loading forever.

Answer 1

Dear Star Traveler,  Thanks for your reply. I checked out the support document link you provided but all it really did for me was reinforce the idea that I'm not thinking in a helpful manner about how iCloud operates in connection with my Mac as well as devices like my iPad. The mechanism I had used to get photos into iCloud from my iPad was that I had already had them in an album which the system labeled "My Photo Stream". I used the "iCloud" section of the iPad to turn off the iCloud and it asked if I wanted to store the photos in iCloud I think. When I answered yes, that's when the troublesome deed occurred.  Luckily it did not delete any photos which I had in any other album nor did it delete any photos which I have in the main "Photos" directory nor in "Camera Roll". All it did was allegedly transfer photos which were in "My Photo Stream" to the iCloud, deleting the photo stream in the process. Naively I then thought that those photos which had been in the photo stream would then appear when I logged into iCloud and searched around. I now believe however that I never did "create" a PHOTO directory in iCloud and maybe that is why they aren't there. However,  when I try to do that, I am unable to unless I have iOS 8 and/or Yosemite. Agree or disagree?? But getting back to the way I think about the iCloud, I always thought of it as an external storage back up drive which was independent of any device or computer/Mac. Now, it seems that's not the case AND even worse, files can get deleted without you knowing about it or approving the specific deletion first!!  Why is iCloud not compatible with former versions of iOS and OS X??? That does not make sense to me. What would you recommend if I want greater specific control over which files get stored in iCloud and which do not?????