I know there are already lots of Q and A about icloud drive. Here’s another: I’m running El Capitan on my imac. I have a Documents folder in my home folder. Is there a difference if I “move” or “copy” that Documents folder to icloud drive? I want to keep a copy locally on my imac (and available offline), but also have it available to access from my ipad. I understand your explanation about the “optimize mac storage” button, but since I’m running El Capitan, I don’t have that when I look at icloud drive options. So, given my OS, what’s the best way to deal with my documents folder and accomplish what i’d like?
thanks very much!
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bob
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“Move” Vs “Copy” Folder To iCloud Drive?
Comments: 2 Responses to ““Move” Vs “Copy” Folder To iCloud Drive?”
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There's a huge difference.
If you copy the folder, then you will have two copies of that folder and everything in it. One will be in your Home folder, and the other in your iCloud Drive folder. I doubt that is you want. It will cause a lot of confusion and problems.
If you move the folder, it removes it from your Home folder and places it in iCloud Drive. So you only have one copy as before, it is just in a different location.
Everything in your iCloud Drive folder IS on your local drive. The only way that wouldn't be true if you go into System Preferences, Apple ID, iCloud Drive and set the "Optimize" option to on. I believe on El Capitan there isn't even the option to do this, so all of your files would be on your drive all of the time anyway.
See: Understanding iCloud Drive and the Optimize Mac Storage Option. This will explain how that works. But if that isn't available in El Capitan than you don't need to even worry about it.
Is there any reason you want to use iCloud Drive to store your documents, yet you remain on El Capitan? Why not upgrade?
Thanks very much for the response. I appreciate it. And yes, I would love to upgrade, but I have a 2009 imac, and can't do so! I'm chomping at bit to buy new imac, but don't want to buy the current model - which is now almost 2 years old - when the new imacs are hopefully coming very soon - I'm sure you're familiar with that conundrum!