Files mysteriously deleted. I thought I might have accidentally deleted 1 or 2 but it has happened even to some critical files which I would never touch unless necessary.
I emptied Trash hastily a couple days ago because I was running out of space on the MBA and now the files are completely and totally gone.
Thankfully, some had been emailed to other people and thus I can recover them that way. Some were inconsequential, although I still wish I had them with me. Some are completely and totally irreplaceable, although those arenāt super precious or anything.
Am moving back to Google Drive/OneDrive immediately.
No matter what you use, donāt rely on it. Always have some sort of backup in place for exactly these cases.
For example, I use DEVONthink which is setup to sync to 2 different providers at the same time (one being a NAS in my local network), and I have a monthly reminder in my todolist to move a recent copy onto a USB stick.
I also use https://www.arqbackup.com and have it running in the background. Just recently I noticed that I lost some files when I reinstalled my machine and arq was able to restore it without any issues.
Same strategy: One onsite backup, one offsite backup.
Not related, but just a couple days ago, my entire custom lists on Apple Maps that I curated got wiped
iCloud has been my main cloud service for the past 3 years. Outside of the offline access issue, it has worked wonderfully. Moved to iCloud after using Google Drive for 8 years.
Thats exactly my experience. I am pleased with iCloud. Sometimes, I do have sync issues though (it takes time to sync files in those situations).
But no matter what, every Cloud provider works just fine and does not lose data until it happens anywayā¦ Maybe, due to a technical issue or due to user failures. I have made so many mistakes in the past that I would have lost tons of data, if I had no backups. And, yes, there was a time, when I had no backups, either. And yes, I lost data back then.
Same as @Nick_Fulgham, iCloud has been my main file storage / processing option in the cloud for several years now, no issues as yet. With folder sharing now itās even replaced my Dropbox use.
This is my issue with iCloud. When I have a sync issue (if it doesnāt resolve itself in a day or two) itās almost ALWAYS a matter turning off iCloud Drive and having it move all my files outside of iCloud, then I have to re-enable and move any missing files BACK into iCloud. Itās a frustrating experience, and one Iāve had to do too often.
With Dropbox, if a file isnāt syncing, itās clear in the appās overlay menu and I can stop sync, restart the app, move the file to re-trigger, etcā¦ and that has worked every time.
There is little transparency in iCloud Drive and that makes me trust it far less than the alternatives.
Very occasionally does that happen to me, mostly with Apple Notes. However just toggling off Internet / WiFi solves the problem. Much less friction than moving files and/or disabling iCloud
@Wolfie, I cannot express in words how grateful I am for that tip. Am currently restoring 400+ files from iCloud.
If you havenāt had bad experiences, thatās great! I would still advise moving away, as this is not the first time Iāve had this kind of issue (although itās never happened on such a large scale before). Iām not the only person to have experienced iCloud quirks either. Thatās just my opinion though; not about to force people to move .
Thanks for the warning. I am pretty cautious anyways since none of the competitors are completely bulletproof. Onedrive has the weirdest problem of all: as long as your filename contains a space in front or special symbols the file will refuse to sync. Itās been a while since I have used a PC but I actually thought they solved those problems. Apart from that, Onedrive is flawless for me for about a year. I have to use it for work, if you wonder.
Iām trying to understand the original problem. You said you emptied the trash to free space. That action deletes the files regardless of where they are stored. If your files were only stored on your Mac and you emptied the trash, they would be gone. Why did you think iCloud would be any different?
Ha no I donāt think I communicated my point clearly.
The problem was that a large amount of my files, in folders I would never touch, were deleted without me doing anything.
I mentioned the Trash thing to forestall people saying, ārestore your files from the Trashā. If iCloud hadnāt screwed things up the files wouldnāt have ended up in Trash in the first place.
For what itās worth I had the same issue happen to me with Google. As someone said before, keeping your own backups is the best strategy. Glad you were able to recover your filesā¦
Not as crucial in your case since you have several backups running, but USB sticks are generally equipped with lower quality memory, even if they come from a well-known brand, and will thus fail at a higher rate. Itās probably best to rely on something like external USB drives (standard HDD or SSD) for your ācoldā backup. Bonus points for keeping several USB drives in rotation. I might be a bit paranoid when it comes to backup strategies, but better to be safe than sorry.
Are you saying that iCloud put files in the trash folder on its own? Iām curious how you determined that they were in the trash at all. How did you connect missing files with emptying the trash?
Well, the files were gone. First thing you would think of is the Trash, no? I was also able to recover files from iCloudās āpermanently deletedā cache-thing, suggesting that the files were indeed deleted.
The problem isnāt emptying the trash. Itās the fact that the files ended up in the Trash without me doing anything to them.
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