Why Apples iCloud is an absolute waste of space.

Obviously, you know I’m a fan of Apple and also a critique when required.
Sadly, this is my critique of why after using the iCloud 2tb service I have been taken back to the stone age of computing.

iCloud storage is not the same as most companies that provide storage because Apple have decided without consent to actually move all your computer files around without you truly knowing what is where. Yes, you heard me right, Apple move things from my computer to the storage without asking me.

How does it work?
Well I still don’t fully understand it after having it for over 6 months and I’m a certified geek!

What I do know is my real experiences which I’m confidently sure many would find to be exactly the same.
My Whole desktop is being migrated to the cloud based on how old it is (last opened I think?).
For someone like me not being allowed to select what gets moved a disaster and a personal intrusion on my work flow.
I have tons of work on my iMac desk top and my MacBook Pro Laptop and they are different kinds of work based on how I use both. Yes, some of it could be synced but most of it NO!

Apple seems to think they can just move my stuff around duplicating it on both computers while moving older files into the cloud it’s like shuffling cards to me as they just do it and I have no control over what I need on my computer.

Anything older than? (I’m not exactly sure) gets moved to my iCloud storage, meaning if I want to access it I need a super, super, superfast broadband connection to download it to its original desktop position just so I can work from my computer.

This would be fine if I had a 100 Gigabyte connection like I’m sure Apple HQ have, but sadly I’m only on superfast fibre broadband and it’s not as super, super super-fast.
Yes, I can see your face now if you have slower than super-fast (70MB Download 5MB upload) the fastest speed I can get is really fast yet using Apples iCloud seems to be like pulling teeth.

it’s impossible to get any work done as files are missing on my computer having been downgraded to the iCloud because they have not been accessed for x amount of days. I say x amount because I have no idea or control over what Apple is moving or what makes they decide what is important to my work flow.

There is no control over which files I want to keep on my computer. Its utter confusion what will load instantly and what will give me an error because some files are not on my computer. To make matters worse when I do look at some folders I see nothing because the Apple servers seem to take so long to gather the data to show me what’s in the files stored on their servers. In the beginning, I was accidently deleting folders I thought were empty but now I know they were not, it was just taking forever for Apple servers to show me exactly what was in them.

I now have this new option in my drop-down list to ‘download files’ and with my supper fast connection it still takes forever and some files never seem to download some take hours with no sign of why they won’t arrive.

I know my connection is super-fast but my files could be anywhere in the world as Apple use many storage sites to store data and the time its taking for my files to reconstitute into a full folder makes a dial up connection from the 80’s seem super-fast by comparison.

My work flow is now a total shambles, Apple have me back in the dark ages thanks to their unrequested involvement in ow I work. \\\\privice seems to only work if you accept Apple can do what they like because you bought a service for storage.

Ok I get it; the idea of it. Free up space on my computers drive and have an extended drive in the cloud for the stuff on your desktop that’s not being use, it all sounds so easy but the reality is nothing but pain and confusion, not to forget a massive dose of worry about all your work flying around who knows where never to be retrieved again.

I’m not in any control as to what not to move and I have stacks of work on my computer that I visit at random intervals and I’m not talking weeks here it could be days or hours and boom! it’s been moved and I have to ask my iMac to download it again (right click, download files) and the wait begins , and the wait continues, so I do something totally different while I wait for those files or I lose my focus and have to come back another day when hopefully all the files have returned or returned then been moved back again, who knows?.

At this point I have to say FFS Apple. I get the concept of what you are doing and if we all had the speed to be running our computer in the cloud, all would be fine but I would hazard a guess that 98% of the global population do not have the broadband speed required for this idea to work and quite honestly I never asked Apple to start moving my stuff all over the place, I just wanted 2tb of storage so I could decide what I wanted and where I wanted it.

So, what has this taught me about using iCloud, honestly? I would have to say it’s great for the little things on your iPhone but it’s a pure pile of steaming crap if you have 2 computers and buy bigger storage as suddenly iCloud will want to sync your computers together moving things all over the place without your input and create a whole mess of WTF in your life.

There is no option to turn it off or select which files you don’t want moved so Apple just shuffle the deck of files how they see fit and you have to re-download folders which might be anywhere in the cloud and takes days to totally reform as the original folder you never wanted touched.

I honestly think Apple have become so anal that they have forgotten that most of us minions don’t have the internet access that their spaceship campus has but we are still the creators and the real movers of art and science and creativity always trying to accomplish new things on slow ‘superfast’ internet speeds while using the very latest old spec Macs that Apple sell us at extortionately high prices.

My honest advice as a lover of the bygone Apple
Stay clear of iCloud beyond your iPhone.