Configure and Backup to iCloud Storage
iCloud Storage is a cloud-based file synchronization system. It designates a folder on your device as a container and synchronizes the contents of that folder to the cloud. Other devices associated with the same Apple ID account will likewise synchronize their containers to the cloud. When a file is placed in a container from one device, it will therefore propagate to the containers on all other devices associated with the same Apple ID.
iCloud containers are usually associated with specific applications that take advantage of iCloud storage. Examples are Pages, Numbers and even TextEdit. Only those particular applications access documents in their associated containers. A ‘global’ container, commonly referred to as iCloud Drive, defines a common location where any application can read and write files.Â
A DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHY
Most cloud storage services are designed to function simply as a different place to store your files. They are analogous to attaching an external storage device to your computer, only this device is located “in the cloud” and accessed via an internet connection. The iCloud storage service, however, is designed as an extension of the storage that is built-in to your Mac. Since most Macs sold these days do not have upgradable internal storage, Apple came up with a clever way of making that storage seem bigger by extending it to the cloud. iCloud will swap files in-and-out of your computer as needed, effectively giving the user the perception that their built-in storage is much larger than it actually is.
A BIT MORE...EVICTIONS AND DOWNLOADS
In order to conserve local storage space, files stored in an iCloud container can be evicted. This removes the local copy of the file but leaves a small placeholder on the local device so that it appears as if the file is still stored there. The process of removing a local copy of a file and creating a placeholder for it is known as eviction. If a user or app tries to open an evicted file, it is automatically downloaded from iCloud. Once complete, the downloaded version replaces the placeholder, and the file can be opened as if it were stored locally. That’s because at this point, it IS stored locally! Once an app has finished using a file, it can be evicted to conserve space until it is needed again. More likely, the application will not do anything with the file and just let the OS determine when a file needs to be evicted to reclaim local storage space.
The problem with this scheme, from an application perspective, is that the placeholder files are invisible files and are not named the same as the file they represent. Applications thus need special logic to identify these placeholders as such and to determine what file they are supposed to represent. If an application wants to read the contents of such files (perhaps to copy them), they need to take explicit actions in coordination with the OS to trigger their download from iCloud. They must also be able to identify when such downloads are complete before they attempt to read their data.
The iCloud-specific enhancements to ChronoSync allow it to identify placeholder files and trigger downloads when necessary. It can also automatically evict files copied to iCloud storage and/or evict any file that needed to be downloaded in order to perform a backup/sync operation. Lastly, ChronoSync can detect when a file is being uploaded to iCloud and can wait for such uploads to complete before moving on. All this support gives ChronoSync the unique capability to backup/sync to/from iCloud containers without filling up local storage.
USING CHRONOSYNC EFFECTIVELY WITH ICLOUD
There are two main scenarios where ChronoSync can effectively be used with iCloud. The first is to backup the files you already have stored in iCloud. This typically involves taking files stored in iCloud and copying them to an external drive connected to your Mac, or maybe even another cloud service. This is useful when you are actively working with documents stored on iCloud, either through the specific application’s own container or when you are synchronizing your Documents and Desktop folder with iCloud. In such cases, it is important to have backups of your iCloud-stored files in case they get accidentally deleted or corrupted, either through user error or a problem with the iCloud service.
The second scenario where ChronoSync can effectively be used with iCloud is to use iCloud to store backups of your data. This would typically be done when you are NOT storing files in application-specific containers and/or you are NOT synchronizing your Desktop and Documents folder with iCloud (or you don’t store your working data beneath Desktop and Documents). In this case you simply want to keep your backups stored in iCloud, to be retrieved only if you need to restore lost or corrupted data.
The following sections provide common examples of these two scenarios in which you would use ChronoSync with iCloud.
BACKING UP ICLOUD STORED DATA
In this example we’ll use ChronoSync to backup Pages documents that are stored in iCloud. The Pages application on your Mac allows you to create documents and store them anywhere on your Mac’s connected storage devices. However, to maintain interoperability with Pages running on your iOS devices, or other Macs connected to the same iCloud account, you’ll usually want to store documents beneath the Pages folder in iCloud. ChronoSync can be configured to maintain backups of this folder, safely keeping redundant copies of important documents in a separate location.
Choose Your Source
Choose ‘iCloud Storage’ from the ‘Connect to’ popup.
Choose ‘Pages’ as your source target.
Choose Your Destination
Select a folder where the backup will be stored.
What Will Happen
When you run the backup, ChronoSync will scan your iCloud stored files & folders looking for changes. When one is found, it will copy the file to your destination. If the file is not stored locally, meaning it only exists in the cloud, it will be automatically downloaded before copying it. By default, after it is downloaded, it will be marked for eviction on your computer so it does not occupy precious storage. If it was already stored locally before ChronoSync examined it, it will remain stored locally. See the TARGET OPTIONS section later in the guide for more details.
Run The Backup
Click the right arrow in the middle of the Setup panel (or choose ‘Synchronize’ from the toolbar) to perform the backup.
That’s it! You have now backed up your Pages folder on your iCloud drive to the destination you chose!
BACKING UP LOCAL DATA TO ICLOUD
In this example we will use iCloud as a backup service. You would want to do this if you do NOT use iCloud to store your original files, which would typically be the case when using an application that does not have native iCloud support. Doing this is very similar to backing up data to an external storage device except your data will be stored in iCloud instead.
Choose Your Source
In the Source target pane, choose what you’d like as your source. For the sake of this example, ‘Documents’ is chosen.Â
Note: You would generally not want to do this if your Documents folder is being synchronized to iCloud. Doing that would keep your original and backed up data both in iCloud and would be analogous to storing backups of local data in another folder on the same device.
Choose Your Destination
When iCloud is enabled and configured for the logged-in user, you can choose an iCloud container (or any folder therein) as a ChronoSync target. You begin by letting ChronoSync know that you want to connect a target to an iCloud container.
Choose ‘iCloud Storage’ from the ‘Connect to’ popup.
Once “iCloud Storage” has been selected, you can “Choose….” your specific target.
All the available iCloud containers appear as volumes on the left side of the target selector. iCloud Drive will be the default volume unless ~/Documents is being backed up with iCloud, in which case Documents will be the default. From here, you simply choose your target as you normally would.
What Will Happen
When you run the backup, ChronoSync will scan your local Documents folder looking for files that have changed. When one is detected, it will be copied to a corresponding location in the Documents folder of your iCloud Drive. By default, ChronoSync will wait for the operating system to fully upload the file to iCloud, after which it will mark the file for eviction so it does not occupy precious storage. if the operating system takes too long to upload the file, such as when your internet connection is slow or not working, ChronoSync will move on. The file will still be marked for eventual eviction but, until it is fully uploaded, it will occupy additional storage on your Mac. See the TARGET OPTIONS section later in the guide for more details.
Run The Backup
Click the right arrow in the middle of the Setup panel (or choose ‘Synchronize’ from the toolbar) to perform the backup.
That’s it! You have now backed up your Documents folder to your iCloud Documents! You can view these documents on all of your devices that are logged in with the same Apple ID.
TARGET OPTIONS
Whether you are copying from an iCloud container or copying to one, there are a few iCloud-specific options that you have control over. To view these options, click the “Options…” button displayed in the target selection pane of the Setup panel.
“Evict downloaded files” will evict any file that ChronoSync must download to complete a sync, after it has determined it is finished using it. This would include any file that is copied from the container as part of the sync or any file that needs to be moved to the sync task’s archive.
“Evict uploaded files” will evict any file copied to an iCloud container after the copy operation is completed. This will conserve local storage space, even allowing you to backup more data to iCloud than your local storage device can accommodate.
“Wait for uploads to complete” will wait for any file to completely upload before evicting it. This is a sure-fire way to be certain that any file copied to an iCloud container has made it up to the cloud before the sync task completes. Turning this OFF will yield faster running syncs but you won’t be sure your data has reached the cloud when the task is finished. In fact, it could take quite a while to get uploaded. Putting your computer to sleep or shutting down after the task completes would almost virtually guarantee that your data IS NOT fully backed up to the cloud.
ICLOUD CAVEATS
We’ve found that iCloud can be quite temperamental at times and this can adversely effect your synchronization experience. Here’s an incomplete list of some behaviors you may encounter:
The iCloud Freeze
After heavy use, iCloud will inexplicably stop working. When this happens, requests to download files will never be fulfilled. Likewise, completely uploading a file before evicting it may never be achieved. Sometimes iCloud will snap out of this state after several hours of not working. More likely, however, a logout and login (or system reset) will be required to snap it back into shape. ChronoSync has logic that monitors for this and will timeout when it determines things are taking too long to complete.Â
Phantom Files
Most of the time, when files are placed in iCloud Storage, the changes propagate across all devices rather quickly. On rare occasions, however, file changes may take a while to appear on a remote device. Thus if you place files in iCloud Storage using one device (either macOS or iOS based) and then run ChronoSync to backup your iCloud Storage on another device, ChronoSync may not immediately see the files you just placed there.
ChronoSync goes to great lengths to try and get the Mac to synchronize its folder contents with iCloud but sometimes iCloud has a mind of its own and refuses to do so for several minutes or even several hours in some cases.
Mysterious Attribute Changes
If synchronizing from iCloud Storage, you will likely encounter occasional attribute changes that are detected by ChronoSync. These are most likely manifested in the form of folder modification dates. iCloud is constantly working to manage your storage and sometimes, as a result of that management, folder modification dates get changed. This usually happens after there has been automatic eviction of documents but sometimes it happens for no apparent reason. Sometimes it also makes no sense, such as a folder modification date getting changed to several weeks in the past. When this happens, it usually best to just “go with the flow” and let ChronoSync apply whatever attribute changes it feels necessary.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
For most people, syncing or backing up to iCloud storage should work without issues. However, we live in an imperfect world and sometimes things just don’t work out as expected. If you encounter any problems following this tutorial, contact our technical support team and ask! We don’t mind — we’re here to help!