Open Dropbox in a web browser and perform a search for “.iCloud”. If you use both iCloud (as almost all Mac users do) as well as Dropbox, this is what to check. I could have lost valuable data and I was very lucky. Urgent investigation was necessary and I soon determined that almost all the offending files were of little consequence and were confined to just one old folder in Dropbox. iCloud extension - that is, empty placeholder files - in my Dropbox folder. I was warned by Dropbox that there were a number of files with the. If you are not careful, you can end up with just the placeholder file and no picture or other data in any location - computer, cloud or backup disk. If you do this, the original files will be deleted from iCloud but there is a great danger that all you are moving is a bunch of empty placeholder files. A more troubling complication arises, however, if you move a file or folder from iCloud to Dropbox.

And there can be problems if you happen across a placeholder file while not connected to the internet. Of course not everyone likes the idea of having just one copy of a file stored in the cloud. It’s pretty seamless, but therein lies the danger. If you click on the placeholder, iCloud downloads the file contents within seconds and you do not notice that the actual data had gone temporarily AWOL. In normal circumstances, it works seamlessly. Left to its own devices, iCloud will remove the data from your computer and replace the file with an. It is particularly relevant to photo and video files which tend to take up a lot of space. Apple’s Optimised Storage system is designed to free up local disk space by removing, until needed, the contents of certain files. It’s rather clever, but potentially disastrous if you don’t watch carefully. The crux of the problem is Apple’s default Optimised Storage facility. It is a concern for all Mac users who also employ Dropbox as a data store. I recommend you always leave this unticked unless you are fully aware of the potential dangers See the tick box at the bottom of the frame - Optimize Mac Storage. Go to System Preferences, choose iCloud and then click on iCloud Drive options. This week, however, I received a note from Dropbox to tell me that all was not well in my Dropbox drive - and the culprit was iCloud.

It is designed with the average user in mind and tends to make the right decisions for the good of eco-system dependants, particularly those who are not particularly technically aware. Apple’s iCloud Drive works away in the background and, generally, gives little problem.

Transfer dropbox to icloud