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ravivargamer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 20, 2023
2
0
Hi all,
For the last several days, I have been trying to create a copy of all my work data on the iCloud Drive for transferring to my colleague. It was then that I realised the extent to which iCloud is restrictive as a storage service as compared to Google or Microsoft. One major handicap in iCloud is its restriction on the downloading of folders. One can only download individual (or groups of) files from the browser version. Since my data involves several folders, each having hundreds of files in them (not to mention folders within folders), downloading from the browser version of iCloud is practically impossible for me. After browsing the web, I also tried every other method possible for achieving my objective, for example, compressing the folders into single files using my iPhone, but found it to be a painfully slow process which often returns a failure message. Even direct download of the data by shifting it to an external hard drive from my Macbook takes forever (and freezes often), even for internet speeds as high as 500 MBPS.
Therefore, as a last resort, I sent a request to Apple from privacy.apple.com for a copy of my data in iCloud Drive. On their privacy website and in their acknowledgement email, Apple made a commitment to share a copy of the data within 7 days. However, its been more than 15 days since my request, and I have not received any update from Apple on this matter. The privacy website does not provide any customer support details. I managed to reach a Support number embedded deep within one of the Apple websites and have been conversing with them for the last week or so. After a few hours of back and forth calltime, the support team is claiming that they have limited control on the timeline for such requests. In other words, they have simply raised their hands. Please note that I still don't have any official communication from Apple.
Meanwhile, the status of my request is still showing as 'In Progress' on the Apple privacy website. I don't know what to do anymore. It seems that Apple is withholding my own data from me in some bid to try and keep me entrapped in their ecosystem.
I would greatly appreciate it if the members of this forum suggest a solution to my problem based on their experience with iCloud Drive.
Thanks in advance.
 

Bigwaff

Contributor
Sep 20, 2013
2,023
1,320
You want to share files with a colleague. How much data in MB or GB? Is iCloud sharing of files a requirement? Depending on the total size of the files you want to share, you might be better served using a different file sharing service.

Also, you might want to consider copying files to an encrypted thumb drive and mailing your colleague the thumb drive. Seems you have already been waiting 15+ days for Apple to respond, I’m sure your colleague can wait several more for the thumb drive to arrive.
 

ravivargamer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 20, 2023
2
0
You want to share files with a colleague. How much data in MB or GB? Is iCloud sharing of files a requirement? Depending on the total size of the files you want to share, you might be better served using a different file sharing service.

Also, you might want to consider copying files to an encrypted thumb drive and mailing your colleague the thumb drive. Seems you have already been waiting 15+ days for Apple to respond, I’m sure your colleague can wait several more for the thumb drive to arrive.
Thank you for the response. The data amounts to almost 100 GB. I am trying to get a copy of the data so that I can share it on a thumb drive. The concerned colleague is not an Apple user.
 
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