MacBook Pro M1 iCloud Back up

[lokka]

So I finally got my new MacBook Pro M1 and I'm loving it! I still have my 2015 MacBook Pro on which I have enabled back up through iCloud for all my documents and desktop. The issue is that now my M1 MacBook Pro is getting all the documents from that MacBook and I really don't want that as I want to keep them separate. Any idea how I can do this without having a different Apple ID or how I could choose for my new M1 to not download any of that info but still upload my stuff on M1 onto the iCloud?

Thanks!

 

[0128672]

If I understand your question, on your new MBP you can disable iCloud Drive Desktop & Document Folders, but keep enabled all of the other iCloud Drive and iCloud functions you'd like. iCloud Drive will still appear in the sidebar as a drive. No need to use a separate Apple ID.

Take a look at the section of this Apple Support article about turning off Desktop & Document Folders:

Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

Learn how to share your files from your Mac Desktop and Documents folders to all of your devices with iCloud Drive.

support.apple.com

 

[lokka]

If I understand your question, on your new MBP you can disable iCloud Drive Desktop & Document Folders, but keep enabled all of the other iCloud Drive and iCloud functions you'd like. No need to use a separate Apple ID.

Thanks Namara. Basically this is my issue. If I turn on iCloud back up on my new MacBook M1 it downloads all the files which have been stored on my 2015 MacBook Pro which I don't want on the new Machine. However, I still want to be able to back up documents from my M1 onto the iCloud. What would be ideal is if somehow iCloud can detect that these are two different computers and seperate the backups on iCloud. I hope that makes sense?

 

[0128672]

Thanks Namara. Basically this is my issue. If I turn on iCloud back up on my new MacBook M1 it downloads all the files which have been stored on my 2015 MacBook Pro which I don't want on the new Machine. However, I still want to be able to back up documents from my M1 onto the iCloud. What would be ideal is if somehow iCloud can detect that these are two different computers and seperate the backups on iCloud. I hope that makes sense?

First of all, there's no such thing as iCloud Backup on Macs. That's only available on iPhones, iPads, and iPods. You can use iCloud Drive, and for some apps you can store app data in iCloud. You can manually copy files from your Mac to iCloud Drive, but there's no automated Mac to iCloud backup in macOS.

Can you post a screenshot of your iCloud settings on your new Mac? Or post detailed steps about what you're doing?

 

[lokka]

Well when I turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents it automatically backs them up (i.e it's available on the iCloud Drive no matter where I am) The issue is that because it's enabled on my 2015 MacBook Pro if I enable Desktop & Documents in my M1 MacBook, it just brings in all the files from my 2015 Pro onto my M1 Pro!

I've disabled iCloud on M1 for desktop and documents and all the files have now disappeared but the new files that I create and work on my M1 now won't be available on the iCloud

 

[0128672]

Well when I turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents it automatically backs them up (i.e it's available on the iCloud Drive no matter where I am) The issue is that because it's enabled on my 2015 MacBook Pro if I enable Desktop & Documents in my M1 MacBook, it just brings in all the files from my 2015 Pro onto my M1 Pro!

I've disabled iCloud on M1 for desktop and documents and all the files have now disappeared but the new files that I create and work on my M1 now won't be available on the iCloud

Desktop & Document Folders isn't a backup. You're simply storing those files in Cloud, not on your local machine(s) so they're available on all your devices. The only way it will work with your current set up, as you've found out, they will be the same for both machines. If you need for your documents to be different, you will have to copy them manually to a different folder to iCloud Drive from one of your Macs.

 

[lokka]

Thanks so it's better just to do manual time machine back ups and probably disable the 2015 Pro for iCloud Desktop and documents and enable this one that way only the files from M1 would be accessible via iCloud?

 

[casperes1996]

Well when I turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents it automatically backs them up (i.e it's available on the iCloud Drive no matter where I am) The issue is that because it's enabled on my 2015 MacBook Pro if I enable Desktop & Documents in my M1 MacBook, it just brings in all the files from my 2015 Pro onto my M1 Pro!

I've disabled iCloud on M1 for desktop and documents and all the files have now disappeared but the new files that I create and work on my M1 now won't be available on the iCloud

On the M1 don’t save the files to Desktop or Documents; iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents is made explicitly to make the desktop and documents folder “the same” on all Macs you use.

On the M1 just save the files to the iCloud Drive explicitly and they will be available on the other Mac as well

 

[lokka]

On the M1 don’t save the files to Desktop or Documents; iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents is made explicitly to make the desktop and documents folder “the same” on all Macs you use.

On the M1 just save the files to the iCloud Drive explicitly and they will be available on the other Mac as well

This is perfect! Thanks so much Exactly what I wanted I'll just create a new folder in iCloud called M1 Drive and save them there

 

[0128672]

This is perfect! Thanks so much Exactly what I wanted I'll just create a new folder in iCloud called M1 Drive and save them there

That works too if you don't want to save them on your M1 local drive.

 

[Clausewitz]

So I finally got my new MacBook Pro M1 and I'm loving it! I still have my 2015 MacBook Pro on which I have enabled back up through iCloud for all my documents and desktop. The issue is that now my M1 MacBook Pro is getting all the documents from that MacBook and I really don't want that as I want to keep them separate. Any idea how I can do this without having a different Apple ID or how I could choose for my new M1 to not download any of that info but still upload my stuff on M1 onto the iCloud?

Thanks!

I know OneDrive has an option, which is enabled by default, where files are not actually transferred to the hard drive. I don't know if iCloud has such an option. You could just uncheck the iCloud Drive from your Apple ID & enable it whenever you need to retrieve a file or upload a new one to it. I think anytime you uncheck iCloud Drive it should roll back the data, freeing up your storage space.

 

[jdb8167]

This is perfect! Thanks so much Exactly what I wanted I'll just create a new folder in iCloud called M1 Drive and save them there

For easy access, you can drag your M1 Drive folder to your Finder Sidebar so that it is easy to reach. Drag it to Favorites or under iCloud depending on how you use the Finder.

Edit: I just learned something, you can only drag a folder to the iCloud section of the Sidebar if the folder lives on iCloud. Nice Apple, good work.