110 Macworld • March 2021HELP DESK
There are a few provisos:- If you have cropped the image on
your iPhone or iPad with iCloud
Photos enabled, you have to go
back to the original device to revert
cropping. And depending on timing
and syncing, it may be unavailable. - If you exported the modified image
from iPhoto or Photos and deleted
the original in your library, the
exported copy only contains the
cropped data and can’t be restored.
USE OPTIMIZE MAC
STORAGE WITH iCLOUD
DRIVE TO PACK VIDEOS
INTO A CROWDED MAC
iCloud can give you up to 2TB of
additional storage to supplement
your Mac’s drive capacity, particularly
useful with 256GB and 512GB Macs.
The trick is using the Optimize Mac
Storage checkbox found in the iCloud
preference pane when you click
Options to the right of iCloud Drive
(Mojave and earlier) or in the Apple ID
preference pane’s iCloud section at
the main level (Catalina and later).
iCloud Photos and iCloud
Music Library are their own beasts- iCloud Photos has its own
optimization controls, while iCloud
Music Library’s availability and
management of locally stored and
iCloud-stored files depends on
whether you have an iTunes Match or
Apple Music subscription.
But for general storage, iCloud
Drive and optimized storage can
be truly useful. As you add material
to iCloud Drive and you start to run
up against a full drive on your Mac,
macOS deletes the local copy of files
and puts placeholders in their stead,
while iCloud retains the files. Double-
click or open a file from an app, and
macOS automatically downloads it.
As an example, one Macworld
reader has nearly 500GB of
instructional videos on an external
drive connected to her Mac, and
about 250GB of storage remaining
on her computer, but would like to
consolidate it all. iCloud Drive coupled
with storage optimization can be ideal
for this in the right circumstances.
First examine requirements and
capabilities:- Check that you have enough iCloud
storage purchased. You likely have
to upgrade to 500GB or 2TB of
storage – 50GB is not usually
enough to be valuable offloading
from your Mac. - Check your broadband plan. Are you
charged for excess data usage or
110 Macworld • March 2021HELP DESK
Therearea fewprovisos:- If youhavecroppedtheimageon
youriPhoneoriPadwithiCloud
Photosenabled,youhavetogo
backtotheoriginaldevicetorevert
cropping.Anddependingontiming
andsyncing,it maybeunavailable. - If you exported the modified image
from iPhoto or Photos and deleted
the original in your library, the
exported copy only contains the
cropped data and can’t be restored.
USE OPTIMIZE MAC
STORAGE WITH iCLOUD
DRIVE TO PACK VIDEOS
INTO A CROWDED MAC
iCloud can give you up to 2TB of
additional storage to supplement
your Mac’s drive capacity, particularly
useful with 256GB and 512GB Macs.
The trick is using the Optimize Mac
Storage checkbox found in the iCloud
preference pane when you click
Options to the right of iCloud Drive
(Mojave and earlier) or in the Apple ID
preference pane’s iCloud section at
the main level (Catalina and later).
iCloud Photos and iCloud
Music Library are their own beasts- iCloud Photos has its own
optimization controls, while iCloud
Music Library’s availability and
management of locally stored and
iCloud-stored files depends on
whether you have an iTunes Match or
Apple Music subscription.
But for general storage, iCloud
Drive and optimized storage can
be truly useful. As you add material
to iCloud Drive and you start to run
up against a full drive on your Mac,
macOS deletes the local copy of files
and puts placeholders in their stead,
while iCloud retains the files. Double-
click or open a file from an app, and
macOS automatically downloads it.
As an example, one Macworld
reader has nearly 500GB of
instructional videos on an external
drive connected to her Mac, and
about 250GB of storage remaining
on her computer, but would like to
consolidate it all. iCloud Drive coupled
with storage optimization can be ideal
for this in the right circumstances.
First examine requirements and
capabilities:- Check that you have enough iCloud
storage purchased. You likely have
to upgrade to 500GB or 2TB of
storage – 50GB is not usually
enough to be valuable offloading
fromyourMac. - Check your broadband plan. Are you
charged for excess data usage or