2TB iCloud storage out of space, and I don't know why

[carlsson]

There is a 128 GB iPhone and a Mac with approximately 310 GB of data.
Together with that there is a 2TB iCloud Storage plan. The plan was started in february 2018.

Now it tells me that iCloud storage is full. There is no way in h*ll that there are pictures and backups taking up more than 1,5 TB of data that I shouldn't be aware of.

Is there any way to see what's occupying the storage? Preferably from the Mac or on the web (if I open the iCloud drive folder on the mac it shows me the Desktop and Document folders, with 13 and 294 GB content).

Any ideas what this is about?



PS. I was about to attach some screenshots, but there are no options for attaching files anymore... Has this feature been removed from Macforums? DS

 

[TMRJIJ]

There is a 128 GB iPhone and a Mac with approximately 310 GB of data.
Together with that there is a 2TB iCloud Storage plan. The plan was started in february 2018.

Now it tells me that iCloud storage is full. There is no way in h*ll that there are pictures and backups taking up more than 1,5 TB of data that I shouldn't be aware of.

Is there any way to see what's occupying the storage? Preferably from the Mac or on the web (if I open the iCloud drive folder on the mac it shows me the Desktop and Document folders, with 13 and 294 GB content).

Any ideas what this is about?



PS. I was about to attach some screenshots, but there are no options for attaching files anymore... Has this feature been removed from Macforums? DS

Go to iCloud.com and press the Settings button. You’ll then see how much space you’re really taking up.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Go to iCloud.com and press the Settings button. You’ll then see how much space you’re really taking up.

There is no way you should NOT know what is taking up space. You can do this from iCloud.com or from your iPhone or any iOS device. Settings --> Click your name at the top (Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store) --> iCloud --> Manage Storage.

Attach option is still there for the desktop version.

 

[pacmania1982]

Click the Upload a File button

[doublepost=1530899102][/doublepost]Or on mobile - same button ;0)

 

[carlsson]

Update if someone else have this problem:

I have talked to Apple Support about this about ten times, to no avail. Eventually they erased everything on the account, and now it's working as it should. They didn't know what caused this behavior.

There is no way to see what's occupying your space, except for your files in Finder > iCloud Drive (or icloud.com). I really miss some kind of compilation, especially if you have Family Sharing turned on.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Update if someone else have this problem:

I have talked to Apple Support about this about ten times, to no avail. Eventually they erased everything on the account, and now it's working as it should. They didn't know what caused this behavior.

There is no way to see what's occupying your space, except for your files in Finder > iCloud Drive (or icloud.com). I really miss some kind of compilation, especially if you have Family Sharing turned on.

It's really frustrating. I have GIGS of iCloud Drive storage taking up space. But if I go to iCloud.com or even have iCloud on my Mac download all my files, it only amounts to a few hundred MB.

Even showing hidden files doesn't show what this data could be. My only guess is that like Google Drive, iCloud allows hidden app data to be stored in the iCloud and I have some old app that has stored gigs of data there with no way to ever delete it.

 

[afir93]

It's really frustrating. I have GIGS of iCloud Drive storage taking up space. But if I go to iCloud.com or even have iCloud on my Mac download all my files, it only amounts to a few hundred MB.

Even showing hidden files doesn't show what this data could be. My only guess is that like Google Drive, iCloud allows hidden app data to be stored in the iCloud and I have some old app that has stored gigs of data there with no way to ever delete it.

The list of iCloud storage containers under System Preferences -> iCloud -> "Manage..." (or the corresponding toggle in the Settings app in iOS) also doesn't give any insight? Many apps, especially on iOS, don't make the data they store in the iCloud visible within iCloud Drive as a folder, only select apps do this, but if it is indeed an old app that you might have stopped using storing GBs of data in your iCloud, then it usually should still show up under this "Manage Storage" section (with the option to delete the respective app data).

 

[carlsson]

Also note that many other things take space on iCloud drive, eg backups and Pictures.

The best compilation you can find are on these places:
Mac
System Preferences > iCloud > Manage


iOS
Settings > iCloud account (at the top) > iCloud > Manage
Pressing "iCloud Drive" in this list shows a more detailed view on what's taking your space.
FWIW: In this pane there is also an option called "Delete all documts and data". Apple told me to do this when we error-checked the account. It didn't work (because the account was broken somehow, as described earlier). It may work for someone else though, that just wanting to "start over". However, to my experience I think it's best to leave iCloud working as it is. (This possibility is only available on iOS.)

 

[BigMcGuire]

So in my case, it shows up as: "Other Documents" 7.4GB. "The documents stored in the top level of your iCloud Drive folder take up 7.4 GB."

iCloud on Mac, iPhone, and Web don't show anything so it's invisible that way. Doesn't show up in apps either. :/

Finder shows iCloud Drive using 900MB.

 

[carlsson]

So in my case, it shows up as: "Other Documents" 7.4GB. "The documents stored in the top level of your iCloud Drive folder take up 7.4 GB."

iCloud on Mac, iPhone, and Web don't show anything so it's invisible that way. Doesn't show up in apps either. :/

Finder shows iCloud Drive using 900MB.

Very good example of why I would like a detailed view of everything that exists on my iCloud Drive.

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no way to find out what those 7.4 GB are...

If you talk to Apple it would be very interesting to hear their answer!

 

[geohei]

Hi.

Any updates on that one?

iOS
My iCloud shows 4.7 GB used (90% of these are Docs).
iCloud Drive shows 3.8 GB used.

When I select iCloud Drive, I see 3 folder:
Desktop, Documents, Downloads.
They are all empty !!!

I believe the 3.8 GB are the documents (not sure!).

How can I see in detail which documents are filling up the space?

 

[carlsson]

No one knows.
I love iCloud when it works, but I hate it when it doesn't.

Eg: I have more than 1 TB free on my iCloud drive. Now I want to copy 100 GB of files onto my that free space, but my Mac only have 30 GB free. Of course, when I try to copy the files to the Mac it tells me I'm out of space… (I have Optimize storage on of course)

How the eff do I put those 100 GB on my iCloud Drive?

 

[BigMcGuire]

No one knows.
I love iCloud when it works, but I hate it when it doesn't.

Eg: I have more than 1 TB free on my iCloud drive. Now I want to copy 100 GB of files onto my that free space, but my Mac only have 30 GB free. Of course, when I try to copy the files to the Mac it tells me I'm out of space… (I have Optimize storage on of course)

How the eff do I put those 100 GB on my iCloud Drive?

I would LOVE to have all of my data in iCloud. But things like this, lack of true folder sharing, a variety of other things (ease of creating shared links), editing of same file (Word), etc... I had to go with OneDrive.

I still pay the 2TB iCloud fee because I've got 86GB of photos and the rest of my family (mother in law, wife, etc) use iCloud.

But personally? I'm using OneDrive. So nice to have selective sync on the folders. Also, I can download and upload 60GB in a day ... no sweat. Same amount of data on iCloud took me a week.

Thankfully OneDrive integration into iOS/Mac OS is great. My wife and I share a folder with OneDrive and collaborate on documents when needed. We both use iCloud for photos tho.


My iCloud is still showing 26GB of data used that I deleted off of it ... in February? And an app I know is using 3+ gb is showing 200MB in the Manage Cloud Storage. Oh well. For most people I'm sure it works fine.

For you, with 100GB of data - I'd highly recommend Office 365. 1TB of OneDrive is amazing.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I would LOVE to have all of my data in iCloud. But things like this, lack of true folder sharing, a variety of other things (ease of creating shared links), editing of same file (Word), etc... I had to go with OneDrive.

I still pay the 2TB iCloud fee because I've got 86GB of photos and the rest of my family (mother in law, wife, etc) use iCloud.

But personally? I'm using OneDrive. So nice to have selective sync on the folders. Also, I can download and upload 60GB in a day ... no sweat. Same amount of data on iCloud took me a week.

Thankfully OneDrive integration into iOS/Mac OS is great. My wife and I share a folder with OneDrive and collaborate on documents when needed. We both use iCloud for photos tho.


My iCloud is still showing 26GB of data used that I deleted off of it ... in February? And an app I know is using 3+ gb is showing 200MB in the Manage Cloud Storage. Oh well. For most people I'm sure it works fine.

For you, with 100GB of data - I'd highly recommend Office 365. 1TB of OneDrive is amazing.

Have you tried uploading photos (taken on an iPhone) from Apple Photos to One Drive? I have a few times and it either doesn't work or is very very slow. Photos taken on an Android phone, stored in Apple Photos upload quite easily to One Drive.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Have you tried uploading photos (taken on an iPhone) from Apple Photos to One Drive? I have a few times and it either doesn't work or is very very slow. Photos taken on an Android phone, stored in Apple Photos upload quite easily to One Drive.

I have 86GB of photos/videos on my iPhone and in iCloud Photos. 50,939 photos and 1,264 Videos.


I have tried several times to get photos in OneDrive and failed. Several times I've let my phone chomp away trying to upload all photos to OneDrive - OneDrive gets about 60% through all the photos (identifying them to upload) then craps out and dies.

So, I just use iCloud Photos as my primary photo storage.

I did take all my photos and export them out of Photos to an external drive and uploaded them manually to OneDrive so that I had them available in OneDrive if I need them. (I love the Photos on this day in the past features).

iCloud Drive on my Windows desktop keeps my latest iPhone photos synced to the Pictures folder in OneDrive.
[automerge]1589557816[/automerge]
That and:

Site Deactivated – Feature Suggestions for Microsoft OneDrive

I STILL don't think OneDrive deals with Live Photos - so I can't use it as my primary storage for my photo library.

 

[KarenMama]

I had the same issue. It is a backend sync issue. You have to call Apple. This happened to me when I downgraded my storage and lots of files got stuck in the backend and I couldn’t see them at all to delete them. Date of call: 14 October 2022.