Can you store files directly on iCloud?

[Red_Tiger]

Hi Everyone!

I hope this question is finding you well.

I have recently started using the 2TB iCloud option for my files and media.

I would like to transfer most of my files from an external desktop drive to iCloud. The internal SSD doesn’t have the capacity but I was hoping iCloud would store these files without taking up much disk space.

Though I am soon finding that iCloud needs physical disk space to store files and it won’t copy any files as it there is not enough disk space. I currently have 150gb free on the SSD and 1.76TB free on iCloud. The folder being transferred is 60GB, mainly photoshop/illustrator files.

Is there anyway of directly loading files to iCloud, bypassing the need to place them on the systems drive?

Thanks.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You can upload directly through the browser via
https://www.icloud.com/#iclouddrive
but you may need to enable Optimized Mac storage on your Mac so the files aren't downloaded.
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT206996

 

[HDFan]

I would like to transfer most of my files from an external desktop drive to iCloud. The internal SSD doesn’t have the capacity but I was hoping iCloud would store these files without taking up much disk space.

Would your only copy of these files just be on iCloud then? If so, not a good idea. A good backup strategy requires 3 copies in different places on different media.

 

[Arcade]

I use finder's iCloud Drive to upload files to a folder called "backup files".

 

[Gregg2]

Three month old thread, but yeah, I use the iCloud Drive as if it were a small external drive.