Possible to dock/undock MacBook that is primary iCloud, Photos, Music machine?

[burpootus]

I currently have an iMac with a 3TB drive that contains all of my iCloud files, Photos library, and Music library. The drive is well over 2TB used space. My question is what happens if I switched over to a MacBook, which due to the insane prices of storage, would have a smaller drive. I could have external drives to contain the Photos and Music libraries when docked. I could have iCloud set to Optimize Mac Storage. But as I think about it, it just seems like it would end up being a mess. I know I'm not alone. What are others doing as their data size outgrows their disc size?

 

[Longkeg]

OK. I’m a little confused here. Perhaps you may be too. Files that are on an iMac hard drive are, sort of by definition, NOT iCloud files. “iCloud” files would be stored off site in iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service. Since these files are kept on Apple servers, accessed via the internet, the size of your HD doesn’t matter. If your files are truly in iCloud then your transition from one computer to another is as simple as logging the new machine into your iCloud account.

 

[burpootus]

OK. I’m a little confused here. Perhaps you may be too. Files that are on an iMac hard drive are, sort of by definition, NOT iCloud files. “iCloud” files would be stored off site in iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service. Since these files are kept on Apple servers, accessed via the internet, the size of your HD doesn’t matter. If your files are truly in iCloud then your transition from one computer to another is as simple as logging the new machine into your iCloud account.

Yes, I understand the basics of cloud storage. Perhaps my issue is my old school mentality of keeping the master copy of everything local. I do not Optimize Mac Storage. I consider iCloud a mirror of my local iCloud Drive files, and by virtue of the cloud, they are available on my iPhone and MacBook, which do not have full local copies of all those files. My iMac also has my Photos library, which is 800 or so gigs, and my Music library, which is another 300 or so gigs. My iMac is the master copy of all of this data. Cloud has come a long way, but I am not ready to relinquish the control I have of local files and make the cloud the master, which seems like a disaster in the making.

 

[Longkeg]

Keeping a backup of cloud data on an external drive is always a good idea. Lugging that external with your laptop because you’re “not ready to relinquish the control” seems silly. If you’re serious about moving to a MBP with its limited storage, you’re going to need to adjust that “old school mentality.” Trust but verify..... Trust that iCloud will have your files when you need them but Verify that you have everything backed up on a drive at home. Just in case disaster strikes.

 

[burpootus]

Yeah, no plans to "lug an external" around all the time. In the beginning of thinking through this, I was thinking of a docking scenario. The more I think about it, it's probably not going to work.