transferring files

[gbf]

how come when I transfer 46 folders with 20 gigs of stuff from the iCloud Drive to my desktop of my brand new iMac it transfers in 3 seconds...

when I then transfer from my desktop of the same computer to a sandisk usb-c thumb drive in the thunderbolt ports it takes like 10 minutes...

also is it normal for the sandisk metal thumb drive to get warm?

hope everyone is healthy and well

Glenn from New York

 

[DeltaMac]

The iCloud drive files are stored on the internet. The "transfer" process just creates valid links to your "stuff", which is made available when you actually use those files (and you would need to be connected to your internet at the time, too)
That process only takes a few seconds, as you have seen. Also, those iCloud files don't take up actual space on your local drive, space is just reserved for those files.
The copy to a thumb drive copies the files to the thumb drive, which means the real files have to be copied, not just iCloud links.
Yes, thumb drives (especially the metal ones) can get warm during use.

 

[gbf]

Soooooo I dragged the files from the iCloud Drive to the desktop then from the desktop to the thumb drive immediately. Does this mean I didn’t copy the entire file over to the thumb drive cause I went from the desktop to thumb drive?

Help! :-$

and thank you sir

 

[James_C]

Actually, the real reason is that iCloud is primarily a file sync service to allows your files to be replicated on all your Apple devices. Any file placed in your iCloud folder is stored in a special folder on your Mac's drive and then uploaded to Apple's Servers to then be propagated to your other devices. Their is a slight caveat in that their is an option to Allow iCloud to remove files from Local Storage when your Local hard drive becomes full, however iCloud will try and keep as much of your files as it can locally.

So when you are moving files from your iCloud Drive to another folder on your Mac, they are just being moved locally, rather than being transferred from an external source.

The Reason that Local Transfer is so Fast is due to Apple's new disk format APFS, particular if you are coping a file, as it does not produce a separate copy, but a link back to the original file.

EDIT : Due to limited storage on iOS devices, iCloud files are not automatically downloaded until you choose to do so.

 

[gbf]

How do you know this James? You are so well versed! So in essence there is just a move from one folder to another locally on the Mac. You really aren’t pulling anything down from the internet?

 

[James_C]

Thank you. I am a long time Mac user and a geek

 

[Prince Akeem]

So when you are moving files from your iCloud Drive to another folder on your Mac, they are just being moved locally, rather than being transferred from an external source.

That doesn't apply here: he clearly stated he moved files from iCloud drive to a brand new mac (not the same computer).

 

[gbf]

Thank you. I am a long time Mac user and a geek

You’re a fine man and I appreciate you and your help my friend!

 

[James_C]

That doesn't apply here: he clearly stated he moved files from iCloud drive to a brand new mac (not the same computer).

iCloud is not internet storage, it is file syncing service. If he moved files from his iCloud folder on his Mac to another folder, they would have downloaded from the iCloud server first before he could move them.

 

[gbf]

My files do not sync with the iCloud Drive. I store files up there manually.

 

[James_C]

Any files that you put in your iCloud folder on your Mac ( or iOS device) are pushed up to Apples servers, then pushed down to any other devices logged onto with the same Apple ID with iCloud storage turned on. On Mac OS devices the actual file is downloaded, on iOS devices a placeholder is downloaded so you can choose to download the actual file.

If you change or delete any file in your iCloud folder these changes will be replicated to all your devices with the same Apple ID.

 

[svanstrom]

Everyone is both a bit right and wrong here, depending on the exact things that is done where and how; and from the perspective of OP it doesn't really matter really matter beyond:

No, you are not downloading/copying 20 gigs in 3 seconds.

Computers do a lot of smart stuff to not actually have to move data around unless absolutely necessary; and there are many techniques involved here.

For instance:

When copying a big file it might look to an average user as if they have two files, but in fact it could just be one file that you can access from two different places.

This could happen in such a way that changes from one place will be shown also from the other place; which is how we think of how a file alias works.

But it could also be such that you have one file, but the second copy isn't actually created until it's being manipulated from the second place. So it looks like two files, and acts like two files; but the actually copy isn't created until it's actually needed.

A third way could be that there is one file, accessible from two places; but the changes made from one place is saved separately. So it looks and acts like two files; but internally it's more like one core file, and then diff data.

And I could go on with more versions of this, and it could be implemented at different layers; all the way from deep down in the filesystem itself, up to the app that you're using.

When you on top of that also use some sort of well integrated cloud syncing/storage things get even more complicated; but generally speaking it should all the pretty much invisible to the average Mac user. The only problem could be if you think you have the data on your laptop, and then try to use it without internet access.