iCloud just filled up my hard disk

Question

Level 1

13 points

iCloud just filled up my hard disk

This has never happened before. I have not changed any settings on either Mac or iCloud. Then, without warning, iCloud starts to download its entire contents onto my Mac, now filling up the hard disk telling me its storage is almost full.

Optimize Mac Storage in iCloud Preferences has always remained unchecked.

I've signed out of iCloud, restarted, signed back in again, to no avail.

I am not updating to OS Monterey as it will brick my Mac.

Please note, I asked this question to the Community the other day, only to end up with the final answer "call Apple".

Any real workable answers will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on May 28, 2022 11:06 AM

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Answer 1

king kahuna Author

Level 1

13 points

May 29, 2022 12:04 AM in response to Eric Root

I tried Optimize Mac Storage and nothing happened. I tried turning off iCloud, but it had to complete syncing before it could turn off. This presumably was the 700GB+ download that filled up my hard disk. But it could not complete because the disk is full, so now it's stuck and I can't disable iCloud. It took days to get to this point and now my Mac is choking and I can't turn off iCloud or even delete all the files in Library > Mobile Documents.

I'm considering erasing my Mac and starting over, disabling iCloud from the get go. But then I won't be able to sync with Pages, Notes, and all the other apps I use that need iCloud to work. It's incredibly frustrating and as I said, this has never happened before since I bought the Mac a year ago.

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Answer 2

tygb

Level 9

64,748 points

May 29, 2022 1:33 AM in response to king kahuna

Your Mac is signed in with other devices like iPhone / iPad or other Macs , syncing is in continuation and more data is added .

You can remove the device Check your Apple ID device list to see where you're signed in - Apple Support

And make sure Mac is disconnected from them , check the iCloud storage , if required purchase a new storage plan Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support

Your Mac is signed in with other devices like iPhone / iPad or other Macs , syncing is in continuation and more data is added .

The third party apps are the reasons to occupy hard drive space in finder > applications right click on them and move to bin , restart the Mac and empty the trash .

You can remove the device Check your Apple ID device list to see where you're signed in - Apple Support

And make sure Mac is disconnected from them , check the iCloud storageCheck your iCloud storage on iCloud.com - Apple Support if required purchase a new storage plan Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support

Read a thread Cloud and Hard Drive - Apple Community

In the article Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

See the section- Enlarge a partition on a storage device.

The article is followed in rare scenarios Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support (IN)

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 10

82,657 points

May 28, 2022 11:27 AM in response to king kahuna

Turn on optimize Mac storage.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,651 points

May 28, 2022 11:29 AM in response to king kahuna

Have you tried checking Optimize Mac Storage in iCloud Preferences to see if that helps? The iCloud sync is very, very slow, so it may take a few days or more to complete the optimization.

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iCloud just filled up my hard disk

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