iCloud Drive - Data not getting downloaded

Hi all,

For the last several days, I have been trying to create a copy of all my work data on the iCloud Drive for transferring to my colleague. It was then that I realised the extent to which iCloud is restrictive as a storage service as compared to Google or Microsoft. One major handicap in iCloud is its restriction on the downloading of folders. One can only download individual (or groups of) files from the browser version. Since my data involves several folders, each having hundreds of files in them (not to mention folders within folders), downloading from the browser version of iCloud is practically impossible for me. After browsing the web, I also tried every other method possible for achieving my objective, for example, compressing the folders into single files using my iPhone, but found it to be a painfully slow process which often returns a failure message. Even direct download of the data by shifting it to an external hard drive from my Macbook takes forever (and freezes often), even for internet speeds as high as 500 MBPS.

Therefore, as a last resort, I sent a request to Apple from privacy.apple.com for a copy of my data in iCloud Drive. On their privacy website and in their acknowledgement email, Apple made a commitment to share a copy of the data within 7 days. However, its been more than 15 days since my request, and I have not received any update from Apple on this matter. The privacy website does not provide any customer support details. I managed to reach a Support number embedded deep within one of the Apple websites and have been conversing with them for the last week or so. After a few hours of back and forth calltime, the support team is claiming that they have limited control on the timeline for such requests. In other words, they have simply raised their hands. Please note that I still don't have any official communication from Apple.

Meanwhile, the status of my request is still showing as 'In Progress' on the Apple privacy website. I don't know what to do anymore. It seems that Apple is withholding my own data from me.

I would greatly appreciate it if the members of this forum suggest a definitive solution to my problem based on their experience with iCloud Drive.

Thanks in advance.