Files are synced with iCloud still they appear and disappear in Mac mini

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Files are synced with iCloud still they appear and disappear in Mac mini

Mac mini 2018

macOS Ventura 13.5

All my files are synced with iCloud. I have confirmed that I have plenty of free space on my hard drive. Today I set up a new folder on my desktop and downloaded some PDFs from the Internet to it. These files are not contaminated in any way. I clicked away from the folder, and when I went back, half the files had disappeared. I opened a browser connection to iCloud and located the very same folder, but now all the files were there. I went back to my desktop, and *some* of the files were there. As I watched, the files disappeared from the desktop--but not from iCloud. For ten minutes, I just sat there and watched those files appear and disappear and reappear at random on my desktop.

I rebooted--twice. Those files on my desktop are still playing peek-a-boo; one moment they're there, the next they disappear.

What the **** is going on here?

This is especially scary because for years, I have been backing up my desktop and documents to iCloud. Until now I thought it was faithfully syncing between my Mini Mac and the cloud. Now I don't know if I can trust iCloud.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 13.5

Posted on Oct 24, 2024 3:11 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 28, 2024 8:15 AM in response to munchkyn

munchkyn wrote:

This is especially scary because for years, I have been backing up my desktop and documents to iCloud.

I can't speak to the rest of your issue but I think it's important to point out that you cannot backup files from a Mac to iCloud. All you can do is sync them. You should be backing them up using Time Machine or some other system. Thinking that iCloud is a backup will lead to tragedy.

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