iCloud Drive Taking up Space on Mac: Why & How to Stop It on Mac Air/Pro?

iCloud Drive takes up a lot of storage space in Mac? Workaround Guide!

Did you notice that iCloud Drive takes up a lot of storage space on your Mac? iCloud Drive is designed to store your files and make it easier for you to access them on multiple devices, but sometimes you find that it also takes up space on your Mac.

If you are like me, your Mac's storage space is always in a hurry, you may need to do one of two things:

• Release extra space on your Mac
• Stop iCloud Drive from taking up space on your Mac

This article will explain iCloud Drive, why it uses storage space, how to prevent it from taking up space on your Mac, and how to get more storage space.

What is iCloud Drive on Mac?

iCloud Drive is Apple's file storage service. It allows you to store files online and access them from multiple devices. If you have an Apple account, you will automatically get 5GB of free iCloud storage, but if you need more storage, you can upgrade to iCloud.

Accessing iCloud on your Mac is very easy – you can access it through a web browser or Finder on your Mac.

You can upload files to iCloud Drive in two ways, depending on your needs and preferences:

• Upload manually, via iCloud website or Finder.
• Auto upload, by enabling the Desktop and Document Folders option, this will sync your Mac with iCloud Drive. When using this option, the files will be automatically updated in your iCloud Drive when you edit files on your Mac. This automatic synchronization is useful if you use multiple computers or devices frequently.

Why does iCloud Drive take up storage space on your Mac?

iCloud Drive occupies storage space on your Mac for several reasons:

• Uploading files to iCloud Drive will not automatically delete them from your Mac. If you create these files on your MacBook, they are still stored on your hard drive. You can enable to optimize Mac storage space (this feature will be explained in detail later) to automatically delete older iCloud files from your Mac when there is insufficient storage space, but every time the file is accessed, it will be downloaded to your hard drive again.
• Even if the files were created on another computer or device, they will be downloaded to your Mac from Apple's servers when you access them. If you are accessing a large number of large files, you will find that they are all downloaded to your hard drive.

How to prevent iCloud Drive from taking up space on your Mac?

The storage space on our Mac is limited. If you don't know how much storage space is available on your system, learn how to view storage on your Mac.

Just knowing why iCloud Drive takes up so much storage on your Mac isn't always helpful. If you have insufficient storage space, you also need to know how to block it in order to make the most of the space you have available to you.

However, there are some things you can do to prevent iCloud Drive from taking up space on your Mac:

1. Free up disk space on your MacBook – note that this won't stop iCloud, but it can give you more space
2. Enable optimized storage function
3. Clean the space on iCloud Drive

1. Free up disk space on MacBook

If you have insufficient space, the fastest and easiest solution is usually to delete files. But sometimes, you know there is no document or media that you can safely delete. In this case, what should you do if iCloud Drive takes up so much storage on your Mac?

This is where MacKeeper's "Safe Cleanup" feature comes in. It recognizes junk files stored on your Mac so you can easily delete them. With just a few clicks, our tools can help you find and delete unnecessary logs and caches, unwanted language files, email attachments, and trash.

When I run the scan, I find it is safe to delete data that exceeds 5GB!

To free up disk space on your MacBook:

1. Open MacKeeper and select Safe Clean from the sidebar.
2. Click to start scanning.
3. After the scan is complete, select the file you want to delete, and then select Clean junk files. You can click on each category (log, cache, trash, language, and mail attachments) to expand it and find a single file.

2. Enable Optimized Storage Function

If you have insufficient storage space, you may need to use iCloud's optimized storage capabilities.

When this feature is enabled, files in iCloud Drive will only be stored on the hard drive of your Mac if there is enough space. If you have insufficient space, older documents will be stored only in your iCloud Drive.

Using optimized storage means that iCloud files should not take up extra space on your MacBook. However, every time you access a file, it downloads to your Mac again—so if you access large files frequently, this probably won't free up as much space you wish to get.

To use optimized storage:

1. Go to Apple menu>System settings.
2. Click Apple ID in the sidebar and select iCloud.
3. Switch the slider to turn on Optimize Mac storage space.

3. Clean up space on iCloud Drive

You can also manage iCloud storage space on your Mac. If your iCloud Drive is about to be full, you may need to free up some storage there. You can do this simply by deleting the file.

To clean up the space on iCloud Drive:

1. Open Finder—You can do this by pressing Command SpaceOpen Spotlight Search, typing Finder, and then pressing Enter.
2. Select iCloud Drive from the sidebar. (If you can't see the sidebar, press Command Control S to display it.)
3. Right-click the item you want to delete and select Move to Trash.

Summary

If you are wondering why iCloud Drive takes up so much storage on your Mac, hope our article will give you an explanation and help you find some solutions to free up space.

Simply adding files to iCloud Drive does not delete them from your Mac's hard drive. The most important thing is that even if you use the optimized storage feature, it will be downloaded to your Mac every time you access a file - so the Mac's storage space is easily filled.

If you want to free up space on your Mac as much as possible, I recommend using MacKeeper's "Safe Cleanup" feature. It can help you find and delete junk files safely, potentially freeing up several GB of space.

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