Do You Know Where Your Data Lives?

Here’s a question I hear all the time: Where’s my stuff?

In this case, your “stuff” refers to your files (documents and/or folders), some of which may be on your computer, while others may reside on servers that may be halfway around the globe. But let’s take it back to the beginning; your computer has an internal hard drive (storage), a piece of hardware that can hold your data, but has a finite capacity. This is where a lot of your bits and bytes on your computer are stored – including the system files that make the computer work, the application files, and yes, your data files. Maybe.

In most instances, your files reside somewhere on your hard drive, typically on your DESKTOP or within the DOCUMENTS folder, both of which are found within your HOME folder (or the iCloud folder, which is discussed below) *. So, the way the Mac is configured, your files are contained in one of those locations, either as a stand-alone document, or within a Russian doll of folders within folders. (Older versions of the Mac OS allowed users to create folders directly on the hard drive directory, but no more. However, if you’ve done that in the past, those folders are grandfathered in – still there and accessible, but you’re no longer able to create folders there.)

OK, now on to Apple’s iCloud: First of all, to avoid further confusion, understand that iCloud is a SERVICE. It has many functions, but its biggest one (and most important for this discussion) is that it syncs your data between devices. So, your contacts, photos, passwords, web history, and files can be accessible on any of your devices. You update a document on your laptop, and when you go to your desktop computer, the updated version is there. Plus, if one of your devices dies, you can simply log on to your iCloud account, and bang! Your files are all there! (This is assuming you’ve enabled this function when you configured your Mac!)

Of course, every company wants to host your files. The two big players in this space are Dropbox and Google Drive, but there are other lesser ones. These two are Coke and Pepsi – pretty much the same thing, but different brand names, and people are generally a fan of one over the other. These services allow you to sync your data to a cloud-based server and are built more for interaction with others than iCloud is.

There are options in both platforms to hold your files in the cloud (and off your hard drive) until you choose to download any or all of them, great for situations where you have too much data and too little hard drive. And similar to iCloud, there is a free option (with limited storage) and paid tiers that can provide you massive terabytes of space. Documents in Google Drive and Dropbox may (or may not) be synced to your hard drive – that all depends on how you configure your settings within the service.

Understand the above three services (iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive) allow you to save any type of file; some services allow only same-brand documents to be saved, such as Microsoft’s OneDrive (Microsoft Office documents only), and Adobe’s Creative Cloud Storage, which provides storage for the files created in Adobe. (Yes, there are ways to save all types of files to these services, but why bother?)

*  What I describe below covers 98% of situations. Occasionally, there are some exceptions to these rules!