Apple doesn’t say what has changed for macOS 13.6.6 Ventura, but the bugs fixed in macOS 14.4.1 Sonoma have bedeviled users for the last two weeks.

Apple no longer makes it easy to tell precisely how much free space is available on your Mac, but you know when you don’t have enough. Adam Engst offers (and explains) 21 simple steps to clear space quickly.

After upgrading one of his Macs to macOS 14 Sonoma, Adam Engst ran into problems with Time Machine, which refused to back up until iCloud Drive had finished syncing and continued to balk even after the sync had seemingly finished. The problem? A seldom-used troubleshooting account that also had to finish syncing.

As with all its services, Apple offers no real troubleshooting when iCloud Drive synchronization stalls in macOS. Glenn Fleishman encountered a problem that took months to diagnose and fix. In the process, he went through the wringer of trying nearly everything suggested online, via Apple support, and from colleagues. In the end, the magic that fixed it was undisclosed engineers.

Worried about backing up your cloud-only files? The latest version of Carbon Copy Cloner can temporarily download, back up, and evict these files, ensuring your data’s safety. Learn about this ingenious feature that bridges the gap between local and cloud storage in your backup strategy.

After learning more about the nitty-gritty of consumer-level cloud storage services for an article, Adam Engst is introduced to LucidLink, which promises high-performance cloud storage using a completely different model. 

Apple has announced Advanced Data Protection, an optional switch that enables end-to-end encryption for more types of iCloud data, including iCloud Backups, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, and more.

iCloud Drive folder sharing has been around since macOS 10.15 Catalina, which makes it all the less acceptable that someone with whom the folder is shared can delete a file permanently and with only one possible—and unmentioned by Apple—option for recovery.

Triggered by a conflation of recent cloud storage issues, Adam Engst examines the real-world experience surrounding cloud storage and explores a variety of quirks, irritations, and gotchas with Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, and OneDrive.

After being warned by both iCloud and Gmail that he was running low on storage space, Adam Engst embarked on a mission to free up cloud space rather than pay for more than he needs. If your clouds are filling up too, follow along to avoid missing email, failing file syncs, and more.