OneDrive vs iCloud Drive

nlel1975 · Monday at 14:11

I've got OneDrive and iCloud Drive setup on my Mac, Windows PC and Windows VM on Mac. I'm finding OneDrive is better in that it automatically syncs. Whereas iCloud Drive doesn't unless you add or remove a file or edit one.

I've got a spreadsheet in OneDrive which I edit on all three machines so I've got one file synced across all three devices. Say for example I add a file to iCloud Drive on Windows PC, it doesn't automatically sync when I next boot my Mac, I have to add or remove a file or edit one for that added file to show up.

OneDrive will automatically sync every time.

Feek · Monday at 14:49

Hmm, if I add a file to my documents folder on [for example] my Mac Studio, it drops in straight away on all my devices.

ChrisD. · Monday at 14:51

No real issues with either in terms of sync, I think perhaps OneDrive is a smoother experience but they can do one with all their forced AI crap scanning the hell out of my stuff.

nlel1975 · Monday at 15:06

Feek said:
Hmm, if I add a file to my documents folder on [for example] my Mac Studio, it drops in straight away on all my devices.

Strange it's not reliable for me, OneDrive just works better. I noticed if I add a file to the iCloud Drive on Windows PC it automatically shows up on iCloud Drive on my iPad but not always automatically on Mac.

visibleman · Monday at 16:00

Do any of the devices (100%) sync correctly to iCloud?
But i would try signing out of all of the devices, including your Mac, reboot devices and then sign back into the Mac (first) and then the others testing each time it's syncing correctly.
Failing that, try changing your password and then again going through your devices one-by-one (Mac first), re-login in and making sure they sync correctly.

Also one of our tech docs at work has a method of logging into iCloud.com and downloading a file from 'Drive' as apparently that can help fix syncing - honestly no clue with this one but i've seen stranger fixes for things :cry:

nlel1975 · Monday at 16:26

Thanks, seems to be working now. Logged into my Windows VM added a file to the iCloud documents folder, switched over to MacOS to check the iCloud documents folder the file was there. Then deleted it from within Windows VM switched over to MacOS the file was gone.

Repeated a number of times with same result. I must have been doing something wrong. It doesn't say its been synced with iCloud in MacOS but the files have been appearing and disappearing when deleted.

nlel1975 · Monday at 19:28

Well I've discovered something, if I boot my Windows PC and drop a file into iCloud Drive and wait till it's uploaded. When I boot my Mac that file isn't present in iCloud Drive on the Mac. If I boot my Windows VM I am able to drop files into iCloud Drive and if I switch across to MacOS those files are in iCloud Drive on the Mac.

So there is still an issue when uploading files to iCloud Drive from my standalone PC not showing on my Mac. This is the problem I had initially which was so confusing.

Cromulent · Monday at 19:32

nlel1975 said:
Well I've discovered something, if I boot my Windows PC and drop a file into iCloud Drive and wait till it's uploaded. When I boot my Mac that file isn't present in iCloud Drive on the Mac. If I boot my Windows VM I am able to drop files into iCloud Drive and if I switch across to MacOS those files are in iCloud Drive on the Mac.

So there is still an issue when uploading files to iCloud Drive from my standalone PC not showing on my Mac. This is the problem I had initially which was so confusing.

I doubt this'll help but worth a try. If you wait a couple of minutes after booting the Windows machine does it work? It might just be that iCloud needs a few minutes after booting to sync / login etc.

nlel1975 · Monday at 19:45

Cromulent said:
I doubt this'll help but worth a try. If you wait a couple of minutes after booting the Windows machine does it work? It might just be that iCloud needs a few minutes after booting to sync / login etc.

The thing is that file I’ve uploaded from my Windows PC is shown on iCloud Drive on my iPad. So the file is definitely is being uploaded by the PC.

nlel1975 · Monday at 20:47

Well I tried saving one of my photos from my iPad to the iCloud Drive whilst my Mac was switched off and when I booted it up it wasn't there. Then tried saving one whilst my Mac was switched on and it arrived at its destination.

Figuring I was on to something I saved a file to the iCloud Drive on my Windows PC whilst my Mac was switched on and again it arrived at its destination. So it looks like the Mac needs to be switched on in order to receive files to the iCloud Drive.

That's why it worked perfectly when I transferred files from my Windows VM to my Mac.

mid_gen · Wednesday at 14:21

I really need to consolidate this sometime. I tried copying all my OneDrive content to iCloud but it’s screwed it all up and about 1/3 of the files are randomly hidden for some reason. I would really like to ditch OneDrive though, but am becoming resigned to just keeping that going as it just seems to be more robust and reliable.

nlel1975 · Wednesday at 14:44

mid_gen said:
I really need to consolidate this sometime. I tried copying all my OneDrive content to iCloud but it’s screwed it all up and about 1/3 of the files are randomly hidden for some reason. I would really like to ditch OneDrive though, but am becoming resigned to just keeping that going as it just seems to be more robust and reliable.

Yeah OneDrive will automatically sync every time a file is added, modified or deleted. Whereas iCloud Drive won't unless the Mac is switched on, otherwise you have to force it to sync by adding, modifying or deleting a file.